Award Programs

Women Writing the West presents four award programs each year; The WILLA Literary Awards, The LAURA Short Fiction Award, The DOWNING Journalism Award and the High School Writing Contest.

Awards are presented at the annual conference each October.

The WILLA Literary Award

The WILLA Literary Award was first presented in 1999 at the Women Writing the West Annual conference in Denver, CO.

Named in honor of Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Willa Cather, The WILLA Literary Award recognizes the best in literature, featuring women’s or girls’ stories set in the North American West that are published each year.

Entry period for The WILLA Literary Award is November 1 through February 1 of each year.

Information and Guidelines

The LAURA Short Fiction Award

In 2007, President Elect Kathleen Ernst proposed a short story contest, offering a threefold foundation: showcase WWW member’s writing talents, celebrate the short story form, and add another benefit to membership.

Only WWW members would be eligible to enter their previously unpublished story featuring a female protagonist, and set in the American West, past, present or future.

The LAURA Short Fiction Award entry period is February 1 through May 1 each year.

Information and Guidelines

The DOWNING Journalism Award

The DOWNING Journalism Award was first presented in 2019, honoring articles and journalism first published in 2018. Named in honor of WWW founder, first president and noted journalist, Sybil Downing, The DOWNING Journalism Award recognizes western-themed nonfiction articles or essays published in a commercial or literary North American publication.

The entry period for The DOWNING Journalism Award is January 1 through March 31 of each year.

Information and Guidelines

The High School Writing Contest

The WILLA Youth Award for Poetry/Songwriting
Poetry – 25 lines max
Haiku – 3 lines max; limit 3 haikus
Songwriting – 2 verses & chorus; bridge optional

The LAURA Youth Award for Short Fiction
Short prose stories; 1,500 to 2,000 words

The DOWNING Youth Journalism Award for Nonfiction/Journalism
Articles, bios, event reports; 500 to 700 words

Information and Guidelines

AWARDS PRIVACY POLICY

Please note that submitting books, unpublished stories, and/or magazine/newspaper articles to The WILLA Literary Award Competition, The LAURA Short Fiction Award, or The DOWNING Journalism Award implies consent of release of identifying information (i.e. Announcing award winners and titles of work on social media and in on-line newsletters.)