Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowships

Two Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowships are awarded annually through a national competition open to undergraduate and graduate students in creative writing or English who are enrolled in a university or college at the time of the application. Students must be American citizens under thirty years old and must not have published a collection of poetry or had one accepted for future publication.

Program directors or department chairs are invited to nominate one, and only one student-poet from their programs. All nominations must be accompanied by an official application form, along with samples of the candidate’s work. In the special case of a young poet who is not currently enrolled in a university but who is independently pursuing a poetic career, nominations may be made by a teacher or colleague familiar with the poet’s work.