April is Poetry Month

Jett Whitehead understands the passion that inspires students to immerse themselves in reading and writing poetry. He also understands the challenges they may face while pursuing their interests in creative writing.

He received a master's degree in English with a creative writing concentration from CMU in 1977. Never forgetting his appreciation for the guidance he received from his CMU instructors, Jett found a way to give back to the English department and inspire students to pursue excellence in creative writing.

To celebrate APRIL IS POETRY MONTH, and to encourage the efforts of the creative writing program and students at Central Michigan University, he created the PoetryJett.com / April is Poetry Month prize in 2003. Effective April 2022, Jett has rebranded our poetry prize. The new name is the Jett W. Whitehead Poetry Award, and the amount of the award has been raised to $500. Additionally, an endowment fund has been created to permanently fund the award.

"I wanted to promote poetry and inspire students in the creative writing program," said Whitehead. "Creative writers often do not have many avenues for getting kudos for their work, so I thought this might be a way to give encouragement to them.

"It's also a way to recognize their writing as being more than just a class assignment. My goal is to see the program grow and continue in longevity," he said.

The prize is open to any Central Michigan University student who has enrolled in a creative writing class during the current academic year.  The prize is given for a single poem written during that academic year, and the award is presented at a public poetry reading on CMU's campus during the month of April.  The judge is a member of the creative writing faculty of CMU, or a recognized poet appointed by the CMU creative writing faculty.

To date we have given $5050 to creative writing students to reward them for their dedication to the craft.

Sara Daniels 2022 Poetry Award Winner

Sara Daniels won the 2022 Jett W. Whitehead Poetry Award (formerly known as the PoetryJett.com / April is Poetry Month Prize) awarded at Central Michigan University. Daniels' poem "Train Station" was selected by Oakland University based judge, the celebrated author Peter Marcus. The judge also selected "on finding your dead mother's diary" by Sara Daniels as the runner-up poem. Due to the ongoing concerns of the covid-19 pandemic, the award presentation could not be made at the traditional dinner banquet. However, Sara Daniels is pictured above with Jett Whitehead, while attending one of Prof. Robert Fanning's poetry classes in November 2022.

April is Poetry Month Prize Winners