Free contest, 16th Annual Southern Environment Nature Writing Contest, top prize: $1000 for each category

Deadline: 19 March 2011

The Southern Environmental Law Center is now accepting submissions for the annual Phillip D. Reed Memorial Award for Outstanding Writing on the Southern Environment. The award seeks to enhance public awareness of the value and vulnerability of the region's natural heritage by giving special recognition to writers who most effectively tell the stories about the South's environment.

SELC is delighted to welcome best-selling author Lee Smith to our panel of judges for the writing contest. Ms. Smith has authored twelve novels, most recently Mrs. Darcy Meets the Blue-Eyed Stranger, and has received numerous awards including two O. Henry Awards, an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Lifetime Literary Achievement Award given earlier this month by the Library of Virginia. We also extend a warm welcome to Orion magazine assistant editor Hannah Fries, whose participation on the judges panel this year continues a long-standing relationship between SELC's writing contest and this award-winning literary magazine.

SELC's annual Reed Environmental Writing Award has two categories: Book, for non-fiction books (not self-published), and Journalism, for newspaper and magazine writing, and online writing that is published by a recognized institution such as a newspaper, university or non-profit organization and is journalistic in nature. Prizes of $1,000 are awarded to the winner in each category, who will be announced at SELC's special event during the Virginia Festival of the Book on March 19, 2011.

* All submissions must have been published during calendar year 2010, and be received by January 10, 2011. Nominations can be made by anyone, including the author or publisher.

* Submissions must relate to the natural environment in at least one of the following states: Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee or Virginia.

* Send 15 copies to Reed Award, SELC, 201 W. Main Street, Ste. 14, Charlottesville, VA 22902. Submissions cannot be returned. Include at least one copy in original format for proof of publication. For Journalism entries, provide a CD or email the text, to verify word length.
* For more information: www.SouthernEnvironment.org >>Newsroom >> Reed Writing Award

More information here.