Roy Peter Clark award: St. Petersburg Press is looking for 2020’s literary hero
A literary honor has been established by St. Petersburg Press, and named for writer, editor and teacher Roy Peter Clark.
The public is invited to nominate potential honorees for the inaugural Roy Peter Clark St. Pete Literary Prize. Eligible are poets, novelists, playwrights, storytellers, non-fiction writers, feature writers, columnists – anyone published, or currently working, in print and/or digital media.
It’s not limited, however, to those who write or create – the honor is open to promoters, booksellers, educators, literacy advocates – anyone whose work reflects positively upon the quality of life of St. Petersburg and the surrounding areas, and/or its history or culture, through a literary method.
The winner, along with two finalists, will be announced at the Sunlit literary festival kickoff event on April 24.
Clark, a resident of St. Petersburg since 1977, is the author or editor of 19 books on reading, writing, language and journalism, including Writing Tools, which has been published in eight languages, with a quarter of a million copies in print. His most recent work, Murder Your Darlings And Other Gentle Writing Advice from Aristotle to Zinsser, was published in January.
“St. Pete is a city of writers,” he said. “But we are also a city of journalists, of amazing language arts teachers, of independent booksellers. These are true champions of literacy and democracy. I hope this award will celebrate their achievements and their dedication.”
Clark is senior scholar emeritus at the Poynter Institute, which owns the Tampa Bay Times. He created the National Writers Workshop, and conducted writing camps for young students and their teachers for 29 consecutive summers. Clark has also appeared on numerous radio and television talk shows, speaking about ethics in journalism and other writing issues.
St. Petersburg Press welcomes suggestions from the public; submissions will be accepted at stpetersburgpress.com. Click here for the official nomination form.
The St. Petersburg Group owns St. Petersburg Press and the St. Pete Catalyst.
Roy Peter Clark
March 2, 2020at4:40 pm
It is an honor to serve as the name for this award. St. Pete is a city of writers. If you can think of a worthy candidate, you can nominate that person or persons directly to me here: rclark@poynter.org. Let’s celebrate the literary excellence of our creative community.