Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award

Nominations for the 2025 Award are open!

The Asheville Museum of History is now accepting nominations for the 2025 Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award. Originated by the Louis Lipinsky Family, the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award has been presented by the Western North Carolina Historical Association (now the Asheville Museum of History) since 1955. The award comes with a $2,500 cash prize.

Due to the disruption caused by Hurricane Helene, we were unable to assemble an awards panel or present an award for 2024.  This year, we will include all publications published between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2025. 

The deadline for submission of nominated works is July 31, 2025. Anyone with knowledge of an author who meets the qualification criteria may nominate the author for the award.

To be considered, an entry must be a published work of fiction, nonfiction, drama or poetry and meet the following criteria:

1. It must be a first edition work; revised editions of published works will not be considered.
2. The publication date must be between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2025.
3. The author must be a native of Western North Carolina or a resident of Western NC for at least 12 months prior to the closing date for the Award.
4. An author may also qualify if the work submitted has a focus on or setting in Western NC. 

Western North Carolina includes the Qualla Boundary and the following 23 counties: Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancey.

Nomination letters must specify the following eligibility criteria:

1. date of publication
2. birthplace or residence of author
3. setting of work 

Nominators should submit a cover letter along with three copies of the work by July 31, 2025 to:

Asheville Museum of History

Thomas Wolfe Award Committee

283 Victoria Road

Asheville, NC 28801

An awards ceremony and reception, in honor of the finalists and 2025 award recipient, will be held in early December 2025.

Catherine Frank, director of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNC Asheville, will chair the award panel this year.

For questions, email Steven Nickollof: education@ashevillehistory.org