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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Paul Yoon | Once The Shore: Stories (Fiction) | Winter 2009-10 |
| 2008 | Susan Hutton | On the Vanishing of Large Creatures (Poetry) | Winter 2008-09 |
| 2007 | Ander Monson | Other Electricities (Fiction) | Winter 2007-08 |
| 2006 | Thomas Sayers Ellis | The Maverick Room (Poetry) | Winter 2006-07 |
| 2005 | Richard McCann | Mother of Sorrows (Fiction) | Winter 2005-06 |
| 2004 | Mark Turpin | Hammer (Poetry) | Winter 2004 |
| 2003 | Maile Meloy | Half in Love (Fiction) | Winter 2003 |
| 2002 | Doreen Gildroy | The Little Field of Self (Poetry) | Winter 2002 |
| 2001 | Aleksandar Hemon | The Question of Bruno (Fiction) | Winter 2001 |
| 2000 | Dana Levin | In the Surgical Theatre (Poetry) | Winter 2000 |
| 1999 | Elizabeth Gilbert | Pilgrims (Fiction) | Winter 1999 |
| 1998 | David Gewanter | In the Belly (Poetry) | Winter 1998 |
| 1997 | Carolyn Ferrell | Don't Erase Me (Fiction) | Winter 1997 |
| 1996 | Kevin Young | Most Way Home (Poetry) | Winter 1996 |
| 1995 | Debra Spark | Coconuts for the Saint (Fiction) | Winter 1995 |
| 1994 | Tony Hoagland | Sweet Ruin (Poetry) | Winter 1994 |
| 1993 | Jessica Treadway | Absent Without Leave (Fiction) | Winter 1993 |
| 1992 | Allison Joseph | What Keeps Us Here (Poetry) | Winter 1992 |
| 1991 | David Wong Louie | Pangs of Love (Fiction) | Winter 1991 |