James Laughlin Award

The James Laughlin Award, formerly the Lamont Poetry Prize, is given annually for a poet's second published book; it is the only major poetry award that honors a second book. The award is given by the Academy of American Poets, and is noted as one of the major prizes awarded to younger poets in the United States. It is currently named after James Laughlin, an American poet and editor who founded New Directions Publishing, the distributor of English-translated Siddhartha. In 1959, Harvey Shapiro referred to the award as "roughly, a Pulitzer for bardlings."

Laughlin Award Winners (1996–present)

This partial listing is taken from the website of the Academy of American Poets.

Year	Poet	Book	Judges
2022	Annelyse Gelman	Vexations	Solmaz Sharif, Aracelis Girmay
2021	James Cagney	Martian	Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Mark Bibbins, Ladan Osman
2020	Chet'la Sebree	Field Study	Rick Barot, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
2019	Aditi Machado	Emporium	Gillian Conoley, Fady Joudah, Cole Swensen
2018	Geffrey Davis	Night Angler	Patricia Spears Jones, Craig Santos Perez, Prageeta Sharma
2017	sam sax	Bury It	Tyehimba Jess, Ruth Ellen Kocher, Jill McDonough
2016	Mary Hickman	Rayfish	Ellen Bass, Jericho Brown, Carmen Giménez Smith
2015	Kathryn Nuernberger	The End of Pink	Francisco X. Alarcón, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, D. Nurske
2014	Brian Blanchfield	A Several World	Lee Ann Brown, Tina Chang, C. S. Giscombe
2013	Jillian Weise	The Book of Goodbyes	Jeffrey McDaniel, Brenda Shaughnessy, Susan Wheeler
2012	Catherine Barnett	The Game of Boxes	April Bernard, Cyrus Cassells, Dana Levin (poet)
2011	Anna Moschovakis	You and Three Others Are Approaching a Lake	Juliana Spahr, Brian Teare, Mónica de la Torre
2010	Michael Dickman	Flies	Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Major Jackson, Michael Ryan
2009	Jennifer K. Sweeney	How to Live on Bread and Music	Robin Becker, Bob Hicok, Afaa M. Weaver
2008	Rusty Morrison	the true keeps calm biding its story	Rae Armantrout, Claudia Rankine, Bruce Smith
2007	Brenda Shaughnessy	Human Dark with Sugar	Peter Gizzi, Matthea Harvey, Caroline Knox
2006	Tracy K. Smith	Duende	Elizabeth Alexander, Kimiko Hahn, Terrance Hayes
2005	Barbara Jane Reyes	Poeta en San Francisco	James Longenbach, Susan Stewart, Elizabeth Alexander
2004	Jeff Clark	Music and Suicide	Elizabeth Alexander, Mary Jo Bang, Susan Stewart
2003	Vijay Seshadri	The Long Meadow	Mary Jo Bang, Thom Gunn, Campbell McGrath
2002	Karen Volkman	Spar	Mary Jo Bang, Daniel Hall, Campbell McGrath
2001	Peter Johnson	Miracles & Mortifications	Daniel Hall, Campbell McGrath, Marilyn Nelson
2000	Liz Waldner	A Point Is That Which Has No Part	Agha Shahid Ali, Lynn Emanuel, Marilyn Nelson
1999	Tory Dent	HIV, Mon Amour	Lynn Emanuel, Yusef Komunyakaa, Marilyn Nelson
1998	Sandra Alcosser	Except by Nature	Lynn Emanuel, Yusef Komunyakaa, David St. John
1997	Tony Hoagland	Donkey Gospel	Yusef Komunyakaa, Heather McHugh, William Matthews
1996	David Rivard	Wise Poison	Heather McHugh, William Matthews, David St. John

Lamont Poetry Selections (1954–1974)

For the first 20 years, a poet's first published volume was the annual Lamont Poetry Selection.