Fairhope songwriter and poet Mike Turner has been awarded the 2023 Roger Williams Peace Award for Writing by the Alabama Writers Cooperative (AWC).

Turner's poem, "Sense of Peace," was recognized as being the, "writing of any genre/category that best promotes peace among human beings." The award was announced at AWC's annual conference in Birmingham on Saturday, Sept. 9, and includes a $1000 cash prize.

AWC (originally the Alabama Writer's Conclave), based in Birmingham, was organized in 1923, and today is one of the oldest continuing writers' organizations in the United States. Members include fiction and non-fiction writers, novelists and short story writers, poets, journalists, publishers, writers and teachers. In addition to hosting workshops and conferences around the state, AWC is responsible for nominating, for the governor's appointment, Alabama's Poet Laureate.

"I'm honored to have received this award for my poem," Turner said. "I hope the poem realizes the award's intent of promoting peace throughout the world. My thanks to the Alabama Writers Cooperative for this recognition."

Turner retired to Fairhope in 2007 after a 27-year career as a federal investigator, where he took up songwriting and poetry. He was named Male Gospel Entertainer of the Year by the Alabama Music Association in 2016 and by the North America Country Music Associations International in 2017; his original songs were featured on the "15 Minutes of Fame" stage at the 2020 Monroeville Literary Festival. Turner has had more than 280 poems published in over 60 literary journals and anthologies; his book, Visions and Memories, was published in 2021.