In 2026, Jake Skeets was named an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow. In partnership with the Northern Arizona Book Festival, Jake Skeets will launch the Saad Prize, as part of his work with his public arts initiative Hootso. Designed to support and celebrate poetry by Diné communities, the Saad Prize recognizes literary excellence while exploring the role of language in contemporary Diné civic life. The 2027 prize cycle, “Chapter House: Nation / City / Beyond,” invites poets to reflect on the spaces where community, governance, kinship, and cultural life take shape across the Navajo Nation and beyond. Through a series of community workshops and public programming, the project will foster intergenerational dialogue, support emerging and established writers, and affirm poetry as a vital practice of Diné sovereignty, cultural continuity, and collective imagination.