 Bass was awarded the Elliston Book Award for Poetry from the University of Cincinnati, "Nimrod"/Hardman's Pablo Neruda Prize, "The Missouri Review’s" Larry Levis Award, the Greensboro Poetry Prize, the "New Letters" Poetry Prize, the Chautauqua Poetry Prize, three Pushcart Prizes (2003, 2015, 2017), a Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a fellowship from the California Arts Council.