The first time I walked off stage after a very shaky performance at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in the fall of 1999, I set one of my wildest intentions into the universe: rock the crowd of the iconic Friday Night Poetry Slam at the Nuyo. To be completely candid, at seventeen years old, and after barely making it onto the Open Slam list (after waiting outside for two hours to sign up) and definitely not making it past the first round of the poetry slam, that dream seemed so painfully out of reach I could feel an ache deep in my gut.
This road of being an artist is unforgiving in ways only those who have traveled the path know. For so many of us, years of committed intention, dreaming, drafting, revising, rehearsing, breakdowns, breakthroughs are met with an empty theater, not a single press review, or a continued momentum into obscurity.
Not disconnected from that, and as I’ve often named, I have been rejected thousands upon thousands of times over the more than twenty-three years I have been a professional artist. By this point? I’m sure I’m well into the five figures on having doors shut on me and my work.
But here’s the thing, and a secret to breaking through creatively and professionally as a full-time artist: you only get there by remaining as fearless and incredulous about rejection as I do. I aim for one hundred literary journal rejections every single year. That goal will never change.
Why am I writing all of this? Well, I want those coming up in their craft or niche, as well as those alongside me and sharing the same orbit, to know that the world needs our stories and our art. We need to keep going.
I have kept going, in spite of every failed attempt and rejection, and tonight I won my 100th prize, honor, or award of my career. The full list is below.
Still well beyond my comprehension. I remain as committed and hungry as that dry-mouthed seventeen-year-old on stage at the Nuyorican in 1999 barely able to read off a shaking piece of paper in his left hand.
As ever, there is much left to be done. Back to the work.
#BackToTheWork
(Updated: December, 2024)
107 prizes, honors, & awards won. 78 times a runner-up, nominee, shortlist, or finalist.
PRIZES, HONORS, & AWARDS
2024 North American Book Award, Gold Medal for Poetry Winner
(for Fractures)
2024 Yeats International Poetry Prize Winner
(for “Double Golden Shovel Sonnet Found on the Q Train,” selected by January Gill O’Neil)
2024 Creative Life Award (bestowed by Writing Through)
2024 Button Poetry’s Short Form Contest Winner
(for “My Chipped Front Teeth”)
2024 Playa Flamingo Writing Residency Winner (Atmosphere Press)
2024 Best Live Performance Winner (2024 The Artists Forum Spoken Word Competition (Juried Arts Festival), United States)
(for “Where are you really from?” (Live at the Mercury Cafe))
2024 X.J. Kennedy Poetry Prize Finalist
(for Where Language Ends, selected by Diane Seuss)
2024 Robert J. DeMott Short Prose Prize First Runner-Up
(for “Turns,” selected by Lily Hoàng)
2024 NACE Speaker of the Year Nominee
2024 Charles Simic Memorial Prize Finalist
(for “Where Language Ends,” selected by Dana Levin)
2024 Best Live Performance Finalist (2024 The Artists Forum Spoken Word Competition (Juried Arts Festival), United States)
(for “Praise” (Live at the Nuyorican Poets Café))
2024 Blackberry Peach Written & Spoken Word Contest Finalist
2024 Fischer National Poetry Prize Finalist
(for “Aperture,” selected by Juan Morales)
2024 Two Sylvias Press Chapbook Prize Finalist
(for Circling Fatherhood)
2024 Aesthetica Creative Writing Award Shortlist
(for “There were Two Unanswered Voice Mails from You”)
34th Annual Jeffrey E. Smith Editors’ Prize Finalist
(for “Mnemonic” & “How to Hold Water”)
Magic
Best U.S. Short Film (2024 Uruvatti International Film Festival, India)
Best Social Awareness Short Film (2024 Athvikvaruni International Film Festival, India)
Best International Short Film (2024 Kodaikanal International Film Festival, India)
Best Social Awareness Short Film, Special Jury Award (2024 Kodaikanal International Film Festival, India)
Best Music Video (2024 Kodaikanal International Film Festival, India)
Best Micro Short Film (2024 Sittannavasal International Film Festival, India)
Best Social Awareness Short Film (2024 Sittannavasal International Film Festival, India)
Best U.S. Short Film (2024 Sittannavasal International Film Festival, India)
Best Music Video (2024 Sittannavasal International Film Festival, India)
Best Writer (2024 Sittannavasal International Film Festival, India)
Best U.S. Short Film (2024 Makizhmithran International Film Festival, India)
Best Writer (2024 Makizhmithran International Film Festival, India)
Best Actor (2024 Makizhmithran International Film Festival, India)
Best Music Video (2024 Rohip International Film Festival, India)
Best Micro Short Film (2024 Nitiin International Film Festival, Malaysia)
Best Social Awareness Short Film (2024 Nitiin International Film Festival, Malaysia)
Best Music Video (2024 Uruvatti International Film Festival, India)
Best Music Video (2024 Tamizhagam International Film Festival, India)
Best Music Video (2024 Navy International Film Festival, India)
Best Music Video (2023 Thilsri International Film Festival, India)
Best Enhanced Performance Finalist (2024 The Artists Forum Spoken Word Competition (Juried Arts Festival), United States)
Best Poetry Film Finalist (2024 REELpoetry International Festival, United States)
Best Video Poetry Finalist (2023 Vesuvius International Film Festival, Italy)
2023 Rubery International Book Award for Poetry Winner
(for Fractures, selected by Paul McDonald and Clare Morrall)
2023 Royal Dragonfly Book Award for Poetry, 2nd Place (Runner-up)
(for Fractures)
2023 Feathered Quill Book Award Finalist
(for Fractures)
2023 Tom Howard Poetry Prize Finalist
Abuelita
Best Poetry Short Film (2023 Make Art Not Fear Film Festival, Portugal)
Best Short Film of the Year Award (2022 Mumbai International Film Awards, India)
Best Experimental Film (2022 Europe Film Festival, United Kingdom)
Best Performing Arts Film (2022 Sundarban International Film Festival, India)
Best Special Stuff & Experimental Film (2022 International Music Video Underground Festival, France)
Best International Short Film, Special Jury Award (2022 Athvikvaruni International Film Festival, India)
Best International Short Film, Special Jury Award (2022 Galaxy International Film Awards, Nepal)
Best Experimental Short Film (2022 Athvikvaruni International Film Festival, India)
Best Actor, International Short Film (2022 Athvikvaruni International Film Festival, India)
Best Experimental and Audio-Visual Film (2022 New Generation Film Festival NGFF, Serbia)
Best International Short Film, Special Mention Award (2022 Nitiin International Film Festival, Malaysia)
Best Actor, Short Film (2022 Nitiin International Film Festival, Malaysia)
Best Experimental Short Film (2022 Neelshal International Film Festival, Kuwait)
Best Micro Short Film (2022 Neelshal International Film Festival, Kuwait)
Best Writer, Micro Short Film (2022 Neelshal International Film Festival, Kuwait)
Best Performing Arts Film (2022 World Film Carnival Singapore)
Music Video, Outstanding Achievement Award (2022 World Film Carnival Singapore)
Micro Movies, Outstanding Achievement Award (2022 World Film Carnival Singapore)
Tight Short, Excellence Award (2022 Hispanic International Film Festival, United States)
Best Actor, Outstanding Achievement Award (2022 World Film Carnival Singapore)
Best Performing Arts Film (2022 Black Swan International Film Festival, India)
Music Video, Outstanding Achievement Award (2022 Black Swan International Film Festival, India)
Best Experimental Short Film (2022 Birsamunda International Film Awards, India)
Best Short Film, Critics’ Choice Award (2022 Triloka International Filmfare Awards, India)
Best Actor (2022 Triloka International Filmfare Awards, India)
Best Experimental Short Film (2022 Singapore Indie Film Festival)
Film of the Month, October 2022 (2022 Changing Face International Film Festival, Australia)
Best Producer (2022 Galaxy International Film Awards, Nepal)
Best Actor (2022 Galaxy International Film Awards, Nepal)
Best Actor (Europe Music Awards, Slovakia)
Best Experimental Short Film (2022 Open Window International Film Challenge, India)
Next Music Video Finalist (2022 Next International Film Festival, India)
Best Enhanced Performance Finalist (2022 The Artists Forum Juried Arts Festival Awards, United States, United States)
Beating Traffic
Best Poetry Short Film (2023 Make Art Not Fear Film Festival, Portugal)
Best Experimental Short Film, Special Jury Award (2022 Athvikvaruni International Film Festival, India)
Best Enhanced Performance (2022 The Artists Forum Juried Arts Festival Awards, United States)
Best Actor, International Short Film, Special Jury Award (2022 Athvikvaruni International Film Festival, India)
Gifted
Best Poetry Short Film (2023 Make Art Not Fear Film Festival, Portugal)
Best Social Awareness Short Film (2022 Nitiin International Film Festival, Malaysia)
Best Social Awareness Short Film (2022 Athvikvaruni International Film Festival, India)
Best Actor, International Short Film, Special Jury Award (2022 Athvikvaruni International Film Festival, India)
Best Micro Film (2022 International Social Change Film Festival, United States)
2022 Independent Author Network (IAN) Book of the Year Award for Poetry
(for Fractures)
2022 Page Turner International Book Award (UK) Finalist
(for Man Up: Reimagining Modern Manhood)
2021 Georgia Author of the Year Award for Poetry (Full-Length) Winner
(for Fractures, selected by Malcolm Tariq)
2021 Midwest Book Award Gold Medal for Poetry (Standard) Winner
(for Fractures)
2021 Independent Publisher Book Award Silver Medal in Poetry Winner
(for Fractures)
2021 International Poetry Book Award (UK) Finalist
(for Fractures)
2021 Best Book Award for Poetry Finalist
(for Fractures)
2021 Eric Hoffer Book Award Finalist
(for Fractures)
2021 National Indie Excellence Award in Poetry Finalist
(for Fractures)
2020 Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry Winner
(for Fractures, selected by Natasha Trethewey)
2020 Julie Suk Award for Best Poetry Book Longlist Finalist
(for Fractures)
2020 International Book Award for Poetry Winner
(for Hijito)
2020 IndieReader Discovery Award for Poetry Winner
(for Hijito)
2020 National Indie Excellence Award in Poetry Finalist
(for Hijito)
2020 Best of the Net Nomination
(for “Intersection,” Burningword Literary Journal)
2020 Pushcart Prize Nomination
(for “Elegy for the Longest Year,” The Journal)
2019 Foreword INDIES Gold Medal in Poetry Winner
(for Hijito)
2019 Sandy Crimmins National Prize for Poetry Winner
(for “Elegy for Breath,” selected by M. Nzadi Keita)
2019 Fischer National Poetry Prize Winner
(for “C(h)ord,” selected by Rafael Jesús González)
2019 Cider Press Review Book Award Runner-Up*
(for Fractures, selected by Lesley Wheeler)
2019 Crab Orchard Series in Poetry First Book Award Finalist
(for Fractures, selected by Traci Brimhall)
2019 Richard Snyder Memorial Publication Prize Finalist
(for Fractures, selected by Maggie Smith)
2019 Autumn House Press Poetry Prize Finalist
(for Fractures, selected by Cornelius Eady)
2019 Gerald Cable Book Award Finalist
(for Fractures, selected by Rodger Moody)
2019 Pushcart Prize Nomination
(for “What Happened,” Platypus Press)
2019 Aryamati Poetry Prize for Peace and Social Change Finalist
2018 Atlanta Review International Poetry Prize Winner
(for “Underground,” selected by Julie Kane)
2018 Broken River Prize Winner
(for Hijito, selected by Eduardo C. Corral)
2018 Sequestrum Editor’s Award in Poetry Winner
2018 Lazuli Literary Award Winner
2018 Sandy Crimmins National Prize for Poetry Runner-up
(for “Race Was Not a Factor,” selected by Dilruba Ahmed)
2018 Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Prize Finalist
(for “Abecedarian for the Pimp I Almost Took a Bullet For,” selected by Patrick Cotter)
2018 Anthony Cronin International Poetry Award Finalist
(for “Elegy for the Longest Year,” selected by John Kelly)
2018 Oxford Brookes International Poetry Prize Finalist
(for “Revisionist,” selected by Kayo Chingonyi)
2018 Frontier Poetry Industry Prize Finalist
(for “Poem about Death Ending with Reincarnation,” selected by Don Share, Nicole Sealey, & Matthew Zapruder)
2018 Lascaux Prize in Poetry Finalist
(for “Handstitch,” selected by Stephen Parrish)
2018 Autumn House Press Chapbook Prize Finalist
(for Hijito, selected by Gerry LaFemina)
2018 Comstock Review Chapbook Prize Finalist
(for Hijito, selected by Peggy Miller)
2018 Diode Editions Chapbook Prize Finalist
(for Hijito, selected by Patty Paine)
2018 Jack Grapes Poetry Prize Finalist
(for “C(h)ord,” selected by F. Douglas Brown)
2018 Erskine J. Poetry Prize Finalist
(for “‘Mein Kampf’ has Better Reviews Than ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’,” selected by Stephen Reichert)
2018 Julia Darling Memorial Poetry Prize Finalist
(for “Edge of the Dance Floor,” selected by Carrie Fountain)
2018 Mikrokosmos Poetry Prize Finalist
(for “Thieves in the Temple,” selected by Ruth Ellen Kocher)
2018 New Millennium Flash Fiction Prize Finalist
(for “Intersection”)
2018 Outstanding Young Alumnus Award, Moses Brown School
(selected by Moses Brown Alumni Association)
2017 Pushcart Prize Nomination
(for “Pronounced,” Crab Creek Review)
2017 Stephen Dunn Prize in Poetry Runner-up
(for “Before the Last Shot,” selected by Afaa Michael Weaver)
2017 James Hearst Poetry Prize Finalist
(for “There were Two Unanswered Voice Mails from You,” selected by Major Jackson)
2017 Editor’s Choice Award, Sandy Crimmins National Poetry Contest
(for “Murambi (Rwanda, 2008),” selected by Lamont B. Steptoe)
2017 Spoken Word Album of the Year Nomination
(Just Plain Folks Music Awards, “Vitruvius”)
2017 Spoken Word Recording of the Year Nomination
(Just Plain Folks Music Awards, “Gifted” from “Vitruvius”)
2017 Spoken Word Recording of the Year Nomination
(shared with Jeanann Verlee)
(Just Plain Folks Music Awards, “Wait” from “Vitruvius”)
2016 Best Diversity Artist Award
(Reader’s Choice Awards, Campus Activities Magazine)
2015 Lucille Clifton Poetry Prize Winner
(for “Hijito,” selected by Sharan Strange)
2015 NACA National Convention Highest Booked Act,
Mainstage Spotlight
2015 Makeda Bilqis Literary Award Winner
2015 Best Spoken Word Album
(Akademia Music Award Winner, “Vitruvius,” Sep. 2015)
2015 Best Spoken Word Single
(Akademia Music Award Winner, “Everything,” Sep. 2015)
2015 Erskine J. Poetry Prize Finalist
(for “Kigali Memorial,” selected by Stephen Reichert)
2013 TV One’s “Verses and Flow”
(Season 3, Episode 3)
2010 Pushcart Prize Nomination
(for “Wait” with Jeanann Verlee, Muzzle Magazine)
2010 Buffalo/Niagara International Poetry Slam Grand Champion
2010 NYC/louderARTS National Slam Team Member
2010 NYC/Urbana National Slam Team Member (Qualified)
2010 Yale Peabody M.L.K. Jr. Day $1,000 Invitational Grand Slam Champion
2010 Latin Poet of the Year Nomination
(National Poetry Awards)
2010 Hearing Our Voices Award
(Voices Unbroken Honoree)
2009 Artist of the Year
(Promoting Outstanding Writers Award Winner)
2009 Best Spoken Word Poet
(Promoting Outstanding Writers Award Winner, “Fate by the Throat”)
2009 Spoken Word Recording of the Year
(Just Plain Folks Music Award Winner, “Words Worth” from “Fate by the Throat”)
2009 Spoken Word Album of the Year (1st Runner Up)
(Just Plain Folks Music Awards, “Fate by the Throat”)
2009 Spoken Word Recording of the Year Nomination
(Just Plain Folks Music Awards, “Iced-out Chain” from “Fate by the Throat”)
2009 Best Music Video Nomination
(Just Plain Folks Music Awards, “All We Have” with Savion Glover)
2009 Best Lyric Nomination
(Just Plain Folks Music Awards, “What’s Genocide?”)
2009 Best Short Play (“Man Up”),
Downtown Urban Theater Festival
2009 NACA National Convention Showcase, Mainstage Spotlight
2008 Los Angeles Music Award Nomination, Spoken Word Performance
“Fate by the Throat” (Producers’ Choice)
2008 HARLEM STAGE Fund for New Work Award
(“A World Without Fathers”)
2008 NYC/louderCHAMP Slam Champion
2007 Voted “Favorite Poet,” HBO’s “Def Poetry”
(Season 6, Episode 41)
2007 HBO’s “Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry” (Season 6, Episode 41)
2007 NACA National Convention Showcase, Mainstage Spotlight
2006 Spoken Word Album of the Year
(Los Angeles Music Award Winner, “Carlos Andrés Gómez: Live from New York” (Unanimous Choice))
2006 Toronto International Poetry Slam Grand Champion
2006 National Poetry Slam Finalist
2006 NYC/louderARTS National Slam Team Member
2006 Slam King of New York
2006 Amateur Night at The Apollo, Top 3 Winner
2005 Emmy® Award (Lead actor and contributing writer on Respect Yourself television spot)
2005 Lake Eden Arts Festival (LEAF) $1,000 Poetry Grand Slam Champion
2005 NYC/louderARTS National Slam Team Member
2004 The Valley, Inc. Spoken Word Contest 1st Place Winner
2004 Nuyorican Jazz Poetry Jam Slam Champion
2004 Mid-Atlantic Spoken Word Festival Grand Slam Champion
2004 North Carolina Poetry Grand Slam Champion
2004 Providence National Slam Team Member
2003 National Poetry Slam Finalist
2003 NYC/Nuyorican National Slam Team Member
2003 Nuyorican Grand Slam Finalist
2001 Pronoun Showdown Philadelphia Grand Slam Champion
