Winners

(Top left to right): Minrose Gwin, Margaret McMullan, Bark (Susan and Tim Lee), C. T. Salazar, and Steve Rouse
(Bottom left to right): Ann Abadie, Will Jacks, Lemuria Bookstore, Stacey Johnson, and Angie Thomas

2020 Award Winners

Noel Polk Lifetime Achievement Award

The Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters is pleased to announce the
2020 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
Ann Abadie
Oxford, Mississippi
Since 1975, Dr. Ann Abadie has been a driving force at the University of Mississippi’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture, contributing to its success as the institution’s associate director, as the editor of numerous book projects, and as the co-founder of the Center’s annual Oxford Conference for the Book. Now the Center’s associate director emerita, Abadie has spent the past five decades—and counting—working mostly behind the scenes on educational and literary projects across our state. A devoted ally to the arts and to the written word, she is most deserving of this award, and we are pleased to give her a night "in the spotlight" for her tireless work.
Ann Abadie "In the Spotlight"

Special Achievement Award
to
the Mississippi Delta Tennessee Williams Festival,
sponsored by Coahoma Community College,
and to the festival’s early founders, Panny Mayfield and Dr. Kenneth Holditch,
for keeping alive the work of a truly remarkable Mississippi playwright,
for educating our state’s young people on Williams’s work,
and for bringing fans from far and wide to our state.

Citation of Merit

In recognition and appreciation for their years of contributing to the literary life of Mississippi,
the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters is pleased to present a
Citation of Merit
to
Lemuria Bookstore
Jackson, Mississippi

Category Winners

Visual Arts

Stacey Johnson, Pass Christian – Storytellers

Photography

Will Jacks, Cleveland – Po’ Monkey’s: Portrait of a Juke Joint

Poetry

C. T. Salazar, Caledonia – This Might Have Meant Fire

Music Composition (Classical)

Steve Rouse, Louisville, Kentucky – The Bird, the Bee, and the Bear

Fiction

Minrose Gwin, Albuquerque, New Mexico – The Accidentals

Nonfiction

Margaret McMullan, Pass Christian - Where the Angels Lived: One Family’s Story of Exile, Loss, and Return

Music Composition (Contemporary)

Bark (Susan and Tim Lee), Knoxville, Tennessee - Terminal Everything

Youth Literature
Angie Thomas, Ridgeland - On the Come Up

Previous Winners

Download the list of previous winners by clicking on the file below.
MIAL Previous Winners

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