The National Poetry Series announced yesterday the five winners of the 2009 Open Competition. The prize, established in 1978, is given annually to "ensure the publication of five books of poetry a year" through trade, university, and small press publishers, with winning manuscripts selected by established poets.

This year's winners are:
Julie Carr of Denver for Sarah—Of Fragments and Lines, selected by Eileen Myles [2] and to be published by Coffee House Press [3]

Colin Cheney of New York City for Here Be Monsters, selected by David Wojahn [4], and to be published by University of Georgia Press

Carrie Fountain of Austin, Texas, for Burn Lake, selected by Natasha Trethewey [5] and to be published by Penguin Books

Erika Meitner [6] of Blacksburg, Virginia, for Ideal Cities, selected by Paul Guest and to be published by HarperCollins

Jena Osman of Philadelphia for The Network, selected by Prageeta Sharma [7], and to be published by Fence Books [8]

Each winner received one thousand dollars, and their winning books will be published during the summer of 2010.