Annual Levis Prize of $5,000 for a First Book of Poetry and First Book of Fiction
Two Larry Levis Post-Graduate Stipends, one in fiction and one in poetry, are given to support graduates of the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers who are completing first books. Each award will be made to a writer in the amount of $5,000. Judges will be announced with the winning manuscripts.
The 2026 Levis will open mid-September.
Eligibility
The Levis Post-Graduate Stipends are open only to alumni who have not yet published a full-length collection in the selected genre (chapbooks, or full-length books in another genre, are allowed). Any book with a registered ISBN of 48 pages or more, excluding front and back matter (poetry), or 100 pages or more, excluding front or back matter (fiction), is considered a full-length collection. Entrants to the competition must hold an MFA from the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College or from the MFA Program at Goddard College, founded by Ellen Bryant Voigt and subsequently moved to the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.
Guidelines
Deadlines & More Information
The portal is now closed. The 2026 Levis Prize will open mid- September.
Any queries or requests for more information should be addressed to:
Nuha Fariha, Administrative Manager
About Larry Levis
Larry Levis (1946-1996) was an award-winning poet who wrote six books of poetry during his lifetime.
His collection, Elegy, was published posthumously. A Selected Poems was published in 2000. The Darkening Trapeze, a collection of last poems, was published in 2016. Levis was a much-beloved member of the faculty at the MFA Program for Writers, cherished as much for his incisive mind as for the care and attention he gave to his students.
