About the Reed Environmental Writing Award
The Reed Award celebrates writers who achieve both literary excellence and offer extraordinary insight into the South’s natural treasures and environmental challenges. Presented every year, the Reed Award recognizes outstanding writing on the Southern environment in two categories. The Book category honors works of nonfiction that are not self-published, and the Journalism category honors newspaper, magazine, and online writing published by a recognized institution such as a news organization, university, or nonprofit group.
Entries must be at least 1,000 words; published in the year ending September 30, 2024, and pertain to the environment in at least one of the six states in SELC’s region (Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia). Prizes of $2,500 are awarded to the winner in each category. Our panel of judges includes some of the top environmental writers, journalists and advocates of our time.
Mission of the Award
SELC created the Reed Environmental Writing Award in 1994 to enhance public awareness of the value and vulnerability of the South’s natural treasures and to recognize and encourage the writers who most effectively tell the stories about the region’s environment. The award is named for SELC founding trustee Phil Reed, a talented attorney and committed environmental leader who believed deeply in the power of writing to change hearts and minds.