In celebration of National Poetry Month, which has its thirtieth anniversary in 2026, the Academy of American Poets will be hosting its first contest for Poem-a-Day, in which two winners will have their work featured in Poem-a-Day over a weekend in April. The winners’ poems will go out to 327,000+ subscribers and be featured both on Poets.org and in our Academy Newsletter, which goes out to 90,000+ subscribers. 

Contestants are invited to submit in accordance with the following conditions, otherwise the entry will be disqualified:

• Contestants must be at least eighteen years old at the time of entry.
• Contestants may submit one poem of no more than three pages.
• Submitted work must be in English (works of translation are not permitted).
• The submitted entry must be a new, previously unpublished work (published work would include poems published on blogs, i.e., Substack; work featured in exhibitions and/or public installations but not work that has been shared at a reading and possibly recorded by an audience member).
• No contestant should have been published in Poem-a-Day within the last three years from the contest entry date (December 2, 2025).
• No contestant should have been an employee at the Academy within the last three years from the contest entry date (December 2, 2025).

All contest entries are due by 11:59 PM ET on January 1, 2026. Contest winners will be notified on March 1, 2026. 

The 2026 Harold Morton Landon Translation Award is a $1,000 award recognizing a poetry collection translated from any language into English and published in the previous calendar year. Established in 1976, it is given annually. A noted translator chooses the winning book.

Submissions are accepted from September 15, 2025 through February 15, 2026 (11:59 p.m. Eastern Time). The 2026 Harold Morton Landon Translation Award will be judged by Cynthia Hogue.

Please review the guidelines before sending your submission. For questions, please write to awards@poets.org.

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2026 Harold Morton Landon Translation Award Guidelines

• Any translator who meets one of the below criteria on the date of the submission deadline, in any given year, is eligible: U.S. Citizen, or; resident of the United States for the ten-year period prior to the submission deadline, or; Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) status, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Legal Permanent Status (LPS), or any subsequent categories designated by the U.S. authorities as conferring similar enhanced status upon non-citizens living in the United States.

Please note: By law the Academy of American Poets must report cash prizes awarded to individuals to the Internal Revenue Service. If individuals have a Social Security Number (SSN) or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), the individual will receive a 1099. If the individual does not have an SSN or ITIN, the individual will receive a 1042 and could be subject to a withholding of a percentage of the cash prize.

• Only books published in the United States during 2025 are eligible for the 2026 prize.
• Books must be published in a standard edition (48 pages or more).
• Collaborations by up to two translators are eligible.
• Self-published books will not be considered.
• Only online submissions are accepted for the award through Submittable: poets.submittable.com/submit.
• The Academy of American Poets agrees to purchase for distribution to its members copies of the winning book. The Academy of American Poets may purchase additional copies of the book for its own use, but not for resale. No royalties will be paid to the author on the copies purchased by the Academy of American Poets. The publisher agrees to make available to the Academy of American Poets the number of copies requested and to sell the books at a special discount based on a percentage markup of the PPB (printing, paper, and binding) costs.
• The winner of the 2026 Harold Morton Landon Translation Award will be announced in June 2026.
• All correspondence concerning the contest should be addressed to the Academy of American Poets and sent to awards@poets.org.
• The decisions of the Academy of American Poets as to eligibility are final.

Please note: It is the mission of the Academy of American Poets to support American poets at all stages of their careers and to foster the appreciation of contemporary poetry. In furtherance of our mission, we are committed to maintaining the highest standards of quality and integrity in our publications and programs, and expect and require the same from the poets with whom we collaborate.

All applicants and selected award recipients agree that, as part of their eligibility to receive the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award, they will maintain the highest standards of fairness, decency and personal integrity, in the Academy’s sole discretion, including with adherence to all applicable laws and community values. The decisions of the Academy of American Poets regarding eligibility, both initial and throughout the award period, are final.

The Raiziss/de Palchi Translation Awards recognize outstanding translations into English of modern Italian poetry through a $10,000 book prize and a $25,000 fellowship, given in alternating years. The Raiziss/de Palchi Fellowship will be given in 2026 to enable an American translator to travel, study, or otherwise advance a significant work-in-progress. The Academy invites applications from American translators currently engaged in the translation of twentieth-century Italian poetry. The winning translator will receive an award of $25,000 and a five-week residency at the American Academy in Rome. The judges for the 2026 Raiziss/de Palchi Fellowship are Gian Maria Annovi, Patrizio Ceccagnoli, and Anna Kraczyna. Please review the guidelines before sending your submission. 

For questions, please write to awards@poets.org.