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Columbia, S.C. – The S.C. Academy of Authors (SCAA) has expanded its annual award competitions to include a separate category for student writers of fiction and poetry and an increase in prize money.

Thanks to a recurring grant from the Penelope Coker Hall and Eliza Wilson Ingle Foundation, the SCAA will now sponsor two prizes in both fiction and poetry. The Elizabeth Boatwright Coker Fellowship in Fiction and the Elizabeth Boatwright Coker Student Prize in Fiction will offer winning authors $1500 and $1000, respectively. The grant honors the memory and literary legacy of the late Elizabeth Boatwright Coker (1908-1993), who was herself an SCAA inductee in 1991.

Likewise, the Carrie McCray Nickens Poetry Fellowship and SCAA Student Prize in Poetry will offer winning authors $1500 and $1000, respectively.

Fellowship winners in fiction and poetry will be invited to the SCAA induction ceremony and awards brunch in Anderson, S.C., in April, 2016; their entries will be published in Fall Lines, an annual literary journal published by Muddy Ford Press in Columbia. Student Award winners in each category will also be invited to the SCAA Awards brunch.

The entry deadline for all awards is Dec. 1, 2015.

Applicants for the Fellowships in Fiction and Poetry must be full-time South Carolina residents. Applicants for the Student Awards in Fiction and Poetry must be 18-25 at the time of submission, legal residents of South Carolina, and enrolled full time at a private or public South Carolina institution of higher education. Complete submission guidelines can be found at www.scacademyofauthors.org. Questions about the fiction prizes may be directed to Jon Tuttle at juttle@fmarion.edu; questions about the poetry prizes may be directed to Libby Bernardin at libbypoet@gmail.com.

The Fellowship in Fiction is now in its fifth year. Previous winners are Rachel Richardson of Spartanburg (2015), Nancy Brock of Columbia (2014), Thomas McConnell of Spartanburg (2013), and Craig Brandhorst of Columbia (2012). This year’s fiction judge is Ron Carlson, the award-winning author of four story collections and five novels, most recently Five Skies and Return to Oakpine. His fiction has appeared in Harper’s, The New Yorker, Playboy, and GQ, and has been featured on NPR’s This American Life as well as in Best American Short Stories and The O. Henry Prize Stories. Carlson is the director of the UC Irvine writing program and lives in Huntington Beach, California.

Recent winners of the Carrie McCray Nickens Poetry Fellowship include Barbara G.S. Hagerty of Charleston (2015), Jo Angela Edwins of Florence (2014), Susan Laughter Meyers of Givhans (2013), and Kit Loney of Charleston (2012). This year’s poetry judge is Joseph Bathanti, former Poet Laureate of North Carolina and the author of eight books of poetry, including This Metal, nominated for the National Book Award, and winner of the Oscar Arnold Young Award, and Restoring Sacred Art and Concertina, both winners of the Roanoke Chowan Prize. Bathanti is Professor of Creative Writing at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C.

The South Carolina Academy of Authors was founded at Anderson College in 1986. Its purpose is to identify and recognize the state’s distinguished writers and their influence on our cultural heritage. The Academy board selects new inductees annually whose works have been judged culturally important. Each inductee, whether living or deceased, has added to South Carolina’s literary legacy by earning notable scholarly attention or achieving historical prominence. Entry fees help support the SCAA in its mission to preserve and promote South Carolina’s literary legacy. For more information about the South Carolina Academy of Authors, visit www.scacademyofauthors.org.

Source: SC State Library

About the S.C. State Library
The South Carolina State Library develops, supports, and sustains a thriving statewide community of learners committed to making South Carolina stronger. The Library serves the people of South Carolina by supporting state government and libraries to provide opportunities for learning in a changing environment. It is the primary administrator of federal and state support for the state’s libraries. In 1969, as the result of action by the General Assembly, the State Library Board was redesignated as the South Carolina State Library and assumed responsibility for public library development, library service for state institutions, service for the blind and physically handicapped, and library service to state government agencies. Headquartered in Columbia, S.C., the Library is funded by the state of South Carolina, by the federal government through the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and other sources. For more information, please visit www.statelibrary.sc.gov