The Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation presents a robust awards program that offers recognition to established writers and recognition, coupled with financial award to emerging writers in the areas of fiction, nonfiction and poetry.
Our current awards program includes the annual Legacy Award, the College Award in Fiction and Poetry, and the Crossover Award for Nonfiction.
Legacy Awards
The Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards program honors Black writers in the United States and around the globe for literary achievement. Introduced in 2001, the Legacy Award is the first national award presented to Black writers by a national organization of Black writers. The Legacy Award is awarded to published book authors in the categories of Fiction, Debut Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Historical Nonfiction, Memoir Nonfiction, and Poetry. Former Legacy Award finalists and winners serve as judges for the Legacy Awards.
College Award for Fiction and Poetry
The Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation’s annual Hurston/Wright Awards for College Writers is the only award of its kind that recognizes Black college writers. The award is the foundation’s first program. It was initiated to support emerging Black artists in fiction and poetry enrolled full-time in an undergraduate or graduate school program anywhere in the United States. Early winners of the Hurston/Wright Award for College Writers include acclaimed novelists Brit Bennett, Tayari Jones, David Anthony Durham, Natalie Baszile, and Ravi Howard.
The Crossover Award for Nonfiction
The Hurston/Wright Crossover Award, sponsored by ESPN’s Andscape, honors probing, provocative, and original new voices in literary nonfiction. Named after the most common dribbling move in basketball, the Crossover Award, aims to highlight an unconventional winner who writes across genres and can effectively crossover between writing styles and techniques. The name also speaks to the potential of the award winner to transition from obscurity to the spotlight. This award will celebrate one writer who contributes a unique perspective to the literary nonfiction landscape.
(In photo: 2021 Crossover Awardee Prince Shakur who published his first memoir in 2022)