The Frost Medal of the Poetry Society of America (PSA) is awarded annually, at the discretion of the Society’s Board of Governors, to honor distinguished lifetime achievement in American poetry. The award was originally known as the Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement, and was later renamed in honor of American poet Robert Frost on the centennial of his birth. The medal was established in 1930, the winner also receives $2,500. The nomination process is confined to the PSA.

The Frost Medal should not be confused with a gold Robert Frost Medal that was presented by the United States Congress to Frost himself in the early 1960s. and Robert Frost medals issued by the State of Vermont.

Recipients

2020s 2026 – Mei-mei Berssenbrugge 2025 – Nikki Giovanni 2024 – Joy Harjo 2023 – Juan Felipe Herrera 2022 – Sharon Olds 2021 – N. Scott Momaday 2020 – Toi Derricotte

2010s 2019 – Eleanor Wilner 2018 – Ron Padgett 2017 – Susan Howe 2016 – Grace Schulman 2015 – Kamau Brathwaite 2014 – Gerald Stern 2013 – Robert Bly 2012 – Marilyn Nelson 2011 – Charles Simic 2010 – Lucille Clifton

2000s 2009 – X. J. Kennedy 2008 – Michael S. Harper 2007 – John Hollander 2006 – Maxine Kumin 2005 – Marie Ponsot 2004 – Richard Howard 2003 – Lawrence Ferlinghetti 2002 – Galway Kinnell 2001 – Sonia Sanchez 2000 – Anthony Hecht

1990s 1999 – Barbara Guest 1998 – Stanley Kunitz 1997 – Josephine Jacobsen 1996 – Richard Wilbur 1995 – John Ashbery 1994 – A. R. Ammons 1993 – William Stafford 1992 – Adrienne Rich 1992 – David Ignatow 1991 – Donald Hall 1990 – Denise Levertov 1990 – James Laughlin

1980s 1989 – Gwendolyn Brooks 1988 – Carolyn Kizer 1987 – Robert Creeley 1987 – Sterling Brown 1986 – Allen Ginsberg 1986 – Richard Eberhart 1985 – Robert Penn Warren 1984 – Jack Stadler

Earlier recipients 1976 – A. M. Sullivan 1974 – John Hall Wheelock 1971 – Melville Cane 1967 – Marianne Moore 1955 – Leonora Speyer 1952 – Carl Sandburg 1951 – Wallace Stevens 1947 – Gustav Davidson 1943 – Edna St. Vincent Millay 1942 – Edgar Lee Masters 1941 – Robert Frost 1930 – Jessie Rittenhouse 1930 – George Edward Woodberry (posthumous) 1930 – Bliss Carman (posthumous)

Years not awarded 1931–1940 1944–1946 1948–1950 1953–1954 1956–1966 1968–1970 1972–1973 1975 1977–1983

References

Sources