The Off tHe Grid Poetry Prize
The Off the Grid Prize recognizes the work of older poets and highlights important contemporary voices in poetry. Winners receive $1000 and publication, promotion, and distribution of their book in print and audio formats. We are looking for work by poets over 60, whose writing practice is ongoing and whose vision is fresh while drawing from six or more decades of lived experience.
Past judges have included Marilyn Nelson, Jennifer Tseng, Garrett Hongo, Marianne Boruch, and Gregory Orr. The judge for the 2026 contest will be announced in Spring 2025.
2025 Prizewinner
Elton Glaser, Soul Patch
Finalists
The Devil of the People, John Blair
Want, Kevin Clark
No Two Grains at Rest, Steve Leggett
By the time I had returned the blood, Ricardo H. J. León
Semifinalists
The Hunting Mother & Other Poems, Margaret Benbow
Latewood, Robin Dellabough
Rivermouth Shouting, Jean Gallagher
Practice Baby, Karen Hildebrand
Blue Chore Coat, Daye Phillippo
On the Way Here, Frances Richey
What Follows, Matthew J. Spireng
Previous Winners
2024: Wayfarers by Jane Medved
2023: Woman at the Crossing by Susan Okie
2022: Swansdown by Donald Platt
2021: More American by Sharon Hashimoto
2020: This is Where I Live I Have Nowhere Else to Go by Dennis Hinrichsen
2019: Breather by Ioanna Carlsen
2018: My Own Name Seems Strange to Me by Karen Whalley
2017: Improbable Creatures by Jon Davis
2016: Cold Storage by Keith Althaus
2015: Finestra’s Window by Patricia Corbus
2014: Doggerland by Dicko King
2013: Dollhouse by Elaine Terranova
2012: Coyote Bush by Peter Nash
Guidelines for the 2026 contest, which opens in May, will be posted early next year!
