The annual prize of $2,000 is given to an Arkansas writer of merit and has been awarded to over 30 poets, novelists, non-fiction writers and playwrights.
Poetry
Leon Stokesbury, 1985
Paul Lake, 1988
Andrew Hollander, 1992
Michael Heffernan, 1998
Jo McDougall, 2000
Fleda Brown, 2001
Ralph Burns, 2002
Michael Burns, 2004
Constance Merritt, 2005
Greg Brownderville, 2007
Davis McCombs, 2015
Sandy Longhorn, 2016
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fiction
Buddy Nordan, 1986
Donald Harington, 1987
Hope Norman Coulter, 1989
James Twiggs, 1990
Crescent Dragonwagon, 1991
Norman Lavers, 1995
David Jauss, 1996
Dannis Vanatta, 1997
Grif Stockley, 1999
Kevin Brockmeier, 2003
Donald "Skip" Hays, 2006
Trenton Lee Stewart, 2008
Bill Harrison, 2011
Pat Carr, 2013
Padma Viswanathan, 2017
Tyrone Jaeger, 2018
Jen Fawkes, 2021
Mark Barr, 2022
non-fiction
Morris Arnold, 2001
Shirley Abbott, 2005
Roy Reed, 2009
Margaret Jones Bolsterli, 2012
Mara Leveritt, 2014
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playwriting
Werner Trieschmann, 1994
Bob Ford, 2010
Qui Nguyen, 2019
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Lifetime achievement
Donald Harington, 2004
Miller Williams, 2009
Charles Portis, 2014
Jo McDougall, 2019