BLACKSBURG -- For Virginia Tech rising senior Juanisha Brooks, poetry is about passion and performance.

"I like taking my poetry beyond just the page and reciting it and giving it some life so other people can feel where I'm coming from," Brooks said.

The Portsmouth native recently received The Steger award for her poem "Future Flight."

Now in its second year, the $1,000 poetry award was established by Virginia Tech President Charles Steger. Students were asked to submit a poem about the future by March 1. English professor Fred D'Aguair and his graduate creative writing students selected the winners, said English professor Virginia Fowler.

Brooks said "Future Flight" began as an assignment during her sophomore year in University Distinguished English professor Nikki Giovanni's class. In October, she performed it during the talent portion of the Miss Virginia Tech pageant, where she was named second runner-up overall in the pageant. She tweaked it for The Steger contest.

Brooks has been writing poetry for about seven years. Her favorite genre is spoken word or "slam" poetry. A communications and psychology major, she plans to pursue broadcast journalism after graduation, but she said poetry is another way she will explore her creativity.

Senior physics and mechanical engineering major Brian Skinner won second place and $500 for his poem "I Know No Other Way Than This," a piece about a bus ride from Virginia to California. Junior English major Tom Dunn won third place for "Walking With My Unborn Son."

All are former students of Giovanni's.

"She inspired me to do it," Skinner said. "She's interesting to listen to and very charismatic."

All of the winners read their poems at the April 11 celebration reading. Five honorable mentions were also read. Brooks was presented with a small inscribed statue made by local jeweler Faith Capone.

She said she will probably use her $1,000 check coming to her in the mail to buy clothes and pay rent.

"Nothing too life-changing," she said with a laugh.

The distinction, however, is very life-changing.

"Now I can say I'm an award-winning poet, and that's amazing," Brooks said. She said that after the tragedy at Tech, her poem about the future has "so much more meaning" because "tomorrow isn't promised."

"The poem has so many things for everyone and just reading it recently opened up doors to me and gave me new ways to look at the poem," Brooks said. "Everyone can be optimistic about the future regardless of the tragedy that just happened."

The award is touted as the highest-paying reward for undergraduate poetry in the nation. It's likely to remain that way, as Steger announced at the April 11 celebration that $2,000 will go toward the contest next year, to be used as deemed appropriate by the The Steger award committee. The committee is made up of faculty and staff from various university departments. Steger gives his own money to the contest.

The extra $1,000 will be used to better advertise the contest, which drew in "a couple hundred" applicants this year, said Giovanni, who worked with Steger to establish the award.

"This really puts us on the map," Giovanni said. The poet recently received national attention for her convocation address after the April 16 shootings on campus.