The Donald Hall Prize for Poetry

The Donald Hall Prize for Poetry

The Donald Hall Prize for Poetry is an annual competition for the publication of excellent new book-length works. Sponsored by the Association of Writers and Writing Programs, the Donald Hall Prize for Poetry is made possible through the generous support of the Amazon Literary Partnership.

The competition is open to all authors writing in English regardless of nationality or residence, and is available to published and unpublished authors alike. Prize information can be found here.

2022 Donald Hall Poetry Prize

Selected by Naomi Shihab Nye

OCTOBERS

 OCTOBERS is a richly gripping poem-journey through lives and languages, migrations/transitions, with profound openness to curious complexity. Sahar Muradi, born in Afghanistan, resident of New York City, employs subtly understated images, reeling us in to woven mysteries of time and story. It’s as if Muradi is speaking up from a difficult, often silent space for those who are forced to flee, recalibrate, make new homes, somewhere, anywhere, right here: ‘this one morning with its distinct wink’—brilliant. I feel I have never read anything quite like this voice before—it’s rare and so important.
Naomi Shihab Nye, author of Everything Comes Next: Collected and New Poems

past winners

2021
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By Paul Hlava Ceballos

Selected by Ilya Kaminsky
2020
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By Tracy Fuad

Selected by Claudia Rankine
2019
Horsepower

Horsepower

By Joy Priest

Selected by Natasha Tretheway
2018
Ringer

Ringer

By Rebecca Lehmann

Selected by Ross Gay
2017
Autobiography of a Wound

Autobiography of a Wound

By Brynne Rebele-Henry

Selected by Kim Addonizio
2016
Music for a Wedding

Music for a Wedding

By Lauren Clark

Selected by Vijay Seshadri
2015
 Hour of the Ox

Hour of the Ox

By Marci Calabretta Cancio-Bello

Selected by Crystal Ann Williams
2014
Karankawa

Karankawa

By Iliana Rocha

Selected by Joy Harjo
2013
The Dottery

The Dottery

By Kirsten Kaschock

Selected by D.A. Powell
2012
Hyperboreal

Hyperboreal

By Joan Naviyuk Kane

Selected by Arthur Sze
2011
Instructions for My Mother’s Funeral

Instructions for My Mother’s Funeral

By Laura Read

Selected by Dorianne Laux
2010
Water Puppets

Water Puppets

By Quan Barry

Selected by Alberto Rios
2009
The Animals All are Gathering

The Animals All are Gathering

By Bradley Paul

Selected by Jean Valentine
2008
Temper

Temper

By Beth Bachmann

Selected by Lynn Emanuel
2007
Burn and Dodge

Burn and Dodge

By Sharon Dolin

Selected by Bob Hicok
2006
Night Clerk at the Hotel of Both Worlds

Night Clerk at the Hotel of Both Worlds

By Angela Ball

Selected by Terrance Hayes
2005
Grace

Grace

By John Hodgen

Selected by Ha Jin
2004
The Improbable Swervings of Atoms

The Improbable Swervings of Atoms

By Christopher Bursk

Selected by Alicia Suskin Ostriker
2003
Babel

Babel

By Barbara Hamby

Selected by Stephen Dunn
2002
The Ceremonies of Longing

The Ceremonies of Longing

By Sandra Kohler

Selected by Cornelius Eady
2001
Brave Disguises

Brave Disguises

By Gray Jacobik

Selected by Marilyn Chin
2000
The Zoo

The Zoo

By Joanie Mackowski

Selected by Li-Young Lee
1999
Cathedral of the North

Cathedral of the North

By Connie Voisine

Selected by Dorianne Laux
1998
Works and Days

Works and Days

By Edward Kleinschmidt Mayes

Selected by Marvin Bell
1997
Quarry

Quarry

By Joanna Rawson

Selected by Arthur Vogelsang
1996
 It Is Hard to Look At What We Came to Think

It Is Hard to Look At What We Came to Think

By Michele Glazer

Selected by Jorie Graham
1995
The Ocean Inside Kenji Takezo

The Ocean Inside Kenji Takezo

By Rick Noguchi

Selected by Olga Broumas
1994
Accordion Breathing and Dancing

Accordion Breathing and Dancing

By Ruth L. Schwartz

Selected by William Matthews
1993
Some Are Drowning

Some Are Drowning

By Reginald Shepherd

Selected by Carolyn Forché
1992
The New World

The New World

By Suzanne Gardinier

Selected by Lucille Clifton
1991
The Red Line

The Red Line

By Betsy Sholl

Selected by Ron Wallace