of Congress in 1949 adopted a policy prohibiting the Library henceforth from granting any more awards or prizes. James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, is quoted as stating: "The family relation to the Library is a great love story and it is too good not to want to savor, commemorate and celebrate." Three-time Poet Laureate, Robert Pinsky, said of the Prize in 2000, "I don't know of any other literary prize that has such a high standard." Winners 1990 – James Merrill for The Inner Room 1992 – Louise Glück for Ararat and Mark Strand for The Continuous Life 1994 – A. R. Ammons for Garbage 1996 – Kenneth Koch for One Train 1998 – Frank Bidart for Desire 2000 – David Ferry for Of No Country I Know: New and Selected Poems and Translations 2002 – Alice Fulton for Felt 2004 – B. H. Fairchild for Early Occult Memory Systems of the Lower Midwest 2006 – W. S. Merwin for Present Company 2008 – Charles Wright for Lifetime Achievement and Bob Hicok for This Clumsy Living 2010 – Lucia Perillo for Inseminating the Elephant 2012 – Gerald Stern for Early Collected Poems: 1965–1992 2014 – Patricia Smith for Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah 2016 – Claudia Rankine for Citizen: An American Lyric and Nathaniel Mackey for Lifetime Achievement 2018 – Jorie Graham for Fast 2020 – Terrance Hayes for American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin and Natasha Trethewey for Lifetime Achievement See also American poetry List of poetry awards List of American literary awards List of literary awards List of years in poetry List of years in literature References External links The Poetry and Literature Center of the Library of Congress American poetry awards