The North Carolina Literary and Historical Association, established in 1900, is among the oldest organizations of its kind in the nation. Its history is interlinked with that of the North Carolina Office of Archives and History.

AWARD COMPETITIONS ADMINISTERED BY THE NORTH CAROLINA LITERARY AND HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
In cooperation with other groups and with an aim to promote interest in the state’s literature, the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association annually conducts the following competitions for North Carolina authors:

The Ragan Old North State Award Cup for Nonfiction -
The North Carolina Literary and Historical Association
(est. 2003, successor to Mayflower Cup)
The award honors Sam Ragan, poet, critic, publisher, and the first Secretary of the present North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.

2008 Winner— Rob Christensen, The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics: The Personalities, Elections, and Events That Shaped Modern North Carolina . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press -

Winners - 2003 to present

The Roanoke-Chowan Award for Poetry -
The Roanoke-Chowan Group of Writers and Allied Artists
awarded since 1953

2008 Winner— Michael Chitwood, Spill -

Past winners 1953 to present

The Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction
The Historical Book Club of North Carolina
awarded since 1952

2008 Winner— Daniel Wallace, Mr. Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician .

Past winners 1952 to present

The American Association of University Women Award for Juvenile Literature
American Association of University Women of North Carolina
awarded since 1953

2008 Winner—Cathryn Sill, About Habitats: Wetlands

Past Winners 1953 to present

The Ragan Old North State Award Cup for Nonfiction Winners 2003 -2008

2008 — Rob Christensen, The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2008.

2007 — William S. Powell, ed. Encyclopedia of North Carolina. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007.

2006 — Clyde Edgerton, Solo: My Adventures in the Air. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 2005.

2005 — Thomas Rain Crowe. Zoro’s Field: My Life in the Appalachian Woods. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2005.

2004 — Howard E. Covington Jr. Favored by Fortune: George W. Watts & the Hills of Durham. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, 2004.

2003 — Timothy Silver. Mount Mitchell and the Black Mountains: An Environmental History of the Highest Peaks in Eastern America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003.

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The Roanoke-Chowan Award for Poetry

  • 2008 — Michael Chitwood, Spill.

  • 2007 — Catherine Carter. The Memory of Gills

  • 2006 — James Applewhite. Selected Poems

  • 2005 — Alan Shapiro. Tantalus in Love

  • 2004 — Kathryn Kirkpatrick. Beyond Reason

  • 2003 — Michael Chitwood. Gospel Road Going

  • 2002 — Alan Shapiro. Song and Dance

  • 2001 — (tie) Fred Chappell. Family Gathering
    (tie) Michael McFee. Earthly

  • 2000 — Margaret Rabb. Granite Dives

  • 1999 — Stephen Knauth. The River I Know You By

  • 1998 — Kathryn Stripling Byer. Black Shawl

  • 1997 — James L. Seay. Open Field, Understory: New and Selected Poems

  • 1996 — Fred Chappell. Spring Garden: New and Selected Poems

  • 1995 — Robert Watson. The Pendulum

  • 1994 — Judy Goldman. Wanting to Know the End

  • 1993 — James Applewhite. A History of the River

  • 1992 — Julie Suk. The Angel of Obsession

  • 1991 — Charles Edward Eaton. A Guest on Mild Evenings

  • 1990 — Sam Ragan. Collected Poems of Sam Ragan

  • 1989 — Fred Chappell. First and Last Words

  • 1988 — Lochlin Walker. Musings While Adrift

  • 1987 — Charles Edward Eaton. New and Selected Poems, 1942-1987

  • 1986 — James Applewhite. Ode to the Chinaberry Tree and Other Poems

  • 1985 — Fred Chappell. Castle Tzingal

  • 1984 — Betty Adcock. Nettles

  • 1983 — Reynolds Price. Vital Provisions

  • 1982 — Thomas Heffernan. The Liam Poems

  • 1981 — James Applewhite. Following Gravity

  • 1980 — Fred Chappell. Wind Mountain, A Poem

  • 1979 — Fred Chappell. Bloodfire: A Poem

  • 1978 — Mary Louise Medley. Seasons and Days

  • 1977 — Norman W. MacLeod. The Distance

  • 1976 — Fred Chappell. River: A Poem

  • 1975 — Marian Cannon. Another Light

  • 1974 — Campbell Reeves. Coming Out Even

  • 1973 — Ronald H. Bayes. The Casketmaker

  • 1972 — Fred Chappell. The World Between the Eyes

  • 1971 — Paul Baker Newman. The Ladder of Love

  • 1970 — Charles Edward Eaton. On the Edge of the Knife

  • 1969 — Guy Owen. The White Stallion, and Other Poems

  • 1968 — Paul Baker Newman. The Cheetah and the Fountain

  • 1967 — Walter Blackstock. Leaves Before the Wind

  • 1966 — Thad Stem, Jr. Spur Line

  • 1965 — Randall Jarrell. The Lost World

  • 1964 — E. S. Gregg. Reap Silence

  • 1963 — Herman Salingar. A Sigh Is the Sword

  • 1962 — Helen Bevington. When Found, Make a Verse Of

  • 1961 — Carl Sandburg. Wind Song

  • 1960 — Carl Sandburg. (Total of his work)

  • 1959 — Olive Tilford Dargan. The Spotted Hawk

  • 1958 — Paul Bartlett. Moods and Memories

  • 1957 — Dorothy Edwards Summerrow. Ten Angels Swearing

  • 1956 — Helen Bevington. A Change of Sky

  • 1955 — No award

  • 1954 — Thad Stem, Jr. The Jackknife Horse

  • 1953 — Frank Borden Hanes. Abel Anders

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The Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction

  • 2008 — Daniel Wallace, Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician.

  • 2007 — Doug Marlette, Magic Time.

  • 2006 — Ron Rash. The World Made Straight.

  • 2005 — Lawrence Naumoff. A Southern Tragedy, in Crimson and Yellow

  • 2004 — Margaret Maron. Last Lessons of Summer

  • 2003 — Pamela Duncan. Plant Life

  • 2002 — Allan Gurganus. The Practical Heart

  • 2001 — Leah Stewart. Body of a Girl

  • 2000 — Judy Goldman. The Slow Way Back

  • 1999 — Charles F. Price. Freedom's Altar

  • 1998 — Clyde Edgerton. Where Trouble Sleeps

  • 1997 — Charles Frazier. Cold Mountain

  • 1996 — G. Dan Gearino. What the Deaf-Mute Heard

  • 1995 — Tim McLaurin. Cured by Fire

  • 1994 — Michael Parker. The Geographical Cure: Novellas and Stories

  • 1993 — John Russell. Favorite Sons

  • 1992 — Angela Davis-Gardner. Forms of Shelter

  • 1991 — (tie) Kaye Gibbons. A Cure for Dreams
    (tie) Peter Turchi. Magician

  • 1990 — Allan Gurganus. Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All

  • 1989 — Lee Smith. Fair and Tender Ladies

  • 1988 — Lawrence Rudner. The Magic We Do Here

  • 1987 — Marianne Gingher. Bobby Rex's Greatest Hit

  • 1986 — Reynolds Price. Kate Vaiden

  • 1985 — John Ehle. Last One Home

  • 1984 — Reynolds Price. Private Contentment

  • 1983 — Lee Smith. Oral History

  • 1982 — Lee Zacharias. Lessons

  • 1981 — Reynolds Price. The Source of Light

  • 1980 — Guy Owen. The Flim-Flam Man and Other Stories

  • 1979 — Daphne Athas. Cora

  • 1978 — Mary Sheppard. All Angels Cry

  • 1977 — Sylvia Wilkinson. Shadow of the Mountain

  • 1976 — Reynolds Price. The Surface of Earth

  • 1975 — John Ehle. The Changing of the Guard

  • 1974 — Doris Betts. Beasts of the Southern Wild and Other Stories

  • 1973 — Fred Chappell. The Gaudy Place

  • 1972 — Daphne Athas. Entering Ephesus

  • 1971 — John Ehle. Time of Drums

  • 1970 — Guy Owen. Journey for Joedel

  • 1969 — Bynum Shaw. The Nazi Hunter

  • 1968 — Sylvia Wilkinson. A Killing Frost

  • 1967 — John Ehle. The Road

  • 1966 — Heather Ross Miller. Tenants of the House

  • 1965 — Doris Betts. The Scarlet Thread

  • 1964 — John Ehle. The Land Breakers

  • 1963 — Richard McKenna. The Sand Pebbles

  • 1962 — Reynolds Price. A Long and Happy Life

  • 1961 — Frank Borden Hanes. The Fleet Rabble

  • 1960 — Ovid Williams Pierce. On a Lonesome Porch

  • 1959 — Ernest Frankel. Band of Brothers

  • 1958 — Betty Smith. Maggie-Now

  • 1957 — Doris Betts. Tall Houses in Winter

  • 1956 — Frances Gray Patton. A Piece of Luck

  • 1955 — Frances Gray Patton. Good Morning, Miss Dove

  • 1954 — Ovid Williams Pierce. The Plantation

  • 1953 — Paul Green (for Outstanding Literary Achievement)

  • 1953 — Inglis Fletcher (for Outstanding Literary Achievement)

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