Book Award Process in Hiatus
Submissions Halted until Further Notice
Prairie Heritage, Inc., is currently devoting its resources to the creation of a Black History Trail in Geary County, Kansas--as a section that will eventually link up with Black History Trails throughout the Flint Hills. The Book Awards Committee is volunteering full time with this effort and cannot accept submissions until further notice.
Jan Garton Prairie Heritage Book Award
Submissions Invited for the 2021 JAN GARTON PRAIRIE HERITAGE BOOK AWARD
Prize: $1,000
Due Date: July 31, 2021
Eligibility: Books published in 2017-2020
The Jan Garton* Prairie Heritage** Book Award will be given to the best book of the year that illuminates the heritage of North America's mid-continental prairies, whether of the tall-grass, mid-grass, or short-grass regions. Authors' first books receive extra consideration. Books may be in any genre, and topics may include but are not limited to social or natural history; prairie culture of the past or in-the-making; and interactions between society and ecology. From its founding, Prairie Heritage Institute, Inc. has had a special focus on the African-American settlements of the Flint Hills of Kansas; therefore, books exploring non-European prairie heritage are especially welcome. Also encouraged are books that confront the question of prairie ways of life-how denizens of the prairie, human and non-human, have lived or can live together without the destruction and exterminations that have characterized the past.
The Prairie Heritage Book Award comes with a cash prize of $1,000.00 and a sponsored book-signing.
There is no application fee. Books may be nominated by publishers, authors, or readers by sending two copies to:
Prairie Heritage Book Award
Bird Runner Wildlife Refuge
11003 Lower McDowell Rd.
Junction City, Kansas 66441
Reading begins immediately. Books may be submitted any time up to July 31, 2021.
Prairie Heritage Reserves the Right to make no award or to include previous submissions in any given year.
For more information, contact Margy Stewart, Bird Runner Wildlife Refuge, 11003 Lower McDowell Rd., Junction City, Kansas 66441, 785.539.5592, margystewart@gmail.com, prairieheritage.org
* Jan Garton (1949-2009), a native of Chapman, Kansas, is known for saving Cheyenne Bottoms, a wetland on which half the shorebird population of North America depends. Jan led the successful fight to restore water rights to this central Kansas wetland. She was a tireless defender of biodiversity and a lifelong advocate for the prairie. The endowment for the Book Award comes from a bequest to Prairie Heritage from the estate of Jan Garton.
** Prairie Heritage, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable corporation, dedicated to the preservation of the prairie and its stories. It is based at Bird Runner Wildlife Refuge, a native prairie preserve in eastern Geary County, in the Flint Hills of Kansas.