The John C. Zacharis First Book Award honors the best first book of poetry or fiction by a Ploughshares writer. The award carries a cash prize of $1,500, and feature publication in the "Postscripts" section of the Winter issue. It was started in 1991.[1] [2]
| Year | Winner | Book | Magazine Issue- |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Pangs of Love (Knopf, 1991) Fiction | Winter 1991 | |
| 1992 | What Keeps Us Here (Ampersand Press, 1991) Poetry | Winter 1992 | |
| 1993 | Absent Without Leave (Delphinium Books, 1994) Fiction | Winter 1993 | |
| 1994 | Sweet Ruin (Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 1992) Poetry | Winter 1994 | |
| 1995 | Coconuts for the Saint (Avon Books, 1996) Fiction | Winter 1995 | |
| 1996 | Kevin Young | Most Way Home (William Morrow, 1996) Poetry | Winter 1996 |
| 1997 | Don't Erase Me (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1997) Fiction | Winter 1997 | |
| 1998 | In the Belly (Univ. of Chicago, 1997) Poetry | Winter 1998 | |
| 1999 | Pilgrims (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1997; Mariner, 1998) Fiction | Winter 1999 | |
| 2000 | In the Surgical Theatre (APR) Poetry | Winter 2000 | |
| 2001 | The Question of Bruno (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2000) Fiction | Winter 2001 | |
| 2002 | The Little Field of Self (Univ. of Chicago, 2002) Poetry | Winter 2002 | |
| 2003 | Half in Love (Scribner, 2002) Fiction | Winter 2003 | |
| 2004 | Hammer (Sarabande, 2003) Poetry | Winter 2004 | |
| 2005 | Mother of Sorrows (Pantheon, 2005) Fiction | Winter 2005-06 | |
| 2006 | Thomas Sayers Ellis | The Maverick Room (Graywolf, 2005) Poetry | Winter 2006-07 |
| 2007 | Other Electricities (Sarabande, 2005) Fiction | Winter 2007-08 | |
| 2008 | Susan Hutton | On the Vanishing of Large Creatures (Carnegie-Mellon, 2007) Poetry | Winter 2008-09 |
| 2009 | Paul Yoon | Once The Shore: Stories (Sarabande, 2009) Fiction | Winter 2009-10 |
| 2010 | Julia Story | Post Moxie (Sarabande, 2010) Poetry | Winter 2010-11 |
| 2011 | Christine Sneed | Portraits of a Few People I've Made Cry (Univ. of Mass. Press, 2010) Fiction | Winter 2011-12 |
| 2012 | Heidy Steidlmayer | Fowling Piece (Triquarterly Books, 2011) Poetry | Winter 2012-13 |
| 2013 | Lysley Tenorio | Monstress (Ecco, 2012) Fiction | Winter 2013-14 |
| 2014 | Roger Reeves | King Me (Copper Canyon, 2013) Poetry | Winter 2014-15 |
| 2015 | Carole Burns | The Missing Woman and Other Stories (Parthian, 2015) Fiction | Winter 2015-16 |
| 2016 | Danez Smith | [insert] boy (YesYes Books, 2014) Poetry | Winter 2016-17 |
| 2017 | Weike Wang | Chemistry (Knopf, 2017) Fiction | Winter 2017-18 |
| 2018 | Kaveh Akbar | Calling a Wolf a Wolf (Alice James, 2017) Poetry | Winter 2018-19 |
| 2019 | Xuan Juliana Wang | Home Remedies (Hogarth, 2019) Fiction | Winter 2019-20 |
| 2021 | Jamil Jan Kochai | 99 Nights in Logar (Viking, 2019) Fiction | Winter 2021-22 |