Vanderbilt University Literary Prize

The Vanderbilt University Literary Prize will be awarded annually to the sole author of a full-length collection of poetry that demonstrates great poignancy combined with rigor in form, language and artistic vision.

gold-logo

About

A collaboration between Vanderbilt University’s Office of the Chancellor, Vanderbilt University Press, and Vanderbilt University’s English Department and MFA Program, the annual contest seeks to identify works of poetry whose originality is immediately identifiable in how the book, in some combination, renews our relationship to language and expands our conception of poetry; delves into underexplored areas of human experience; makes claims on our lives that are urgent and aesthetic; or promotes historical, social, literary, political, or spiritual awareness.

Image

Spearheaded by Professor Major Jackson, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in the Humanities, Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing, this prize continues the university’s legacy and on-going commitment to discovering new voices and to supporting the arts as transformative and essential to our community.

Eligibility

The Vanderbilt University Literary Prize in Poetry is open to poets twenty-one years of age or older, at any stage in their career, who are writing in English. Manuscripts must be an original work composed by a single poet. Individual poems may have been previously published in periodicals, chapbooks, or anthologies, but may not have been previously published in a full-length collection. Poets do not need to be US-based but all prize monies will be subject to international tax withholding. We are committed to an ethical and transparent process that maintains fairness and promotes the literary arts. There can be no conflict of interest between applicants and the advisory board or series general editor.  Current faculty, students, and graduates of the MFA Creative Writing Program at Vanderbilt University are ineligible.

  • Guidelines
    • One original manuscript per poet will be accepted between Jan. 1 and April 15, 2024, through our submission manager. The contest will close once we have received 500 submissions.
    • Manuscripts should contain a title page, including the poet’s name, table of contents and an acknowledgments page, if applicable. Manuscripts should be between 50 and 85 pages. An abstract of 250 words or less should accompany each manuscript as a separate document along with a CV or resume.
    • Manuscripts must be written in English; poetry translations will not be accepted.
    • Previously published manuscripts, including self-published books, will not be accepted. 
    • Each manuscript must be accompanied by a $25 entry fee at the time of your submission. Entry fees may be waived for those undergoing financial hardship or living with limited means. Waivers are served on a first come, first served basis and are capped at 25 per cycle.
    • To request a waived reading fee, please email us for a discount code to apply at time of payment. Work must be submitted one week after the waiver is granted.
    • Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, but poets must immediately withdraw their manuscript by emailing vuliteraryprize@vanderbilt.edu if it is accepted for publication elsewhere.
    • No revisions will be considered during the course of the contest, but the winning poet will have an opportunity to make revisions before publication.

Prize

Winning manuscripts will be published in print, e-book, and audio formats by Vanderbilt University Press, accompanied by a standard publishing contract.

The prize recipient will receive a $10,000 honorarium, an invitation to read in the esteemed Gertrude C. and Harold S. Vanderbilt Reading Series at Vanderbilt University, and a one-week residency on campus to engage students and local writers in the Nashville community.

  • Judging Process

    An advisory board of award-winning poets and editors will promote the prize and provide helpful perspectives and feedback on the jurying process, impact, and goals of the annual publication. Each prize cycle, three or four members of the advisory board will serve as jurists and participate in selecting the winning manuscript. Professor Major Jackson serves as general editor of the prize and chair of the advisory board.

    Screened entries will be equally divided between jurists, who will then select up to five semifinalists from their batch. The general editor will award a winning manuscript from among the semifinalists and identify honorable mentions.

  • Advisory Board
    • Victoria Chang 
    • Kate Daniels 
    • Rick Hilles
    • Garrett Hongo 
    • Didi Jackson 
    • Major Jackson
    • Mark Jarman 
    • Dana Levin 
    • Nate Marshall 
    • Gregory Pardlo 
    • Matthew Zapruder 

2024 Winner

Vanderbilt University is pleased to announce Stephanie Niu as the inaugural winner of the Vanderbilt University Literary Prize.

A panel of jurists selected Niu’s I Would Define the Sun, a collection of poems about resisting scarcity through language.

The Vanderbilt University Literary Prize was launched earlier this year in celebration of the institution’s Sesquicentennial. It will be awarded annually to the sole author of a full-length collection of poetry that demonstrates great poignancy combined with rigor in form, language and artistic vision. The contest drew more than 300 entries.

A collaboration of Vanderbilt’s Office of the ChancellorVanderbilt University Press and Vanderbilt’s English Department and MFA in Creative Writing Program, the contest seeks to recognize works of poetry whose originality is immediately identifiable in how the book renews our relationship to language; delves into underexplored areas of human experience; and makes claims on our lives that are urgent and aesthetic while also enacting historical, social, literary, political or spiritual awareness.

“At this moment of global political upheaval, dizzying technological advancement and general uncertainty, literature—and poetry in particular—is unmatched in its ability to help us pause and reflect deeply on our lives, our times and what it means to be human,” Chancellor Daniel Diermeier said. “My office is proud to support the Vanderbilt University Literary Prize and to affirm the importance of the literary arts at Vanderbilt. I offer my warmest congratulations to Stephanie Niu on her fine achievement, and we look forward to welcoming her to campus.”

The prize includes the publication of the winning manuscript in print, electronic and audio formats, a publishing contract with Vanderbilt University Press, a $10,000 honorarium, an invitation to read in the esteemed Gertrude C. and Harold S. Vanderbilt Reading Series at Vanderbilt University, and a one-week residency on campus to engage students and writers in the Nashville community.

Niu is a poet and writer from Marietta, Georgia. She is the author of the chapbooks Survived By: An Atlas of Disappearance (winner of the 2023 Host Publications Chapbook Prize) and She Has Dreamt Again of Water (winner of the 2021 Diode Editions Chapbook Contest). Her work has appeared in The Georgia ReviewThe Missouri Review, Literary Hub, Copper NickelEcotone Magazine and other publications. She holds a bachelor’s degree in symbolic systems and a master’s degree in computer science from Stanford University. She received a Fulbright scholarship for research on Christmas Island’s labor history, through which she led youth poetry workshops and published the zine Our Island, Our Future. She lives in New York City.

Niu said she’s thrilled to be the inaugural Vanderbilt University Literary Prize winner.

“It still feels surreal to have my first full-length collection honored by this prize and to know that such an esteemed group of poets, many of whom are longtime inspirations, believe in my work,” Niu said.

I Would Define the Sun is scheduled for publication in February 2025 by Vanderbilt University Press. Niu will be in residence on campus for a week in spring 2025 to engage with students, faculty and the broader community.

“I am honored to be publishing Stephanie’s collection as part of a prize that creates simultaneous print, electronic and audio editions in combination with an immersive campus residency designed to engage Vanderbilt and Nashville’s literary communities,” said Gianna Mosser, director of Vanderbilt University Press. “This type of support for the arts is a benchmark of innovative excellence in university press publishing collaborations.”

Jurists for the prize included several esteemed poets, writers, editors and educators, including Professor Major Jackson, Major Jackson, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English and director of creative writing. Jurists Victoria Chang, Dana Levin and Gregory Pardlo selected nine semifinalists. From that pool, Jackson selected the winner. Honorable mentions were awarded to Wesley Rothman’s Wanted and Samyak Shertok’s No Rhododendron.

“So much of what the prize aims to recognize and honor is represented in the talented work of poet Stephanie Niu,” Jackson said. “Contemplative and boldly expressive, Niu addresses profound questions of dwindling ecologies, desire, cultural identity and class realities. In so doing, we encounter an audacious voice who thinks by feeling. These are stark lyric poems of immense reach and perceptiveness.”