Shelley Memorial Award
The Shelley Memorial Award of the Poetry Society of America, was established by the will of Mary P. Sears, and named after the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.[1] The prize is given to a living American poet selected with reference to genius and need, and was worth between $6,000 and $9,000 in 2015.[2] The selection was made by a jury of three poets: one each appointed by the presidents of Radcliffe and Berkeley, and the third by the Board of Governors of the Society.[2] More recently, the selection has been made by a jury of two: one appointed by the president of Berkeley and the second by the Society.[3]
Winners
[edit]Winners of the Shelley Memorial Prize:[4][5]
- 2025 — John Levy[6]
- 2024 — Shin Yu Pai
- 2023 — Evie Shockley
- 2022 — Joyelle McSweeney
- 2021 — Arthur Sze
- 2020 — Rick Barot
- 2019 — Carl R. Martin
- 2018 — Ntozake Shange
- 2017 — Gillian Conoley
- 2016 — Sonia Sanchez
- 2015 — D. A. Powell
- 2014 — Bernadette Mayer
- 2013 — Martín Espada / Lucia Perillo
- 2012 — Wanda Coleman
- 2011 — Rigoberto González / Joan Larkin
- 2010 — Kenneth Irby / Eileen Myles
- 2009 — Ron Padgett / Gary Young
- 2008 — Ed Roberson
- 2007 — Kimiko Hahn
- 2006 — George Stanley
- 2005 — Lyn Hejinian
- 2004 — Yusef Komunyakaa
- 2003 — James McMichael
- 2002 — Angela Jackson / Marie Ponsot
- 2001 — Alice Notley / Michael Palmer
- 2000 — Jean Valentine
- 1999 — Tom Sleigh
- 1998 — Eleanor Ross Taylor
- 1997 — Frank Bidart
- 1996 — Robert Pinsky / Anne Waldman
- 1995 — Stanley Kunitz
- 1994 — Cathy Song / Kenneth Koch
- 1993 — Josephine Jacobsen
- 1992 — Lucille Clifton
- 1991 — Shirley Kaufman
- 1990 — Thom Gunn
- 1989 — Thomas McGrath / Theodore Weiss
- 1988 — Dennis Schmitz
- 1987 — Mona Van Duyn
- 1986 — Gary Snyder
- 1985 — Etheridge Knight
- 1984 — Robert Duncan / Denise Levertov
- 1983 — Jon Anderson / Leo Connellan
- 1982 — Alan Dugan
- 1981 — Robert Creeley
- 1980 — Julia Randall
- 1979 — Hayden Carruth
- 1978 — Jane Cooper / William Everson
- 1977 — Muriel Rukeyser
- 1976 — Gwendolyn Brooks
- 1975 — Edward Field
- 1974 — W. S. Merwin
- 1973 — John Ashbery / Richard Wilbur
- 1972 — Galway Kinnell
- 1971 — Louise Townsend Nicholl / Adrienne Rich
- 1970 — X. J. Kennedy / Mary Oliver
- 1969 — Ann Stanford
- 1968 — May Swenson
- 1967 — Anne Sexton
- 1966 — David Ignatow
- 1965 — Ruth Stone
- 1964 — William Stafford
- 1963 — Eric Barker
- 1962 — Theodore Roethke
- 1961 — Robinson Jeffers
- 1960 — Delmore Schwartz
- 1959 — Jose Garcia Villa
- 1958 — Kenneth Rexroth
- 1957 — George Abbe
- 1956 — Robert Fitzgerald
- 1955 — Léonie Adams
- 1954 — Kenneth Patchen
- 1953 — Elizabeth Bishop
- 1952 — Richard Eberhart
- 1951 — Jeremy Ingalls
- 1950 — Louis Kent
- 1949 — John Berryman
- 1948 — Janet Lewis
- 1947 — Rolfe Humphries
- 1946 — Karl Shapiro
- 1945 — E. E. Cummings
- 1944 — Edgar Lee Masters
- 1943 — Robert Penn Warren
- 1942 — Ridgely Torrence
- 1941 — Marianne Moore
- 1940 — Herbert Bruncken / Winfield T. Scott
- 1939 — Harry Brown / Robert Francis
- 1938 — Lincoln Fitzell
- 1937 — Ben Belitt / Charlotte Wilder
- 1936 — Josephine Miles
- 1935 — Lola Ridge / Marya Zaturenska
- 1934 — Frances Frost / Lola Ridge
- 1932 — Archibald MacLeish
- 1931 — Lizette Woodworth Reese
- 1930 — Conrad Aiken
See also
[edit]- American poetry
- List of poetry awards
- List of literary awards
- List of years in poetry
- List of years in literature
References
[edit]- ^ Bessie Graham Famous Literary Prizes and Their Winners
- ^ a b "The Frost and Shelley Awards". Poetry Society of America. Archived from the original on January 27, 2015. Retrieved January 24, 2015.
- ^ "Frost & Shelley Awards: Shelley Memorial Award | 2025". Poetry Society of America. Retrieved April 8, 2026.
- ^ "Shelley Winners [1979–2024]". Poetry Society of America. Archived from the original on February 16, 2025.
- ^ "Shelley Winners [1930–2018]". Poetry Society of America. Archived from the original on May 25, 2019.
- ^ "John Levy is the 2025 Shelley Memorial Award winner". Poetry Society of America. September 18, 2025. Retrieved April 8, 2026.
