Undergraduate English majors are invited to enter the annual Virginia Rucker Walter Poetry Prize!

This award acknowledges an outstanding English major. It is named for Virginia Rucker Walter, who was an undergraduate at UGA in the 1980s. Virginia Walter was killed by a drunk driver before she was able to graduate, but her family presents this prize in honor of her memory and in celebration of her love of literature.  

This year, the judge will select a winner to receive a $500 award.

The competition will be judged this year by Paul Cunningham, alumni of ugacwp.

The deadline for all submissions is MIDNIGHT on Friday, March 27, 2026. Results will be announced on Monday, April 13th. Only one submission will be accepted per student. 

About the Judge:

Paul Cunningham is the Creative Writing Program Manager at the University of Notre Dame, where he also teaches and co-manages Action Books. He is the author of Brillo (Lavender Ink, 2025), Sociocide at the 24/7 (DIAGRAM, 2025), and two titles from Schism Press: Fall Garment (2022) and The House of the Tree of Sores (2020). He is also one of the collaborators in Katrine Øgaard Jensen's Ancient Algorithms (Sarabande Books, 2025). From the Swedish, he is the translator of Helena Österlund’s Words (OOMPH! Press, 2019). He has also translated two chapbooks by Sara Tuss Efrik: Automanias: Selected Poems (Goodmorning Menagerie, 2016) and The Night’s Belly (Toad Press, 2016). His poems and translations have appeared in or are forthcoming in the following anthologies: American Pop Culture Almanac 1776-2026: An Anthology of Poetry and Prose (Moon Tide Press, 2027); Experimental Writing: A Guidebook and Anthology (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024); A Flame Called Indiana: An Anthology of Contemporary Hoosier Writing (Indiana University Press, 2023); and others. He is a board member of NonfictioNOW and a coordinator of the International Network of Comparative Humanities. Cunningham holds a BA from Slippery Rock University, MFA from the University of Notre Dame, and PhD from the University of Georgia.

ENTRY FORM

You must login with your MyID UGA Email address (ex: myid@uga.edu) to complete an entry form. For instructions on signing in, please visit this page.