Minnetta Theodora Taylor (March 2, 1860 - July 26, 1911) was an American author and poet of the long nineteenth century.

[1] Among her intimate friends were the writers, James Whitcomb Riley, Lew Wallace, George Ade, Wilbur D. Nesbitt, Rex Beach, and Bliss Carman;[1] Opie Read called her "The Little Sister of Poets".

[7] During her college course, she received first honor in modern languages, first Latin prize, and highest general grades.

[3][8] For a time, she taught Romance languages in DePauw, but she abandoned this work to enter the lecture field.

[7] Taylor spoke 45 languages, and was joint author of six Spanish-English textbooks, her associate being Mr. Biragua, of New York City.

[5] In May 1911, when 3,000 suffragists and suffragettes of New York marched for 5 miles (8.0 km) down Fifth Avenue, the parade was witnessed from the Waldorf-Astoria by a noted Italian composer.

The prize was awarded to Taylor who died five days after writing the poem, "Ballot Song of American Women", in five stanzas, the first of which is:—[1] Once more awakes the spirit of the just And a world-wide flame is kindled from the dust.