HONORING A LEGACY OF HONEST OPTIMISM
Willie Morris Awards for Southern Writing
The Willie Morris Awards for Southern Writing seek to honor and extend the legacy of the Mississippi author whose name they bear.
Willie Morris (1934-99), a native of Yazoo City, Miss., earned a national profile as the youngest editor of Harper's Magazine in New York. A celebrated author, he was known for stories that reflected the inner tension he felt about his home state.
Today, the Willie Morris Awards honor fiction, nonfiction and poetry writers who continue to bring an honest yet hopeful perspective to their treatment of the American South. Winners receive both a boost in acclaim and cash prizes from an endowment established by Dave Williams and Reba White Williams.
WEBSITE
MESSAGING
VISUAL ASSETS
As steward of the awards, the University of Mississippi's Department of Writing and Rhetoric needed an online home for the program that facilitated submissions and captured the spirit of Morris and his writing community.
Awards coordinator Susan Nicholas worked with the Red Window team to produce a new website for the program. It integrates the story of the author and the award founders, alongside the ongoing awards program. The project included curating photography from past awards events as well as from the author's life and work.