April 28, 2025 — Poet Cyrus Cassells (CRF 2023) has been named the winner of the 2025 Jackson Poetry Prize, a prestigious $100,000 award presented annually by Poets & Writers to honor an American poet of exceptional talent. In their citation, the judges praised Cassells’ “brave compassion,” “formal elegance,” and a poetic voice that “ranges over both history and place… observing political violence and sensuous experience with deep humanity.” His most recent book, Everything in Life Is Resurrection: Selected Poems, 1982–2022 (TCU Press), reflects on over four decades of a distinguished literary career.
In addition, Cassells was a finalist for the 2025–26 Rome Prize in Literature from the American Academy in Rome for his manuscript-in-progress, A Poet is Cousin to Life Itself. The project—begun during his time at Civitella—is a poetic homage to twentieth-century Italian film and literature. Cassells was one of only two finalists, coming close to receiving the prize.
We extend our warmest congratulations to Cyrus for these extraordinary achievements, and for continuing to illuminate the world through poetry that, in the words of the Jackson Prize judges, helps us “recognize and protect the glimmers of hope that survive.”
More on the Jackson Poetry Prize here.
More on the Rome Prize here.