Open for Submissions: 24-25 Academy of American Poets / Edwin G. Wilson Prize for Undergraduate Poetry

The Department of English invites students from every discipline to submit their original poetry to Wake Forest University’s Academy of American Poets / Edwin G. Wilson Prize. The Prize, which was inaugurated in spring 2023, is awarded each spring to an outstanding Wake Forest undergraduate poet.

The Prize was established by an anonymous donor in honor of beloved Provost Emeritus and Professor Emeritus Edwin G. Wilson, and is sponsored by the Academy of American Poets’ University and College Prize Program. The winner receives a cash prize and their poems is shared on poets.org. Additionally, winners who are twenty-three years old and younger will be considered for the Academy’s Aliki Perroti and Seth Frank Most Promising Young Poet Award.

The Prize’s guest judge for 2024-25 is poet and writer Mildred Kiconco Barya, a North Carolina-based writer and poet of East African descent. She teaches and lectures globally, and is the author of four full-length poetry collections, most recently The Animals of My Earth School (Terrapin Books, 2023). Her prose, hybrids, and poems have appeared in the New England Review, The Cincinnati Review, Shenandoah, Joyland, Tin House, The Forge, and elsewhere. She serves on the board of African Writers Trust and coordinates the Poetrio Reading events at Malaprop’s Independent Bookstore/Café. She blogs here: www.mildredbarya.com.

Submission Details: 

Wake Forest undergraduate students are invited to submit up to three original poems (8 pages maximum, in 12 pt font) to be considered for the Prize. The deadline to submit poems this year is March 1, 2025. 

Wake Forest Undergraduates: Submit your work here by March 1, 2025.

Submission Guidelines:

No more than three poems per entry (each poem should start on a new page) and no more than eight pages, total. The recommended fonts are Garamond and Times New Roman. Poems should be in 12 point font and single-spaced, unless your form requires another kind of spacing or use of the page. It is suggested that you submit work as a pdf, as that format is less likely to shift your formatting (docx is also accepted). Work will be accepted until the close of business on March 1, 2025. 

Prize History

Spring 2023

Winner: Katie Bullock, “Mother (or, a Midwestern Motif)”

Guest Judge: NC Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green

Spring 2024

Winner: Jasmine Marshall, “Portals”

Guest Judge: Poet and Professor Emeritus UNC Charlotte Christopher Davis

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About the Academy of American Poets University & College Poetry Prizes

Established in 1955, the University and College Poetry Prize program began with ten schools. Today, the Academy of American Poets sponsors over two hundred annual poetry prizes at colleges and universities across the U.S, and has awarded cash prizes to nearly ten thousand student poets since the program’s inception. The recognition winning student poets receive provides important validation. As one student poet, Emily, shared, “As a young poet the prize not only made me feel as if my work had something of value, it made me feel connected with the broader poetic community. It increased my confidence in my writing and encouraged me to continue working at my craft.”

About Edwin G. Wilson

Edwin Graves Wilson (b. February 1, 1923), known affectionately as “Mr. Wake Forest,” is Professor Emeritus of English and Provost Emeritus for Wake Forest University. Wilson was born in Leaksville, North Carolina, and began classes at Wake Forest at age 16. He graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. (1943) in English and after graduation, he served as a U.S. Naval officer on a destroyer escort during World War II. Post-war, he received his A.M. (1948) and Ph.D. (1952) in English from Harvard University. Wilson returned to his alma mater as an Instructor in English, and was named Professor of English in 1959. A skilled and articulate teacher, Dr. Wilson focused on the British Romantic poets, such as William Wordsworth, Lord Byron, and others as well as the poetry of William Blake, William Butler Yeats, and Dylan Thomas.