New York, NY (December 9, 2024)—The role of a civic poet has taken on greater importance as more readers seek out poetry to understand the world in which they live, while a rise in book bans and censorship in schools and libraries across the nation calls into question who gets to be read.

To amplify the essential role poets laureate play in local and state communities throughout the country, while recognizing that poets are at the forefront of championing free expression and cultural understanding, the Academy of American Poets announces its call for applications to the 2025 Poet Laureate Fellowship program. 

The Poet Laureate Fellowships, each of which comes with a $50,000 award, are given to honor poets of merit appointed to serve in civic positions; to support them in creating new work; and to enable them to undertake meaningful and innovative projects that enrich the lives of their community members. In addition, the Academy provides up to $10,000 in matching grants to any local or state nonprofit organization, foundation, or business sponsoring a laureate’s project.

Since the creation of its fellowship program in 2019, with support from the Mellon Foundation, the Academy of American Poets has funded more than 120 poets in over 100 cities, counties, states, and Tribal nations, advancing initiatives that put poetry at the center of individual and collective experiences, including:

  • a series of workshops with transgender, nonbinary, and queer (TNBQ) groups (primarily youth) and public installations highlighting queer voices and issues in Tucson;
  • a project commissioning new poems by residents of Texas, celebrating everyday Texans;
  • a month-long poetry festival co-organized with more than 20 community partners in St. Petersburg, FL;
  • new websites and databases that document and archive the work of local poets in Utah;
  • poetry readings during National Suicide Prevention Month and a cookbook project connecting poets and chefs in Kansas;
  • a poetry anthology that celebrates place and poets in the Appalachian region of Ohio;
  • a Poets in the Schools program in Charleston, SC;
  • a statewide billboard campaign in Michigan;
  • writing workshops for healthcare workers in Virginia;
  • the creation of new Youth Poet Laureate positions in Lake County, CA and Milwaukee, WI;
  • a series of poetry writing workshops and readings along the entire length of the Columbia River in Washington State; and
  • a toll-free poetry hotline for residents of Philadelphia, among many others.

“Since 2019, more than 40 counties, states, and territories have established or revived laureateships,” said Ricardo Maldonado, President and Executive Director of the Academy of American Poets. “As leaders across the country recognize the value of having a public poet in their communities, it is also critical to ensure that poetry remains accessible to all as a counterbalance to the dizzying rise in censorship. We look forward to learning how laureates are fostering critical thinking and creative dialogue in public forums, championing the freedom to explore diverse perspectives across the nation.”

Applications to the 2025 Poet Laureate Fellowships are open to qualified poets laureate beginning December 9, 2024 through February 24, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. ET. To submit an application, visit: https://poets.submittable.com/submit 

The panelists who recommend the recipients of the 2025 Poet Laureate Fellowships include poet, editor, and social justice advocate Diana Delgado; former Academy Chancellor and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Forrest Gander; Youth Speaks Executive Director Michelle Lee; Senior Program Officer at the Institute of Museum and Library Services Dennis Nangle; and 2021–22 Los Angeles Poet Laureate and 2022 Poet Laureate Fellow Lynne Thompson. Final award decisions are finalized and approved by members of the Academy’s Board of Directors.

About the Academy of American Poets and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Celebrating its ninetieth anniversary in 2024, the Academy of American Poets is a leading publisher of contemporary poetry across the United States. The organization annually awards $1.3+ million to more than two hundred poets at various stages of their careers through its prize program. It also produces Poets.org, the world’s largest publicly funded website for poets and poetry; established and organizes National Poetry Month each April; publishes the Poem-a-Day series and American Poets magazine; provides free resources to educators; hosts an annual series of poetry readings and special events; and coordinates a national Poetry Coalition that promotes the value poets bring to our culture. To learn more about the Academy of American Poets, including its staff, its Board of Directors, and its Board of Chancellors, visit https://poets.org/.  

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive. Learn more at https://www.mellon.org/.