Walt Whitman Award
{{Short description|Poetry award}}
{{Infobox award
| name = The Walt Whitman Award
| image =
| imagesize = 250px
| caption =
| awarded_for = Encourage the work of emerging poets and to enable the publication of a poet’s first book
| presenter = Academy of American Poets
| country = United States
| year = 1975
| website = {{URL|poets.org/academy-american-poets/prizes/walt-whitman-award}}
}}
The Walt Whitman Award is a poetry award administered by the Academy of American Poets.{{cite book| page=[https://archive.org/details/poetsmarket2008p00nanc/page/412 412]| title=2008 Poet's Market| year=2007| editor=Nancy Breen| publisher=Writer's Digest Books| place=Cincinnati, Ohio| isbn=978-1-58297-499-6| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/poetsmarket2008p00nanc/page/412}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.pw.org/content/walt_whitman_award_1 |title=Walt Whitman Award | Poets & Writers |access-date=2009-06-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090712125200/http://www.pw.org/content/walt_whitman_award_1 |archive-date=2009-07-12 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web| url=http://www.lsu.edu/lsupress/series_wwp.html| title=Walt Whitman Award of the Academy of American Poets: BOOKS IN THIS SERIES| work=LSU Press| url-status=dead| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007151619/http://www.lsu.edu/lsupress/series_wwp.html| archivedate=2008-10-07}}{{cite web| url=http://www.awardsandhonors.com/award/walt_whitman_award.html| title=Walt Whitman Award| work=awardsandhonors}} Named after poet Walt Whitman, the award is based on a competition of book-length poetry manuscripts by American poets who have not yet published a book.{{cite web |url=http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/110 |title=Walt Whitman Award |publisher=Academy of American Poets |accessdate=2009-05-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090707092251/http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/110 |archive-date=2009-07-07 |url-status=dead }} It has been described as "a transformative honor that includes publication and distribution of the book though the Academy, $5,000 in cash and an all-expenses-paid [six-week] residency" at the Civitella Ranieri Center in the Umbrian region of Italy.
The Library of Congress includes the Walt Whitman Award among distinctions noted for poets,{{cite web |title=Authors Jared Carter and Debra Magpie Earling To Read on Dec. 9 |url=https://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2004/04-204.html |publisher=The Library of Congress |date=December 6, 2004}} as does The New York Times, which also occasionally publishes articles about new awards.{{cite news |title=Walt Whitman Award - NYTimes.com Search |url=https://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch?date_select=full&query=%22Walt+Whitman+Award |accessdate=2009-06-14 | work=The New York Times | first=Newoldage | last=Blog}}
The award was established in 1975. In a New York Times opinion piece from 1985, the novelist John Barth noted that 1475 manuscripts had been entered into one of the Whitman Award competitions, which exceeded the number of subscribers to some poetry journals.{{cite news |title=Writing: Can It Be Taught? |last=Barth |first=John |authorlink=John Barth |work=The New York Times |date=June 16, 1985}} Since 1992, Louisiana State University Press has published each volume as part of its "Walt Whitman Award Series";{{cite web |title=Series: Walt Whitman Award of the Academy of American Poets |publisher=Louisiana State University Press |url=http://www.lsu.edu/lsupress/series_wwp.html |accessdate=2009-06-14 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007151619/http://www.lsu.edu/lsupress/series_wwp.html |archivedate=2008-10-07 }} the Academy purchases and distributes copies to its associate members, along with copies of the winning volume for the James Laughlin Award.{{cite web |title=Membership |publisher=Academy of American Poets |url=http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/69 |accessdate=2009-05-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303222129/http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/69 |archive-date=2009-03-03 |url-status=dead }} Since the academy buys 6,000 copies for its members, and the average print run for a poet's first book is 3,000 copies, a Whitman Award guarantees a best seller in the tiny poetry market.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/02/theater/as-arts-prizes-multiply-so-do-doubts-on-value.html| title=As Arts Prizes Multiply, So Do Doubts on Value| author=JUDITH MILLER| date=December 2, 1996| work=The New York Times}}
Recipients
References
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{{Walt Whitman |state=collapsed}}
Category:American poetry awards