 In a "New York Times" opinion piece from 1985, the novelist John Barth noted that 1475 manuscripts had been entered into one of the Whitman Award competitions, which exceeded the number of subscribers to some poetry journals.From 1992 to 2014, Louisiana State University Press published each volume as part of its "Walt Whitman Award Series" Beginning 2015, Graywolf Press published the winning manuscript.The Academy purchases and distributes copies to its members, along with copies of the winning volume for the James Laughlin Award.