The T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry is awarded annually by Truman State University

Truman State University

Truman State University is a public liberal arts and sciences university in Missouri, United States and a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. About 6,000 students attend Truman, pursuing degrees in 43 undergraduate and 9 Graduate programs. It is located in Kirksville in...

, which is a United States university located in Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

. It is given "for the best unpublished book-length collection of poetry in English, in honor of native Missourian T. S. Eliot

T. S. Eliot

Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...

’s considerable intellectual and artistic legacy". The prize includes publication of the collection as well as a purse of $2000. Poets submit their unpublished collections to Truman State University Press for each year's competition. A well-known poet is chosen each year to judge the collections, and to select the winner and several finalists.

List of winners

The winners, collection titles, and judges of the annual Prize are listed below. In addition to the winner, several finalists are announced for each year's competition. The complete list of winners and finalists is posted at the Truman State University Press website. As examples, Deborah Warren

Deborah Warren

Deborah Warren is an American poet.She graduated from Harvard University, with a BA in English.She worked as a teacher of Latin and English, and a software engineer....

 and A. M. Juster were finalists, and both Patty Seyburn and Daniel Bourne have been finalists twice.

Winners of the T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry

Year	Poet	Collection	Judge
2011 2011 in literature The year 2011 will involve some significant events and new books.-Events:*Tomas Tranströmer wins the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature.*Jennifer Egan wins the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel A Visit From the Goon Squad.-Literature:*T.C...	B. K. Fisher	Mutiny Gallery	Tony Barnstone
2010 2010 in literature The year 2010 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*February - The Wheeler Centre, Australia's "literary hub", officially opened.*April 3 - First release of the Apple iPad, electronic book reading device....	Dean Rader Dean Rader Dean Rader is an American writer, blogger, poet, and professor who teaches at the University of San Francisco. He is primarily known for his scholarly work on Native American poetry. In 2008, his blog, , got some attention in the blogosphere when one of his posts, ]'s State of the Union Speech,...	Works and Days	Claudia Keelan Claudia Keelan -Life:Keelan, who was born in Anaheim, California, is a graduate of Humboldt State University and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently Missing Her , and has published poems widely in magazines and journals, including The American Poetry Review,...
2009 2009 in literature The year 2009 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*8 October - Romanian-born German novelist Herta Müller wins the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature....	David Moolten	Primitive Mood	Virgil Suárez Virgil Suárez Virgil Suárez is a Cuban American poet and novelist. He is a professor of English at Florida State University. He is one of the leading writers in the Cuban American community, known for such novels as Latin Jazz and Going Under....
2008 2008 in literature The year 2008 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*January 1 - In the 2008 New Year Honours, Hanif Kureishi , Jenny Uglow , Peter Vansittart and Debjani Chatterjee are all rewarded for "services to literature".*June 15 - Gore Vidal, asked in a New York Times...	Victoria Brockmeier	my maiden cowboy names	Grace Schulman Grace Schulman -Life:She studied at Bard College, and graduated from American University in 1955, and from New York University with a Ph.D.She is Distinguished Professor of English at Baruch College, CUNY...
2007 2007 in literature The year 2007 in literature involves some significant new books.-Events:*November 19 - First Kindle e-book reader released.*December 11 - Terry Pratchett informs fans on-line that he has been diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer's disease.-Literature:...	Carol V. Davis	Into the Arms of Pushkin: Poems of St. Petersburg	Alberto Rios Alberto Ríos Alberto Álvaro Ríos is an American author of nine books and chapbooks of poetry, three collections of short stories, and a memoir. He is a Regents' professor of English at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona...
2006 2006 in literature The year 2006 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Literature:*Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Half of a Yellow Sun*Chris Adrian - The Children's Hospital *Martin Amis - House of Meetings...	Rebecca Dunham	The Miniature Room	Naomi Shihab Nye Naomi Shihab Nye Naomi Shihab Nye is a poet, songwriter, and novelist. She was born to a Palestinian father and American mother. Although she regards herself as a "wandering poet", she refers to San Antonio as her home.-Career:...
2005 2005 in literature The year 2005 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*February 25 - Canada Reads selects Rockbound by Frank Parker Day as the novel to be read across the nation....	Mona Lisa Saloy	Red Beans and Ricely Yours	Ishmael Reed Ishmael Reed Ishmael Scott Reed is an American poet, essayist, and novelist. A prominent African-American literary figure, Reed is known for his satirical works challenging American political culture, and highlighting political and cultural oppression.Reed has been described as one of the most controversial...
2004 2004 in literature The year 2004 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Canada Reads selects Guy Vanderhaeghe's The Last Crossing to be read across the nation....	Michael Sowder	The Empty Boat	Diane Wakoski Diane Wakoski Diane Wakoski is a American poet who is primarily associated with the deep image poets, as well as the confessional and Beat poets of the 1960s.-Biography:...
2003 2003 in literature The year 2003 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Peter Ackroyd - The Clerkenwell Tales*Atsuko Asano - No...	Barbara Campbell	Erotic Distance	C. D. Wright C. D. Wright Carolyn D. "C. D." Wright is an American poet.-Biography:Wright was born in Mountain Home, Arkansas to a chancery judge and a court reporter. She earned a BA from Memphis State College in 1971 and briefly attended law school before leaving to pursue an MFA from the University of Arkansas, which...
2002 2002 in literature The year 2002 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 16: Authorities in Saudi Arabia arrested and jailed poet Abdul Mohsen Musalam and fired a newspaper editor following the publication of Musalam's poem The Corrupt on Earth that criticized the state's Islamic...	James Gurley	Human Cartography	David Wagoner David Wagoner David Russell Wagoner is an American poet who has written many poetry collections and ten novels. Two of his books have been nominated for National Book Awards....
2001 2001 in literature The year 2001 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The film version of J. R. R. Tolkien's classic book, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, is released to movie theaters...	Christopher Bakken Christopher Bakken Christopher Bakken an American poet, translator, and professor at Allegheny College.He graduated from Columbia University with an M.F.A., and from University of Houston with a Ph.D. in literature and creative writing...	After Greece	Lynne McMahon Lynne McMahon Lynne McMahon is an American poet.She graduated from University of Utah with a PhD in 1982. She teaches at University of Missouri,Her work has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, New Virginia Review, American Poetry Review, The Southern Review, The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The...
2000 2000 in literature The year 2000 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* February 13 - Final original Peanuts comic strip is published...	H. L. Hix H. L. Hix Harvey Lee Hix , who signs his work H. L. Hix, is an American poet and academic.Hix is the author of books of poetry, criticism and essays and has been awarded a fellowship from the NEA. He has also won the KCAI Teaching Excellence Award and the T. S...	Rational Numbers	Dana Gioia Dana Gioia -Poetry:It was as a poet that Gioia first began to attract widespread attention in the early 1980s, with frequent appearances in The Hudson Review, Poetry, and The New Yorker. In the same period, he published a number of essays and book reviews...
1999 1999 in literature The year 1999 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*June 19 - Stephen King is hit by a Dodge van while taking a walk. He spends the next three weeks hospitalized...	David Keplinger	The Rose Inside	Mary Oliver Mary Oliver Mary Oliver is an American poet who has won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. The New York Times described her as "far and away, this country's [America's] best-selling poet".-Early life:...
1998 1998 in literature The year 1998 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 5 - Tennessee Williams' 1938 play, Not About Nightingales, receives its stage première....	Rhina Espaillat Rhina Espaillat Rhina Espaillat was born in the Dominican Republic in 1932 and has lived in the United States since 1939. She taught English in the New York City public schools for many years, and retired to Newburyport, Massachusetts, where for more than a decade she has led a group of New Formalist poets known...	Where Horizons Go	X. J. Kennedy X. J. Kennedy X. J. Kennedy is a poet, translator, anthologist, editor, and writer of children's literature and student textbooks on English literature and poetry.-Beginnings and academic career:...
1997 1997 in literature The year 1997 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Tom Clancy signs a book deal with Pearson Custom Publishing and Penguin Putnam Inc. , giving him US$50 million for the world-English rights to two new books . A second agreement gives him another US$25 million for a...	William Baer William Baer William Baer is an award-winning American writer, editor, translator, and educator.The author of sixteen books, he's a former Fulbright and a Guggenheim fellow, as well as the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts creative writing grant....	The Unfortunates	Samuel Maio