Today, the academy fulfills the first portion of its original mission ("to support american poets at all stages of their careers") by administering seven major awards-from a first-book prize through a lifetime-achievement award-and nearly 200 college prizes at schools across the country. To fulfill the second half our mission ("to foster the appreciation of contemporary poetry"), the academy administers several programs: poets. Org, the award-winning website which was launched in 1997 and now receives one million unique visitors each month; national poetry month (april), established by the academy in 1996 and now the largest literary celebration in the world; the online poetry classroom, an online resource providing free poetry lesson plans and other tools for teachers; the poetry audio archive, a collection of nearly 500 recordings dating back to the 1960s; and american poet, our biannual literary journal and magazine for members.