The Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Awards

The Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Awards are a pair of American prizes based at Claremont Graduate University

Claremont Graduate University

Claremont Graduate University is a private, all-graduate research university located in Claremont, California, a city east of downtown Los Angeles...

. They are given to poets for their collections of poetry written in the English language

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, by a citizen or legal resident alien of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

The Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award is a $100,000 prize presented to a mid-career, emerging poet who already possesses an established body of work. The Kingsley Tufts award is known to be one of the world’s most lucrative poetry prizes.

Its counterpart, the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, is given to a poet who demonstrates genuine promise in their first book of published poetry, with an attached purse of $10,000.

History – Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award

Kingsley Tufts held executive positions in the Los Angeles shipyards and wrote poetry as his avocation. His poetry has been featured in the New Yorker, Esquire, and Harpers, among others.

Following his death in 1991, Kingsley’s wife, Kate, sold her home and the majority of the couple’s estate in order to fund an endowment to help poets further their craft. She established the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award in 1993 at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California.

Initially, the award was for $50,000, and has subsequently doubled due to increases in the endowment. It is intended for an emerging poet who is past the very beginning but has not yet reached the acknowledged pinnacle of their career.

Kate Tufts had no prior affiliation with Claremont Graduate University, but when she met then-university President John Maguire and visited the campus, she became convinced that it was the perfect home for her poetry prize.

Unlike many literary awards, which are coronations for a successful career or body of work, the Kingsley Tufts award was created to both honor the poet and provide the resources that allow artists to continue working.

Kate Tufts said she wanted to create a prize “that would enable a poet to work on his or her craft for awhile without paying bills.”

History –The Kate Tufts Discovery Award

In 1994, just a year after the inauguration of the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, Kate
Tufts founded the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, which began in the amount of $5,000, but has since doubled to $10,000.

Kate Tufts died in June 1997, at the age of 86. While she did not live to see her awards grow to become some of the largest poetry prizes in the world, she certainly took pride in their inception while she was alive.

Doug Anderson, 1995 Kate Tufts Discovery Award recipient, remembers her sardonic wit when meeting her that year: “She came into the room at the Claremont Graduate School grumbling that she couldn’t smoke in there, and then she stopped and looked at Tom Lux [that year’s Kingsley Tufts award recipient] and myself. Kate Tufts looked at us and said, ‘You don’t know how glad I am that this year’s awards were given to a couple of really disreputable poets.’”

Claremont Graduate University's poetry journal, Foothill: a journal of poetry endeavors to act in the tradition of the Kingsley and Kate Tufts poetry awards.

“Like the Tufts Awards, Foothill aims to help poets along in transitional periods of their career. While the Kate and Kingsley awards are focused on newly published and mid-career poets, Foothill hopes to support graduate students who are in the apprentice stage as artists, and help encourage them in their progression,” said Kevin Riel, Editor-in-chief of "Foothill" and doctoral student at Claremont Graduate University.

Judging

Both awards go through two phases of judging. A preliminarily panel of three judges screens the approximately 300 combined applications that are received for both awards. They then pass on 25 finalists for the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and 50 for the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award to the final judges.

The final panel is composed of five distinguished judges, representing a cross-section of the American poetry community.

2012 Judging

The panel of final judges for the 2012 Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Awards is:

Linda Gregerson

Linda Gregerson

Linda Gregerson is an American poet and member of faculty at the University of Michigan .-Life:Linda Gregerson received a B.A. from Oberlin College in 1971, an M.A. from Northwestern University, an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa Writers Workshop, and her Ph.D. from Stanford University...

, poet, professor at the University of Michigan, and past Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award recipient

David Barber, poet, poetry editor of The Atlantic Monthly

Kate Gale

Kate Gale

Kate Gale is an American poet, librettist, and independent publisher.- Life :Kate Gale was born in Binghamton, New York to Stephen Gale and Evadene Swanson. She graduated with a B.A. in English from Arizona State University. She received an M.A. in English with a creative writing emphasis from...

, poet, novelist, managing editor of Red Hen Press

Ted Genoways

Ted Genoways

Ted Genoways is the editor of the Virginia Quarterly Review .He graduated from Nebraska Wesleyan University, Texas Tech University with an MA, and from the University of Virginia with an MFA....

, award-winning poet and Editor of the Virginia Quarterly Review

Carl Phillips

Carl Phillips

Carl Phillips is an American writer and poet. He is a Professor of English and of African and Afro-American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis....

, poet, professor at Washington University in St. Louis, and past Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award recipient
The panel of preliminary judges for the 2012 competition includes:

Jericho Brown

Jericho Brown

Jericho Brown is an American poet who was recently awarded a 2011 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Poetry.-Life:He graduated from Dillard University, and from the University of New Orleans with an MFA, and from the University of Houston with a Ph.D. He teaches at the University of...

, poet, Assistant Professor of English at the University of San Diego

Andrew Feld

Andrew Feld

-Life:He graduated from the University of Houston, with an MFA.He teaches at University of Washington, and is the editor of The Seattle Review....

, poet, editor of the Seattle Review, and assistant professor at the University of Washington

Suji Kwock Kim

Suji Kwock Kim

-Life:She graduated from Yale College; the Iowa Writers' Workshop; Seoul National University, where she was a Fulbright Scholar; and Stanford University, where she was a Stegner Fellow....

, poet and playwright, assistant professor at University of Massachusetts, Boston

Distinguished Past Judges

Paul Muldoon

Paul Muldoon is an Irish poet. He has published over thirty collections and won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the T. S. Eliot Prize. He held the post of Oxford Professor of Poetry from 1999 - 2004. At Princeton University he is both the Howard G. B. Clark ’21 Professor in the Humanities and...

, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

The Pulitzer Prize in Poetry has been presented since 1922 for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author. However, special citations for poetry were presented in 1918 and 1919.-Winners:...

winner, and poetry editor of the New Yorker

New Yorker

New Yorker may refer to:* A resident of New York City * A resident of New York state * The New Yorker, a magazine* A predecessor newspaper to Horace Greeley's New York Tribune...

Robert Pinsky

Robert Pinsky is an American poet, essayist, literary critic, and translator. From 1997 to 2000, he served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. Pinsky is the author of nineteen books, most of which are collections of his own poetry...

, poet, past Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress

Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress

The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress—commonly referred to as the United States Poet Laureate—serves as the nation's official poet. During his or her term, the Poet Laureate seeks to raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of...

, and poetry editor at Slate

Charles Harper Webb

Charles Harper Webb

Charles Harper Webb is an American poet, professor, psychotherapist and former singer and guitarist. His most recent poetry collection is Shadow Ball . His honors include a Whiting Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, The Kate Tufts Discovery Award, a Pushcart Prize and inclusion in The Best American...

, Guggenheim Fellowship

Guggenheim Fellowship

Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...

recipient in 2001, and professor at California State University Long Beach

Submission Requirements/Deadlines

Submissions are due annually on September 15, and eligible work has to have been published the previous year (between September and August). Manuscripts, CDs, and chapbooks are not accepted.

Awards Ceremony

Award winners are announced the February following the September deadline, with a ceremony and presentation of the awards in April, national poetry month.

The ceremony takes place on the Claremont Graduate University Campus, and winners are required to accept their award in person.

Distinguished speakers at the Awards Ceremony have included Kathy Bates

Kathy Bates

Kathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates is an American actress and director.After several small roles in film and television, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery , for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe...

in 2002, Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Simon Nimoy is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. Nimoy's most famous role is that of Spock in the original Star Trek series , multiple films, television and video game sequels....

in 2007, and Maxine Hong Kingston

Maxine Hong Kingston

Maxine Hong Kingston is a Chinese American author and Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, where she graduated with a BA in English in 1962. Kingston has written three novels and several works of non-fiction about the experiences of Chinese immigrants living in the United...

in 2012.

Restrictions

A single work may be submitted for either award only once, although the winner of the Kate Tufts Discovery Award may submit another work in a later year for the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award.

The Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award Winner, by accepting the award, agrees to spend one week in residence at Claremont Graduate University for lectures and poetry readings in Claremont and the greater Los Angeles area.

Winners

Year	Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award	Kate Tufts Discovery Award
2011	Chase Twichell Chase Twichell Chase Twichell is an American poet, professor, and publisher, the founder in 1999, of Ausable Press. Her most recent poetry collection is Horses Where the Answers Should Have Been, which earned her Claremont Graduate University's prestigious $100,000 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award.... — Horses Where the Answers Should Have Been	Atsuro Riley Atsuro Riley Atsuro Riley is an American poet.He is the author of Romey's Order . His work has appeared in Poetry, McSweeney's, and The Threepenny Review... — Romey's Order
2010	D.A. Powell D. A. Powell -Life and career:Powell lived in various places growing up, then graduated high school from Lindhurst High School in Linda, California. He then worked in a number of jobs before eventually settling in Santa Rosa, California, where he attended Sonoma State University. He earned a bachelor's degree... — Chronic	Beth Bachmann Beth Bachmann Beth Bachmann is an American poet.Bachmann is Assistant Professor of creative writing at Vanderbilt University. Her poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Kenyon Review, Antioch Review, AGNI, Prairie Schooner, Blackbird, Tin House, and Ploughshares.They are included in the textbook The... — Temper
2009	Matthea Harvey Matthea Harvey Matthea Harvey is a contemporary American poet, writer and professor. She has published three collections, most recently, Modern Life , which earned her the 2009 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award and was a finalist for the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award, and a New York Times Notable Book... — Modern Life	Matthew Dickman Matthew Dickman Matthew Dickman is an American poet. He received a B.A. degree from the University of Oregon , and has been the recipient of fellowships from The Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin, The Vermont Studio Center, and The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown... — All-American Poem
2008	Tom Sleigh Tom Sleigh Tom Sleigh is an American poet, dramatist, essayist and academic, who currently lives in New York City. He has published seven books of original poetry, one full-length translation of Euripides' Herakles and a book of essays. At least five of his plays have been produced... — Space Walk	Janice N. Harrington Janice N. Harrington -Life:She grew up in Alabama and Nebraska.She worked as a public librarian in Champaign, Illinois, and as a professional storyteller, appearing at the National Storytelling Festival.... — Even the Hollow My Body Made is Gone
2007	Rodney Jones Rodney Jones Rodney Jones is an American poet and professor of English at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Jones was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the winner of the 1989 National Book Critics Circle Award. His other honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Peter I.B... — Salvation Blues	Eric McHenry Eric McHenry -Life:He graduated from Topeka High School. He graduated from Beloit College and from Boston University.His work has appeared in The New Republic, Harvard Review, Northwest Review, Orion and AGNI.He lives in Topeka with his family.... — Potscrubber Lullabies
2006	Lucia Perillo Lucia Perillo -Life:Lucia Perillo grew up in the suburbs of New York City in the 1960s. She graduated from McGill University in Montreal in 1979 with a major in wildlife management, and subsequently worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. She completed her M.A... — Luck Is Luck	Christian Hawkey Christian Hawkey Christian Hawkey is an American poet.-Life and work:Christian Hawkey graduated from University of Massachusetts, Amherst.... — The Book of Funnels
2005	Michael Ryan Michael Ryan (poet) Michael Ryan has been teaching creative writing and literature at University of California, Irvine since 1990.-Life:He taught previously at the University of Iowa, Princeton University, the University of Virginia, and in the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers... — New and Selected Poems	Patrick Phillips Patrick Phillips Patrick Phillips is an American poet, professor, and translator. His most recent poetry collection is Boy... — Chattahoochee
2004	Henri Cole Henri Cole Henri Cole is an award-winning American poet.-Biography:Henri Cole was born in Fukuoka, Japan, to an American father and French mother, and raised in Virginia, United States. His father, a North Carolinian, enlisted in the service after graduating from high school and, while stationed in... — Middle Earth	Adrian Blevins Adrian Blevins Adrian Blevins is an American poet. Author of three collections of poetry, her most recent is Live from the Homesick Jamboree .-Life:... — The Brass Girl Brouhaha
2003	Linda Gregerson Linda Gregerson Linda Gregerson is an American poet and member of faculty at the University of Michigan .-Life:Linda Gregerson received a B.A. from Oberlin College in 1971, an M.A. from Northwestern University, an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa Writers Workshop, and her Ph.D. from Stanford University... — Waterborne	Joanie Mackowski Joanie Mackowski -Life:She grew up in Connecticut.She graduated from Wesleyan University, the University of Washington, was a Stegner Fellow in Poetry at Stanford University, and from University of Missouri with a Ph.D.She taught at University of Cincinnati... —The Zoo
2002	Carl Phillips Carl Phillips Carl Phillips is an American writer and poet. He is a Professor of English and of African and Afro-American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis.... — The Tether	Cate Marvin Cate Marvin -Life:She graduated from Marlboro College, University of Houston, University of Iowa, and University of Cincinnati with a Ph.D.She teaches at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York and in spring 2010 will be teaching at Columbia University.... — World's Tallest Disaster
2001	Alan Shapiro Alan Shapiro Alan Shapiro is an American poet and professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is the author of nine poetry books, including Tantalus in Love, Song and Dance, and The Dead Alive and Busy. He received the Kingsley Tufts Award and the Los Angeles... — The Dead Alive and Busy	Jennifer Clarvoe Jennifer Clarvoe -Life:She graduated from Princeton University, and University of California at Berkeley, with a Ph.D.She has taught at Harvard Summer School, Wellesley College, Boston University, and in the MFA Program at the University of California at Irvine.... — Invisible Tender
2000	Robert Wrigley Robert Wrigley Robert Wrigley is an American poet and educator.His most recent book is Beautiful Country'. Other collections include Earthly Meditations: New and Selected Poems Lives of the Animals ; Reign of Snakes ; In the Bank of Beautiful Sins ; What My Father Believed ; Moon in a... — Reign of Snakes	Terrance Hayes Terrance Hayes Terrance Hayes is a prize-winning American poet. His recent poetry collection Lighthead won the National Book Award for Poetry... — Muscular Music
1999	B.H. Fairchild — The Art of the Lathe	Barbara Ras Barbara Ras Barbara Ras is an American poet, translator and publisher. Her most recent poetry collection is The Last Skin , which was preceded by One Hidden Stuff , and her first collection is Bite Every Sorrow .-Life:She graduated from Simmons College, and University... — Bite Every Sorrow
1998	John Koethe John Koethe John Koethe is an American poet and essayist. Originally from San Diego, California, he was educated at Princeton University and Harvard University, and is currently a professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.... — Falling Water	Charles Harper Webb Charles Harper Webb Charles Harper Webb is an American poet, professor, psychotherapist and former singer and guitarist. His most recent poetry collection is Shadow Ball . His honors include a Whiting Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, The Kate Tufts Discovery Award, a Pushcart Prize and inclusion in The Best American... — Reading the Water
1997	Campbell McGrath Campbell McGrath Campbell McGrath is a notable modern American poet. He is the author of nine full-length collections of poetry, including his most recent, Seven Notebooks , Shannon: A Poem of the Lewis and Clark Expedition , and In the Kingdom of the Sea Monkeys .- Life :McGrath was born in Chicago, Illinois, and... — Spring Comes to Chicago	Lucia Perillo Lucia Perillo -Life:Lucia Perillo grew up in the suburbs of New York City in the 1960s. She graduated from McGill University in Montreal in 1979 with a major in wildlife management, and subsequently worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. She completed her M.A... — The Body Mutinies
1996	Deborah Digges Deborah Digges -Biography:She was born Deborah Leah Sugarbaker in Jefferson City, Missouri, on February 6, 1950. Her father was a physican and her mother was a nurse; she was the sixth child in a family of ten children.... — Rough Music	Barbara Hamby Barbara Hamby -Life:She was born in New Orleans and raised in Hawaii. Her poems have been printed in numerous publications and her first book of poetry, Delirium , received literary recognition... — Delirium
1995	Thomas Lux Thomas Lux -Biography:Thomas Lux was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, son of a milkman and a Sears & Roebuck switchboard operator, neither of whom graduated from high school. Lux was raised in Massachusetts on a dairy farm. He was, according to those who knew him in high school, very good at baseball,... — Split Horizon	Doug Anderson Doug Anderson (poet) Doug Anderson is an American poet, fiction writer, and memoirist. His most recent book is a memoir, Keep Your Head Down: Vietnam, the Sixties, and a Journey of Self-Discovery... — The Moon Reflected Fire
1994	Yusef Komunyakaa Yusef Komunyakaa Yusef Komunyakaa is an American poet who currently teaches at New York University and is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Komunyakaa is a recipient of the 1994 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, for Neon Vernacular and the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He also received the Ruth Lilly... — Neon Vernacular	Catherine Bowman Catherine Bowman Catherine Bowman is an American poet.Her most recent poetry collection is The Plath Cabinet , and her poems have appeared in literary journals and magazines including The Best American Poetry, TriQuarterly, River Styx, Conjunctions, Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, The Los Angeles Times, Crazy Horse,... —1-800-HOT-RIBS
1993	Susan Mitchell Susan Mitchell Susan Mitchell is an American poet, essayist and translator who wrote the poetry collections Rapture and Erotikon.-Life:... — Rapture	Not Awarded

External links

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