For a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author, Ten thousand dollars ($10,000).

Awarded to Delights & Shadows by Ted Kooser (Copper Canyon Press)

Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger (left) presents Ted Kooser with the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.

Finalists

Also nominated as finalists in this category were: “The Orchard” by Brigit Pegeen Kelly (BOA Editions, Ltd.), and “Search Party: Collected Poems” by the late William Matthews (Houghton Mifflin).