Award-winning poet Dr. Taylor Byas will serve as the final judge for the 2026 Manley Award.
The Poetry Lab is a nurturing online space for innovative poet-scholars worldwide. In memory of our cofounder, we lovingly established the Markus D. Manley Award in 2024, on the tenth anniversary of his passing. This award builds on our commitment to supporting BIPOC poets through a blend of financial aid, educational resources, and mentorship opportunities.
The 2026 Markus D. Manley Award offers a remote residency at The Poetry Lab from May 2026 through February 2027. A guest judge will select the recipient, who will be announced in April 2026.
The recipient of the Markus D. Manley Award receives a $1,000 stipend to support their personal and professional needs, allowing them to focus on their craft with less financial worry. In addition, the award includes nine months of free access to our courses and mentorship opportunities from our network of accomplished poets and educators. This poetry residency aims to enrich the recipient’s poetic skills and understanding, offering guidance in support of their personal poetry goals.
💲1,000 stipend to support your personal and professional needs.
This poetry residency provides entry to the BrainTrust, our monthly workshop where poets can explore new ideas and techniques under the guidance of our roster of teaching artists. The award recipient will serve as The Poetry Lab’s Poet-in-Residence and will have access to the Feedback Circle, a 6-week workshop focused on giving and receiving craft-centered critique. Furthermore, the awardee may choose from a variety of 4-week courses on topics such as ekphrasis in poetry, designed to deepen their knowledge and expand their creative expression.
In addition to these educational benefits, the Markus D. Manley Award winner, as Poet-in-Residence, will gain access to our Resource Center, which includes a wealth of poetry articles, new podcast episodes for inspiration, social media feeds for community engagement, and archived learning materials including recorded workshops.
☑ Feedback Workshop
☑ Generative Workshops
☑ Educational Courses
☑ Career Mentorship
☑ Collaboration Opportunities
☑ Community Networking
For more than a decade, The Poetry Lab has been committed to leveling the playing field for poets, making a high-quality literary education accessible and affordable. We believe in creating a supportive environment where poets can write, read, and collaborate together.
Thanks to the support of the Hawthornden Foundation, we are able to offer the 2026 Markus D. Manley Award. To help sustain this award into the future, there is a $10.00 application fee. These funds go directly toward supporting this opportunity for the years ahead.
We welcome applications through March 31 at 12:00 AM Pacific Standard Time and encourage BIPOC poets who are passionate about their craft to apply.
Learn more about Markus D. Manley here.
Markus D. Manley Award
2026 Application
Already submitted your application? Pay your application fee here.
About this year’s Judge
Dr. Taylor Byas
Award-winning poet Dr. Taylor Byas will serve as the final judge for the 2026 Manley Award. As part of this year’s award, Dr. Byas will also provide two hours of one-on-one mentorship to the selected Manley Award fellow, offering thoughtful guidance and conversation during their residency with The Poetry Lab.
Dr. Byas is a Black poet and essayist originally from Chicago. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and a Master’s degree in English with a Creative Writing concentration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and earned her Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of Cincinnati, where she currently lives.
Her debut full-length poetry collection, I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times (Soft Skull Press), was a USA Today bestseller and has received numerous honors, including the Maya Angelou Book Award, the Chicago Review of Books Award in Poetry, and the Ohioana Book Award in Poetry, and was named a BCALA Best Poetry Honor Book by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. She is also the author of two chapbooks, Bloodwarm and Shutter, and her second full-length poetry collection, Resting Bitch Face, was selected for Roxane Gay’s Audacious Book Club.
The Poetry Lab is honored to welcome Dr. Byas as this year’s final judge and mentor for the Manley Award, and looks forward to the insight, care, and craft she will bring to the selection process and to the fellowship recipient.
Markus D. Manley Award
Toward a Sustainable Culture of Innovators
Learn more about Markus and his impact on our origin story and mission on The Poetry Lab Podcast Episode #2: Be The Poet You Want to See in the World.
Available everywhere you get your podcasts.