| Year | Title | Publisher | Prize Amount | Judges |
| 2008 | Human Dark with Sugar | Copper Canyon Press | $5,000 | Peter Gizzi |
| Matthea Harvey | ||||
| Caroline Knox |
Brenda Shaughnessy was born in Okinawa, Japan, in 1970 and grew up in Southern California. She received her BA in literature and women’s studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and she earned an MFA at Columbia University.