Since its founding in 1971, stories, poems, and essays from Ploughshares have appeared over 135 times in The Best American Poetry, The Best American Short Stories, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses, and Best Canadian Stories.
Also, take a look at our Alice Hoffman Prize for Fiction, inaugurated in 2011, which honors the best story published in Ploughshares during the year.
In 2011, we also began the Emerging Writer's Contest to help discover beginning authors who have yet to publish a book. You can find all of the winners and runners-up here.
Also, check out the Cohen Award winners, which honored the best story and poem published in Ploughshares from 1986 to 2010, and our Zacharis Award winners, given each year to the best debut book by a Ploughshares writer.
The Best American Poetry | ||
| 2010 | ||
| Bridget Lowe | The Pilgrim Is Bridled and Bespectacled | Spring 2010 |
| Katha Pollitt | Angels | Spring 2010 |
| 2009 | ||
| Bruce Bond | Ringtone | Spring 2008 |
| Alice Friman | Getting Serious | Winter 2007-08 |
| 2008 | ||
| John Casteen | Night Hunting | Winter 2006-07 |
| Garrett Hongo | Cane Fire | Spring 2007 |
| Debra Nystrom | Every Night | Spring 2007 |
| John Rybicki | Three Lanterns | Spring 2007 |
| 2007 | ||
| Jane Hirshfield | Critique of Pure Reason | Winter 2006-07 |
| 2005 | ||
| Beth Ann Fennelly | I Need to Be More French. Or Japanese. | Spring 2004 |
| 2004 | ||
| Mary Jo Bang | The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity | Spring 2003 |
| 2003 | ||
| Joshua Clover | Aeon Flux: June | Winter 2001-02 |
| 2002 | ||
| Frank Bidart | Injunction | Fall 2001 |
| Timothy Liu | Felix Culpa | Fall 2001 |
| Sharon Olds | Frontis Nulla Fides | Fall 2001 |
| Charles Wright | Nostalgia II | Fall 2001 |
| 2001 | ||
|
Vectors: 45 Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays |
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| 2000 | ||
| Susan Wood | Analysis of the Rose as Sentimental Despair | Spring 1999 |
| 1999 | ||
| David Mamet | A Charade | Winter 1997-98 |
| David Wagoner | Thoreau and the Crickets | Spring 1998 |
| 1996 | ||
| Martín Espada | Rednecks | Spring 1995 |
| Reginald Shepherd | Skin Trade | Spring 1995 |
| 1995 | ||
| Rafael Campo | The Battle Hymn of the Republic | Spring 1994 |
| 1994 | ||
| Jeffrey McDaniel | Following Her to Sleep | Winter 1992-93 |
| 1993 | ||
| Killarney Clary | An Unlikely One Will Guide Me... | Winter 1991-92 |
| 1992 | ||
| Paul Hoover | Theory | Winter 1991-92 |
| 1991 | ||
| Thom Gunn | The Beautician | Winter 1989 |
| Josephine Jacobsen | The Woods | Winter 1989 |
| Robyn Selman | Past Lives | Winter 1989 |
| Laurie Sheck | Living Color | Spring 1990 |
| Patricia Storace | War Movie: Last Leave, 1944 | Winter 1989 |
| 1990 | ||
| Susan Mitchell | Havana Birth | Spring 1989 |
Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards | ||
| 2009 | ||
| Paul Yoon | And We Will Be Here | Fall 2007 |
| 2003 | ||
| Joan Silber | The High Road | Fall 2002 |
| 2001 | ||
| Elizabeth Graver | The Mourning Door | Fall 2000 |
| 2000 | ||
| Michael Byers | The Beautiful Days | Fall 1999 |
| 1999 | ||
| Sheila Schwartz | Afterbirth | Fall 1998 |
| 1998 | ||
| Maxine Swann | Flower Children | Fall 1997 |
| 1997 | ||
| Mary Gordon (First Place) | City Life | Spring 1996 |
| 1996 | ||
| David Wiegand | Buffalo Safety | Fall 1995 |
| 1994 | ||
| Helen Fremont | Where She Was | Winter 1992-93 |
| 1993 | ||
| Jennifer Egan | Puerto Vallarta | Fall 1991 |
| 1989 | ||
| Starkey Flythe, Jr. | CV 10 | Winter 1986 |
| 1988 | ||
| Ann Beattie | Honey | Winter 1986 |
| 1987 | ||
| Gina Berriault | The Island of Ven | Fall 1985 |
| Robert Boswell | The Darkness of Love | Fall 1985 |
| 1985 | ||
| Joyce Carol Oates | The Seasons | Winter 1983 |
| Tobias Wolff | Sister | Winter 1983 |
| 1983 | ||
| Raymond Carver | A Small, Good Thing | Summer/Fall 1982 |
| 1982 | ||
| Ivy Goodman | White Boy | Winter 1980-81 |
| 1982 | ||
| Ivy Goodman | Baby | Winter 1979 |
| 1979 | ||
| Mary Peterson | Travelling | Spring 1978 |
| 1978 | ||
| John J. Clayton | Bodies Like Mouths | Spring 1977 |
Best Canadian Stories | ||
| 2012 | ||
| Shaena Lambert | The War Between the Men and the Women | Spring 2011 |
PEN Literary Awards | ||
| 2010 | ||
| David Stuart Maclean | The Answer to the Riddle Is Me
(Emerging Writers Award) |
Winter 2009-10 |