Montgomery, Alabama native Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald was daring and revolutionary in her life, art, and writing, and The Fitzgerald Museum’s Young Writers Award that bears her name seeks to identify and honor Alabama’s high school students who share her talent and spirit. Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald was inducted into the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame in spring 2020. This award, which was first given the following year, celebrates her life and legacy by recognizing the talents and abilities of young Alabama writers.

General Guidelines:

The Fitzgerald Museum’s third annual Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald Young Writers Award is accepting submissions of portfolios from young writers who are currently attending high school (grades 9 – 12) in Alabama. Portfolios should contain literary works (stories, poems, plays or film scripts, multi-genre works) totaling 5 to 15 pages with font sizes no smaller than 11 point. Writers are encouraged to include works that are innovative in style, content, form, and/or technique. Literary works may include artwork, illustrations, font variations, and other graphic elements, but these elements should enhance the work, not simply decorate the page.

The submissions period is open from September 1 until December 31, 2022. Each student may only enter once. 

Portfolios will be judged holistically, and only one award will be given each year. The recipient will be announced by March 15, 2023.

Portfolios should be submitted through the web form on at the link below. Due to issues of compatibility, works should be collected into one PDF named with the author’s first initial [dot] last name [underscore] ZeldaPortfolio (for example, J.Smith_ZeldaPortfolio.pdf). Questions about the award or the entry process may be sent to contest coordinator Foster Dickson at fitzgeraldliterarycontest@gmail.com, with “Zelda Fitzgerald Award Question” in the subject line.

Submit here: https://fitzmuse.wufoo.com/forms/20222023-the-second-annual-zelda-sayre-fitzgerald/

This year’s judge for the award is Jonathon Peterson, also known as JPdaPoet. Peterson is a two-time Alabama Music Awards Spoken Word Artist of the year (2017 and 2019), and the founder of the Just Hear Me movement, which provides a platform for local artists in Birmingham and Montgomery. He also has been featured in Dope 30 Under 30, a book highlighting leaders in the community.

The two previous winners of the Zelda Award are Colby Meeks from Lee High School in Huntsville and Kathleen Doyle from LAMP High School in Montgomery.