Former U_S_ poet laureate Juan Felipe Herrera is this year’s winner of the Frost Medal for lifetime achievement, with judges praising him for a “a poetic voice that is both deeply embedded and wholly original.”.

The 17-year-old has won a contest organized by the Academy of American Poets for which students under 18 wrote their own inaugural poems in anticipation of Wednesday's swearing in of President-elect Joe Biden. Applicants for the Inaugural Poem Project were urged to submit work that reflects “on the country’s challenges, strengths, and hope for its future," according to the guidelines. The official inaugural poem will be read during Wednesday's ceremony by Amanda Gorman, the country’s first Youth Poet Laureate. A former inaugural poet, Richard Blanco, served as judge for the contest finalists. Her “The Power of Hope” acknowledged the country’s profound divisions, and possibilities:Today’s hope is peeringbeyondthe lingering barrier,but still recognizing the diversity in ourselves.