Kwame Dawes, Chancellor’s Professor of English and editor of Prairie Schooner, has earned the American Poetry Review’s Jerome J. Shestack Prize.

The Shestack Prize is named for lawyer and human rights advocate Jerome Shestack, who played a major role in developing the American Poetry Review and gathering support for the magazine.

The award recognizes the authors of the best poems published by the APR’s magazine during the past year. The winners are chosen by editors of the magazine. Dawes and fellow American poet Jorie Graham earned the honors as the top contributors of 2012.

“American Poetry Review is one of the most important literary journals in the U.S. and simply being featured there marks a significant achievement for poets in this country,” Dawes said. “To have received the good news about Shestack Prize, and further, to know that I am sharing this award with a giant of American poetry, Jorie Graham is simply wonderful.”

The first Shestack Prize was given in 1983. Past recipients include: John Ashbery, Gerald Stern, Brenda Hillman, Michael Burkard, Sharon Old, Gary Snyder, W.S. Merwin, Lucille Clifton, C.K. Williams, Denise Levertov, Adrienne Rich, Eavan Boland, Barbara Guest and Robert Bly.

Dawes will be formally recognized in the September/October 2013 issue of the American Poetry Review.