Residency Awards

The Lillian E. Smith Center sponsors the annual Writer-in-Service Award, which includes a two-week residency at the Center, a $500 honorarium, and a $500 travel allowance. Applications are usually accepted from November through mid-January, with the winner named in late February. The Award is open to U.S. residents working to advance writing through public service careers or volunteer work. Eligible activities include, but are not limited to, arts education, literacy instruction, prison arts and education, English as a second language instruction, art-related therapies, etc. While the work of writing instructors and volunteers is vital to the community, the demands often limit personal writing time. This award provides an opportunity for those writers who, like Lillian E. Smith, recognize “the power of the arts to transform the lives of all human beings.”

The Gabriele Stauf Residency Award is an ongoing annual opportunity that provides a $250 honorarium, a complimentary two-week retreat at the Lillian E. Smith Center for an educator who has a minimum of six years of experience and who is working on a project that would benefit from a residency. This award also provides the winner with a copy of A Lillian Smith Reader, edited by Margaret Rose Gladney and Lisa Hodgens, published by UGA Press. Gabriele Stauf, Professor Emerita of English at Georgia Southwestern State University, has enjoyed several residencies at the LES Center through the years. She sponsors this annual award because she understands the value of time and solitude required for creative pursuits.

The McClure-Scanlin Visual Art Residency Award provides a $250 honorarium, a complimentary two-week retreat at the Center for an artist working in fiber/textiles, photography, painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, etc. This award is made possible through a generous gift to Piedmont University from Tommy Scanlin, a member of the LES Center Advisory Board and a long-time LES Center Fellow. Primarily working in handwoven tapestry, Tommye is an artist who observes and responds to her surroundings for inspiration. One of her tapestries, “Because of Memory,” is a depiction of the rock formations on the chimney that marks Lillian Smith’s grave at the LES Center. Tommye and her husband, Thomas, are giving this award in honor of their mothers, who were both supportive of education and of following one’s chosen passions in life.

The Emily Pierce Graduate Residency is an annual award for graduate students which includes a two-week residency at the LES Center and a $500 honorarium. The award is open to current graduate students in any discipline who are working on projects focused on social justice. These could include anything from environmental science to prison arts and education to the formulation of governmental policies. Lillian Smith knew the importance of such work in creating an equitable society. In a letter to George M. Houser, the executive secretary of the Congress of Racial Equality, in September 1946, Smith wrote, “I feel strongly that the steel network of segregation customs cannot be broken down by talk only although I feel that talk, thinking, the stirring of imagination must come before much action can come. . . . We must say out loud that we believe in human equality; we must say out loud that we do not believe segregation is just or democratic or sane.” This award provides opportunities for graduate students whose work moves us towards a more equitable society.