Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • 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
  • Funding Opportunities for Syracuse Abroad Summer 2021 programs
    Wednesday, January 20, 2021, By Ashley Alessandrini
  • College of Law Adds Vincent H. Cohen ’92, L’95 to Board of Advisors
    Wednesday, January 20, 2021, By Martin Walls
  • Students Invited to Network and Skill-Build with Alumni
    Wednesday, January 20, 2021, By Gabrielle Lake
  • ‘Confronting ‘Who We Are”
    Tuesday, January 19, 2021, By News Staff
  • Arts and Sciences Welcomes New Director of Forensics Kathleen Corrado
    Tuesday, January 19, 2021, By Dan Bernardi

More In Arts & Culture

Sound Beat: Access Audio Offering Children’s Audiobooks about Enslaved People by Cheryl Wills ’89

Sound Beat: Access Audio is providing two free family audiobooks written by Emmy Award-winning journalist Cheryl Wills ’89,  the great-great-great granddaughter of Emma and Sandy Wills, enslaved people from Haywood, Tennessee. The audiobooks are narrated by the author and are…

Syracuse Stage Announces Changes to the 2020/2021 Season

Syracuse Stage announced adjustments to the schedule for the remainder of the 2020/2021 season. These adjustments include replacing previously announced shows with new titles and come in direct response to the evolving situation concerning the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting in February,…

College of Visual and Performing Arts Flexes Creative Muscle to Address the COVID-19 Pandemic

“Visual and Performing Arts students wouldn’t have a reason to be here if they couldn’t sing or hold an instrument or act onstage or spend time in the studio.  The arts are a social activity, not something that lends itself…

Special Collections Research Center Receives Grant to Process Forrest J. Ackerman Papers

The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation is providing Syracuse University Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) with a $17,000 grant to process the Forrest J. Ackerman Papers. Ackerman was a popular American science fiction author, editor, agent, collector and fan. His…

Architecture Students Help Design Street Renovation Project in China

Since April 2020, a team of students from the School of Architecture have been working on a master plan to transform a street scape in the future city of Xiong’an New Area in China’s Hebei province. After a long delay…

Subscribe to SU Today

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

Connect With Us

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

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2021 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.