Poets awarded prizes

Former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins and longtime poet Samuel Menashe are winners of the first Pegasus Awards, prizes worth a combined $75,000 and made possible by a philanthropist’s $100-million grant to Poetry magazine.

Collins, who served as the U.S. poet laureate from 2001 to 2003, received $25,000 for the Mark Twain Poetry Award, given for the “contribution of humor” to American verse.

Among the country’s most popular poets, Collins has published eight collections, including “Nine Horses” and “Sailing Alone Around the Room.”

Menashe, whose works have inspired critical acclaim but have limited sales, won the Neglected Masters award, designed to raise awareness of the work of “an under-recognized, significant American Poet.” The award includes a $50,000 prize and publication of the winner’s selected poems by the Library of America.

Menashe’s many books include “The Niche Narrows” and “The Many Named Beloved.”

The awards were announced in Chicago this week by the Poetry Foundation, a nonprofit organization formed by Poetry magazine to manage the $100- million gift bequeathed in 2001 by philanthropist Ruth E. Lilly, the drug company heiress.