The Philip Levine Prize in Poetry is an annual book contest proudly sponsored by the M.F.A. Program at California State University, Fresno. This contest, open to all poets (except current or former students or faculty of Fresno State), offers a $2000 prize, publication and distribution by Anhinga Press (a Florida-based press that has been publishing poetry for more than 25 years), and 25 free author copies of the winning book.

Through participation in our "Literary Editing and Publishing" course, M.F.A. students are given an opportunity to serve as manuscript readers for the Prize, as well as to learn about other facets of contest administration, book publishing and promotions.

The contest is named for poet Philip Levine who was the final judge in 2001, 2002, 2005. Philip Levine taught at California State University, Fresno for many years and is one of the best known and most highly-honored American poets. He has published 16 books of poems, as well as several volumes of translations and two collections of essays. His list of honors includes two National Book Awards, two National Book Critics Circle Awards, the American Book Award, the Ruth Lily Poetry Prize for Distinguished Poetic Achievement, and the Pulitzer Prize for poetry.