Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture

M.F.A. Student Wins Academy’s ‘Most Promising Young Poet’ Award

Wednesday, September 3, 2014, By Rob Enslin
Share
AwardsStudents

Wendy Chen, a University Fellow in Syracuse’s M.F.A. Program in Creative Writing, is the winner of the Academy of American Poets’ inaugural Aliki Perroti and Seth Frank Most Promising Young Poet Award. Chen won the award for her poem “They Sail Across the Mirrored Sea.”

Wendy Chen

Wendy Chen

The American Poets Prizes are among the most valuable poetry prizes in the United States.

“We are delighted that Wendy is the inaugural recipient of this prestigious award from such a wonderful organization. Her poem is a fine example of the quality of work the students in our program produce,” says poet Christopher Kennedy G’88, associate professor and director of Syracuse’s creative writing program. “It is an honor to be associated with such a talented young poet and with the academy.”

Syracuse’s top-ranked M.F.A. program is part of the Department of English, based in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Chen, 22, came to Syracuse from Wellesley College in Massachusetts, where she earned a dual bachelor’s degree (with honors) in English and studio art, with a concentration in creative writing.

At Wellesley, Chen wrote for the student newspaper and championed the role of women in leadership and new media, leading to an internship at the Women in the World Summit at New York’s Lincoln Center.

“Every word placed down is a conscious choice and carries specific connotations and emotional baggage with it,” Chen has been quoted as saying. “I’ve learned to be more aware of the inherent emotions and attitudes behind even the most commonplace words.”

Of Chen’s prize-winning poem, Academy judge Alberto Ríos has this to say: “This is poetry of genuine maturity, whose imagery and circumstance are constructed from patience, with a particularly demonstrable talent for turning the slowness of this story’s time into vibrant observation and compelling connection—in that way, reaching from the depths of the poem out to us who are reading it.”

Established in 2013, the Most Promising Young Poet Award recognizes a student poet, 23 years old or younger, with a cash prize of $1,000. The award is open to winners of the current year’s University & College Poetry Prizes, also given by the Academy. Submissions are judged by one of the past or current members of the Academy’s Board of Chancellors.

 

  • Author

Rob Enslin

  • Recent
  • Calling All Alumni Entrepreneurs: Apply for ’CUSE50 Awards
    Tuesday, June 24, 2025, By John Boccacino
  • Iran Escalation: Experts Available This Week
    Tuesday, June 24, 2025, By Vanessa Marquette
  • SCOTUS Win for Combat Veterans Backed by Syracuse Law Clinic
    Monday, June 23, 2025, By Vanessa Marquette
  • Syracuse Views Summer 2025
    Monday, June 23, 2025, By News Staff
  • Tiffany Xu Named Harry der Boghosian Fellow for 2025-26
    Friday, June 20, 2025, By Julie Sharkey

More In Arts & Culture

Swinging Into Summer: Syracuse International Jazz Fest Returns With Star Power, Student Talent and a Soulful Campus Finale

Get ready for the sweet summer sounds of jazz in the city and on campus. The University is again a sponsor of the Syracuse International Jazz Fest, a five-day celebration of world-class jazz music and community spirit, taking place June…

Tiffany Xu Named Harry der Boghosian Fellow for 2025-26

The School of Architecture has announced that architect Tiffany Xu is the Harry der Boghosian Fellow for 2025–26. Xu will succeed current fellow, Erin Cuevas and become the tenth fellow at the school. The Boghosian Fellowship at the School of…

Syracuse Stage Concludes 2024-25 Season With ‘The National Pastime’

Syracuse Stage concludes its 2024-25 season with the world premiere production of “The National Pastime,” a provocative psychological thriller about state secrets, sonic weaponry, stolen baseball signs and the father and son relationship in the middle of it all. Written…

Syracuse Stage Hosts Inaugural Julie Lutz New Play Festival

Syracuse Stage is pleased to announce that the inaugural Julie Lutz New Play Festival will be held at the theatre this June. Formerly known as the Cold Read Festival of New Plays, the festival will feature a work-in-progress reading and…

Light Work Opens New Exhibitions

Light Work has two new exhibitions, “The Archive as Liberation” and “2025 Light Work Grants in Photography, that will run through Aug. 29. “The Archive as Liberation” The exhibition is on display in the Kathleen O. Ellis Gallery at Light…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.