The Donald Justice Poetry Prize is a prestigious national competition^[1] sponsored by the Iris N. Spencer Poetry Awards of the West Chester University Poetry Center. It has been given annually since 2006 to an American poet for an unpublished book-length manuscript of formal poetry.^[2]

Each year, one manuscript is selected for the award ^[2] and is published in the spring. The submissions are judged blindly and selected by a notable poet who works in traditional forms. Past judges have included Erica Dawson, David Mason,^[3]A. E. Stallings,^[4] and Marilyn Nelson.

The winner receives $1,500 and will have the manuscript published by Autumn House Press. Prior to 2018, winning poetry collections were either published by Measure Press or West Chester University. The award is presented at the annual West Chester University Poetry Event each spring.

The following are the winners of the Donald Justice Poetry Prize:^[5]

• 2006 — Kate Light, Gravity's Dream: New Poems and Sonnets
• 2007 — Kim Bridgford, In the Extreme: Sonnets about World Records
• 2008 — John Poch, Two Men Fighting with a Knife^[1][6]
• 2009 — Julie Kane, Jazz Funeral^[7]
• 2010 — Ned Balbo, Trials of Edgar Poe and Other Poems^[4]
• 2011 — Amit Majmudar, Heaven and Earth
• 2012 — Joanna Pearson, Oldest Mortal Myth
• 2013 — Anne-MarieThompson, Audiation
• 2014 — Susan McLean, The Whetstone Misses the Knife
• 2014 — Stephen Gibson, Rorschach Art Too
• 2015 — Jeff Hardin, Restoring the Narrative
• 2015 — Pat Valdata, Where No Man Can Touch
• 2017 — Ryan Wilson, The Stranger World
• 2018 — Chad Abushanab, The Last Visit
• 2019 — Katherine Barrett Swett, Voice Message
• 2020 — John Foy,^[8] No One Leaves the World Unhurt
• 2021 — Alexis Sears, Out of Order
• 2022 — J. D. Debris, The Scorpion's Question Mark^[9]
• 2023 — Erica Reid, Ghost Man on Second^[10]