Harper Lee Award
{{Short description|Award for Alabama writers}}
The Harper Lee Award for Alabama's Distinguished Writer of the Year is an annual award recognizing a writer who was born in Alabama or has spent their formative years there. It is named after Harper Lee, whose To Kill A Mockingbird has sold over 30 million copies.{{Cite web|title=Programs : Harper Lee Award|url=https://www.writersforum.org/programs/harper_lee.html|access-date=2021-02-09|publisher=Alabama Writers' Forum }}{{Cite web|title=Alabama Writers Awards |url=https://www.monroevilleliteraryfestival.com/awards|access-date=2021-02-09|publisher=Monroeville Literary Festival}}
The Harper Lee Award was established in 1998 and was first awarded to Albert Murray.
Recipients
- 1998 — Albert Murray
- 1999 — Madison Jones
- 2000 — Helen Norris
- 2001 — Sena Jeter Naslund
- 2002 — Mary Ward Brown
- 2003 — Rodney Jones
- 2004 — Sonia Sanchez
- 2005 — Andrew Highway
- 2006 — Wayne Greenhaw{{Cite web |title=Montgomery Author Wins Harper Lee Award |url=https://www.apr.org/post/montgomery-author-wins-harper-lee-award |access-date=2021-06-25 |website=Alabama Public Radio|date=6 March 2006 }}
- 2007 — William Cobb
- 2008 — Rebecca Gilman{{Cite web |title=Artist Bio : Rebecca Gilman |url=https://www.goodmantheatre.org/Artists-Archive/collective/Rebecca-Gilman/ |access-date=2021-06-25 |publisher=Goodman Theatre}}
- 2009 — Rick Bragg
- 2010 — Carolyn Haines
- 2011 — Winston Groom
- 2012 — Fannie Flagg
- 2013 — Gay Talese
- 2014 — Mark Childress
- 2015 — Hank Lazer
- 2016 — E. O. Wilson{{Cite web |title=Edward O. Wilson Chosen as 2016 Harper Lee Award Recipient |url=https://eowilsonfoundation.org/tag/harper-lee-award/ |date=December 15, 2015 |access-date=2021-06-25 |publisher=E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation |archive-date=2021-06-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625085034/https://eowilsonfoundation.org/tag/harper-lee-award/ |url-status=dead }}
- 2017 — Brad Watson
- 2018 — Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
- 2019 — Daniel Wallace
- 2020 — Patti Callahan Henry{{Cite web |date=2020-01-19 |title=Mountain Brook author wins 2020 Harper Lee Award |url=https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2020/01/mountain-brook-author-wins-2020-harper-lee-award.html|author=Shelly Haskins |access-date=2021-06-25 |website=AL}}
- 2021 — Angela Johnson
- 2022 — Cynthia Tucker
- 2023 — Joy Harjo
- 2024 — Tom Franklin
- 2025 — Cassandra King