The Wisconsin Poetry Series

The Wisconsin Prize for Poetry in Translation

The Wisconsin Prize for Poetry in Translation was founded in 2022 to cater to the readers, poets, and editors who want to read poetry written across the world. It aims to be one small part of breaking down the language barriers that divide us and help make work written in other languages visible to a wider public.

The Brittingham and Felix Pollak Prizes in Poetry

The Brittingham and Felix Pollak Prizes in Poetry are awarded annually to two book-length poetry manuscripts submitted in a national competition, selected by an outside judge. This year, that judge will be National Book Award longlister and Yale Series of Younger Poets winner Eduardo C. Corral. Each prize offers $1,500 plus publication by the University of Wisconsin Press, and three additional finalists will also be offered publishing contracts, as part of the Wisconsin Poetry Series. Submissions may be made via Submittable at wicw.submittable.com between July 15 and September 15, 2022. For detailed guidelines, please see our submissions page. For additional information about the series and its publisher, visit the University of Wisconsin Press home page. Questions not answered elsewhere on this site, or in the FAQ at creativewriting.wisc.edu/submit.html, may be directed to the series editors, Sean Bishop and Jesse Lee Kercheval.

Current & Past Winners

Guest Judge Carmen Giménez Smith selected Daniel Khalastchi’s American Parables and Joseph Nguyen’s Come Clean and for the 2022 Brittingham & Felix Pollak Poetry Prizes. Series Editors Sean Bishop and Ron Wallace selected three additional manuscripts for publication this year: Judith Vollmer’s The Sound Boat, Emily Rose Cole’s Thunderhead, and Laura Villareal’s Girl’s Guide to Leaving.

2021—Selected by Carmen Giménez Smith

      Daniel Khalastchi: American Parables, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Joshua Nguyen: Come Clean, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

2020—Selected by Natasha Trethewey

      Diane Kerr: Perigee, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Carlos Andrés Gómez: Fractures, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

2019—Selected by Carl Phillips

      Molly Spencer: If the House, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Sarah Kortemeier: Ganbatte, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

2018—Selected by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

      D. M. Aderibigbe: How the End First Showed, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Michelle Brittan Rosado: Why Can’t It Be Tenderness, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

2017—Selected by Robert Wrigley

      Max Garland: The Word We Used for It, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Lynn Powell: Season of the Second Thought, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

2016—Selected by Susan Mitchell

      Nick Lantz: You, Beast, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Charles Hood: Partially Excited States, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

2015—Selected by Denise Duhamel

      Jennifer Whitaker: The Blue Hour, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Rita Mae Reese: The Book of Hulga, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

2014—Selected by Lucia Perillo

      Christina Stoddard: Hive, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Matthew Siegel: Blood Work, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

2013—Selected by Naomi Shihab Nye

      Joanne Diaz: My Favorite Tyrants, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Angela Sorby: The Sleeve Waves, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

2012—Selected by Terrance Hayes

      Greg Wrenn: Centaur, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Craig Blais: About Crows, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

2011—Selected by Jean Valentine

      Jazzy Danziger: Darkroom, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Mark Wagenaar: Voodoo Inverso, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

2010—Selected by Cornelius Eady

      Alison Stine: Wait, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Jacqueline Jones LaMon: Last Seen, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

2009—Selected by Robert Pinsky

      Jennifer Boyden: The Mouths of Grazing Things, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Nick Lantz: The Lightning that Strikes the Neighbors’ House,
the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

2008—Selected by Marilyn Nelson

      Angela Sorby: Bird Skin Coat, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Mark Kraushaar: Falling Brick Kills Local Man, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

2007—Selected by David St. John

      Philip Pardi: Meditations on Rising and Falling, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Barbara Goldberg: The Royal Baker’s Daughter, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

2006—Selected by Linda Gregerson

      Betsy Andrews: New Jersey, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Fleda Brown: Reunion, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

2005—Selected by Billy Collins

      Susanna Childress: Jagged with Love, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Jennifer Michael Hecht: Funny, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

2004—Selected by Carl Dennis

      John Brehm: Sea of Faith, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Alan Feldman: A Sail to Great Island, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

2003—Selected by Kelly Cherry

      Brian Teare: The Room Where I Was Born, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Bruce Snider: The Year We Studied Women, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

2002—Selected by Edward Hirsch

      Anna George Meek: Acts of Contortion, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Roy Jacobstein: Ripe, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

2001—Selected by Mark Doty

      Robin Behn: Horizon Note, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Cathy Colman: Borrowed Dress, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

2000—Selected by Alicia Ostriker

      Greg Rappleye: A Path Between Houses, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Derick Burleson: Ejo, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

1999—Selected by Robert Bly

      Frank X. Gaspar: A Field Guide to the Heavens, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Charles Harper Webb: Liver, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

1998—Selected by Donald Hall

      Suzanne Paola: Bardo, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Chana Bloch: Mrs. Dumpty, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

1997—Selected by Rita Dove

      Olena Kalytiak Davis: And Her Soul Out of Nothing, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Betsy Sholl: Don’t Explain, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

1996—Selected by Philip Levine

      Juanita Brunk: Brief Landing on the Earth’s Surface, the Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Dennis Trudell: Fragments in Us, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry