Each year, Old Dominion University, in partnership with the Poetry Society of Virginia and the Academy of American Poets, hosts the College Poetry Prize. The prize is awarded in two categories, a first-place winner and honorable mention from both graduate and undergraduate entries respectively. Now in its twelfth year at ODU, the Academy of American Poets College Poetry Prizes are among the oldest and most prestigious poetry prizes honoring new and emerging writers, while they are still in school.
The 2018 contest was judged by Chen Chen, author of When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities, which won the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize and was longlisted for the National Book Award. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including Poetry, Tin House, The New York Times Magazine, The Best American Poetry, and The Best American Nonrequired Reading. Recently, his work has been translated into Russian and Spanish, and Poets & Writers Magazine featured him as one of “Ten Poets Who Will Change the World.” A Kundiman fellow, he is pursuing a PhD in English and Creative Writing at Texas Tech University.
For more information on the Academy of American Poets College Poetry Prizes, please visit: https://www.poets.org/academy-american-poets/prizes/university-college-poetry-prizes
2018 ODU-Poetry Society of Virginia-Academy of American Poets College Poetry Prize winners:
Undergraduate Winner:
- Donna Price | Hues of Blackness
Undergraduate Honorable Mention:
- Ariel Felton | Lessons of Anatomy from a Former Pre-Med Student
Graduate Winner:
- Nishat Ahmed | Snapshots of the Body as a Bomb