Pittsburgh, PA – The University of Pittsburgh Press is thrilled to announce that Terrance Hayes, winner of the National Book Award and one of the leading voices in American poetry, will serve as judge of the 2026 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize. Submissions are now open for the first full-length book prize, with the winner receiving publication in the Pitt Poetry Series and a cash award of $5,000.

Hayes, who has served as co-editor of the Pitt Poetry Series with Nancy Krygowski and Jeffrey McDaniel for four years, has also decided that the time is right to step back from his role as co-editor of the series to pursue his own work.

“It’s been incredible to work with Terrance and see the way he looks at the world of poetry, almost like a solar system with aesthetic clusters. He’s a big picture thinker, and he cares about what is best for the individual poet. Terrance has helped to steady and guide the Pitt Poetry Series, celebrating its creative tradition while also moving things forward. He has exemplified that editing is about service, and that it’s important to enjoy the process, to think of editorial meetings as conversations. We are very fortunate to have had Terrance at Pitt for the last four years,” shared Krygowski and McDaniel, who will continue in their roles as co-editors of the Pitt Poetry Series.

Hayes, Krygowski, and McDaniel joined the Pitt Poetry Series as co-editors upon the retirement of longtime series editor Ed Ochester in 2021. Together, they have made a lasting impact on the series through a period of transition, publishing over 30 new collections and the much celebrated The Selected Shepherd with Jericho Brown as editor.

The University of Pittsburgh Press and the Pitt Poetry Series are extremely grateful for the stability, care, and steadfast dedication that Hayes has given to the Press, the Pitt Poetry Series, his co-editors, and the poets.

Since its inception in 1967, the Pitt Poetry Series has been a vehicle for America’s finest contemporary poets. The series list includes Inaugural Poet Richard Blanco, Poet Laureate Billy Collins, Toi Derricotte, Denise Duhamel, Lynn Emanuel, Ross Gay, Etheridge Knight, Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winner Ted Kooser, Larry Levis, Pulitzer Prize-winner Sharon Olds, Alicia Suskin Ostriker, Afaa Michael Weaver, David Wojahn, Dean Young, and many others.

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