This past weekend, the Alabama State Poetry Society (ASPS) had their spring meeting in Orange Beach. ASPS conducts two contests each year, one in the spring and one in the fall. Winners for the ASPS Spring Contest were announced and Pell City’s Writers Anonymous brought home their share of awards, 12 in all.

One of the most coveted awards each year is the “Poet of the Year.” In order to qualify for this award, the recipient must be an accomplished poet. However, candidates must also have invested in poets and poetry both throughout Alabama and in their local community. I’m proud to announce that our own Jeanette Willert of Pell City was the recipient of that award. 

Jeanette first heard about Writers Anonymous five years ago at WA’s first Mid-Winter Writers Conference. She became involved with both WA and ASPS and immediately took an active role. Without one time referencing her education and experience as a creative writing professor, she began to encourage the poets of WA.

No article is long enough to list all the positive things Jeanette has done. However, I’ll try to choose from among the many I could list. She volunteered and continues to serve as Contest Chair for ASPS, she has taught workshops at WA’s Mid-Winter Writers Conference (without pay), and she has even cooked for attendees of the conference.

In addition to both serving and supporting Writers Anonymous and ASPS, she also began sponsoring a contest category in both of the contests ASPS has each year. She has provided transportation and hotel accommodations with her own money for writers and poets who could not afford to go to the meetings otherwise.

In spite of Jeanette’s experience as a creative writing professor, writing poetry was new to her. However, she has become an accomplished poet, winning several contests including the John and Miriam Morris Memorial Chapbook Contest in 2017.

Besides being both a writer and a poet, Jeanette is also an accomplished artist. One of her paintings hangs at the Pell City Coffee Company. And anyone lucky enough to acquire one of her works, whether as a gift or as a purchase, is lucky indeed.

Jeanette was overwhelmed and surprised when her “Poet of the Year” award was announced. She said she felt “undeserving of such an honor.” When I told her later what a help she had been to many people, her response was, “What more can anyone want than the support and admiration of their friends?  I am humbled by recognition whenever it comes to me, almost embarrassed.”

One of my favorite expressions is, “You’ve got to love important people who aren’t self-important.” That sums up this extremely talented, humble artist, teacher, and poet, who both writes poetry herself and also finds diverse ways to support poetry and poets in Alabama.