CHESTERTOWN, MD—Undergraduates at Washington College can now compete for a prestigious poetry prize established through the Academy of American Poets. Administered by the Rose O’Neill Literary House and the Department of English, the new Jude and Miriam Pfister Poetry Prize will each year award one student a $100 cash prize for a single poem. A member of the English Department will judge the submissions, and the winner will be announced at the annual Senior Reading in the spring semester. 

“This is the kind of award that can offer a young writer encouragement at the moment she most needs it,” says Literary House Director Jehanne Dubrow, who as a graduate student won university prizes through the Academy of American Poets. “I’m thrilled that our students here at Washington College will now have the same opportunity to compete for an award that receives national recognition and that is connected to one of the most prestigious literary organizations in the country.”

“This is a major award,” agrees English Department chair Kathryn Moncrief, “important enough that career and academic poets include it on their resumes.”

The donors who are funding the prize have long ties to Washington College. Jude Pfister graduated from Washington College in 1993 with a master’s degree in history, and Miriam Pfister’s great-grandfather George Emmet Wood was a member of the Class of 1885. The couple’s deep fondness for the institution has been reflected in their ongoing support of scholarships and the Miller Library, as well in their donation of items such as 19th and early 20th-century documents to the George Emmet Wood Collection of Washington College Memorabilia.                                                          

Founded in 1934, the Academy of American Poets has awarded more money to poets than any other organization. It creates literary events such as National Poetry Month and the annual Poets Forum in New York City and facilitates more than 200 annual prizes for poetry at colleges and universities nationwide.

Students interested in entering an original poem in the first Pfister Prize competition should email their poem to Lindsay Lusby, assistant director of the Literary House, (llusby2@washcoll.edu) by Friday, March 22, 2013. Emails should include POETRY PRIZE and your name in the subject line. All electronic files must be saved as .pdf files with 12-point type and one-inch margins. Applicants are limited to one entry, with only one poem, each. For more information, please visit the Rose O’Neill Literary House’s website (http://www.washcoll.edu/centers/lithouse/the-jude-and-miriam-pfister-poetry-prize.php).

For more information about the Academy of American Poets, please visit poets.org.