On Friday, June 19, BOA Poet Sean Thomas Dougherty was awarded a Lifetime of Achievement recognition by Erie, PA, literary institution Poet's Hall. Poet's Hall founder Cee Williams writes: "With more than a dozen collections to his credit, the award-winning poetry of Sean Thomas Dougherty has drawn national attention to our scene. And so, we celebrate him with the highest honor we can bestow: our 2015 Lifetime of Poetry Achievement Award." Also honored at the ceremony was Erie poet Berwyn Moore for her work for the community, and three high school poets who won a contest that Dougherty judged. Poet's Hall is a community based literary organization founded five years ago by Cee Williams. The award is cosponsored by Erie Civitas and Mercyhurst University. For more than 20 years, Sean Thomas Dougherty has negotiated between modernist and avant-garde writing and more populist traditions that extend back to Walt Whitman. His subject matter ranges from basketball to Björk, from blue collar workers to Biggie Smalls, from Luciano Pavarotti to women waiting at a diner outside a prison in Upstate New York. Selecting from the best of eight previous collections, his latest book All You Ask for Is Longing reveals the powerful arc and development of Dougherty’s writing and establishes him as a voice of dissent for the future. Dougherty received a beautiful glass engraved trophy which he called "prettier than all my pool plaques and medals put together!" Congratulations, Sean!