Maurice English Poetry Award

Maurice English (October 21, 1909–November 18, 1983) was a poet, reporter, and author who is noted for having headed the presses of the University of Chicago, Temple University, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Following English's death, his family established the Maurice English Poetry Award, which honors an author in his or her sixth (fifty or beyond) decade of life for a distinguished book of poems published during the preceding calendar year. The award acknowledges that Maurice English's first volume of poetry, Midnight in the Century, was published in his 55th year. The award carries an honorarium of $3,000 and a request for a public reading in Philadelphia. The award was first given in 1985 to Jane Cooper for Scaffolding: New and Selected Poems (1985).

Recipients of the Maurice English Poetry Award
The year indicated is the year in which the award was made.
 * 2005: Caroline Knox, He Paves the Road with Iron Bars
 * 2004: R. T. Smith, The Hollow Log Lounge
 * 2003: Samuel Hazo, Just Once: New and Selected Poems
 * 2002: Robert Bly, The Night Abraham Called to the Stars
 * 2001: Kay Ryan, Say Uncle
 * 1991: Richard Fein, Kafka's Ear
 * 1990: W. S. Merwin, Selected Poems
 * 1989: Jean Valentine, Home Deep Blue: New and selected poems.
 * 1988: David Ray, Sam's Book.
 * 1987: Philip Booth, Relations
 * 1986: Linda Pastan, A Fraction of Darkness
 * 1985: Jane Cooper, Scaffolding: New and Selected Poems