The Poetry Project is proud to offer The Lisa Brannan Prize, a $1,000 prize for emerging poets in honor of a former Poetry Project intern and poet. In addition to the financial prize, the winning poet will have one poem published in the Poetry Project Newsletter.

The generosity and dedication of our interns and volunteers—often emerging poets themselves—is invaluable to The Poetry Project, and we are so honored to offer this prize, which supports emerging poets, in the memory of our former intern, Lisa Brannan.

Lisa Brannan was a Poetry Project intern in New York City during the mid-1990’s. She was born in Utah, grew up in South Carolina, and moved to New York to study engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology. While a student, Lisa began to develop an interest in the local literary and cultural scene of Lower Manhattan. She joined The Poetry Project as an intern in 1995 and helped the Project with event promotion and archiving. Lisa's time with the Project was one of the most joyous times in her life. She developed her writing by immersing herself in the world of the subjects and themes that interested her. Lisa passed away in 1997, at the age of 22 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Eligibility & Submission Guidelines

There is no fee for poets interested in submitting to the Prize. We regret that we are unable to accept international submissions at this time. Poets interested in having their work considered should observe the guidelines below:

Eligible applicants must:

• Be eighteen years of age and older and live within the US. We cannot accept international submissions at this time.
• Not currently be enrolled in undergraduate and graduate degree-­granting writing programs.
• Not have published a full-length collection of poetry (chapbooks are ok).

Applicants must:

• Submit a work sample that includes up to 3 pages of previously unpublished poems (PDF format); One entry per poet; Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere.
• Not include any personally identifying information within their work sample. The judge will review submissions without any identifying information attached.
• Submit a brief CV that includes a bio (1 page max; PDF format).

Only work that is submitted via the above link will be considered. We do not accept Brannan Prize submissions by email.

Due to the volume of work we receive, if your submission does not follow the above guidelines you will not be eligible for consideration.

Read the work of previous winners below