Snyder Prize

The Richard Snyder Memorial Publication Prize

This poetry book series honors the memory of Richard Snyder (1925-1986), poet, fiction writer, playwright, professor of English at Ashland University, and in 1969 co-founder (with Robert McGovern) of the Ashland Poetry Press. In selecting manuscripts for this series, Ashland Poetry Press editors keep in mind Snyder's tenacious dedication to craftsmanship and thematic integrity.

 

The Winner of the Snyder Prize Receives:

  • $1,000.00
  • Publication of winning manuscript in a paperback edition
  • 25 copies of the published book (in lieu of royalties)

2024 Submission Guidelines:

  • Original collection of poems, 48 to 96 pages.
  • Reading period begins January 1, 2024
  • Deadline: May 1, 2024 
  • Translations are ineligible (we have a separate translation series)
  • No names or any identifiers on manuscripts; acknowledgements may be included.
  • Ashland University MFA Program alumni, AU employees or their spouses are ineligible. 
  • Family, students, and co-workers of the final judge are ineligible. 
  • Electronic submissions only (Submittable. $27)                           
The 2024 Judge will be Matthew Rohrer.
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Matthew Rohrer is the author of The Sky Contains the Plans (Wave Books, 2020), The Others (Wave Books, 2017), which was the winner of the 2017 Believer Book Award, Surrounded by Friends (Wave Books, 2015), Destroyer and Preserver (Wave Books, 2011), A Plate of Chicken (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2009), Rise Up (Wave Books, 2007) and A Green Light (Verse Press, 2004), which was shortlisted for the 2005 Griffin Poetry Prize. He is also the author of Satellite (Verse Press, 2001), and co-author, with Joshua Beckman, of Nice Hat. Thanks. (Verse Press, 2002), and the audio CD Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty. He has appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered and The Next Big Thing. His first book, A Hummock in the Malookas was selected for the National Poetry Series by Mary Oliver in 1994. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, and teaches at NYU.
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Former Snyder Prize Winners:

  • Teresa Cader, 2023, for At Risk 
  • Bruce Bond, 2022, for Vault 
  • Margaret Mackinnon, 2021, for Afternoon in Cartago 
  • Peter Grandbois, 2020, for Last Night I Aged a Hundred Years
  • Laura Donnelly, 2019, for Midwest Gothic
  • Barbara Ungar, 2018, for Save Our Ship 
  • Michael S. Moos, 2017, for The Idea of the Garden
  • Pamela Sutton, 2016, for Burning My Birth Certificate
  • Daneen Wardrop 2015, for Life As It
  • Anna George Meek 2014, for The Genome Rhapsodies
  • J. David Cummings 2013, for Tancho
  • Robin Davidson 2012, for Luminous Other
  • Gabriel Spera 2011, for The Rigid Body
  • Mary Makofske 2010, for Traction
  • Jason Schneiderman 2009, for Striking Surface
  • Marc J. Sheehan 2008, for Vengeful Hymns
  • Helen Pruitt Wallace 2007, for Shimming the Glass House
  • Lorna Knowles Blake 2006, for Permanent Address
  • Benjamin S. Grossberg 2005, for Underwater Lengths in a Single Breath
  • Christine Gelineau 2004, for Remorseless Loyalty
  • Vern Rutsala 2003, for The Moment's Equation
  • Carol Barrett 2002, for Calling in the Bones
  • Corrinne Clegg Hales 2001, for Separate Escapes
  • Jan Lee Ande 2000, for Instructions for Walking on Water
  • Philip Brady 1999, for Weal
  • David Ray 1998, for Demons in the Diner
  • Wendy Battin 1997, for Little Apocalypse

Notable awards of some Snyder book winners: 

2021 Richard Snyder Prize winner, Midwest Gothic by Laura Donnelly, won the Eric Hoffer "da Vinci Eye" Award.

2015 Richard Snyder Prize winner, Life As It by Daneen Wardrop, won the gold medal for poetry in the 2017 Independent Publishers Book Award.

2013 Richard Snyder Prize winner, Tancho by J. David Cummings, won the gold medal in the Independent Book Publishers Association Benjamin Franklin Award. 

2008 Richard Snyder Prize winner, Vengeful Hymns by Marc J. Sheehan, was the finalist for the Society of Midland Authors Poetry Competition.

2007 Richard Snyder Prize winner, Shimming the Glass House by Helen Pruitt Wallace, won the Bronze medal in the 2008 Florida Book Awards Poetry category.

2004 Richard Snyder Prize winner, Remorseless Loyalty by Christine Gelineau, was nominated by David St. John for the 2006 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Poetry.

2003 Richard Snyder Prize winner, The Moment's Equation by Vern Rutsala (published in December 2004), was a finalist for the 2005 National Book Award.

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