Bethanne Patrick

Release Me: The Dayton Literary Peace Prize
May 2, 2008

I've spent some time learning how to craft and draft press releases, and those of you who think it's easy? Please think again. Press releases can be slapdash, incomplete, boring, and all other manner of bad, but writing them is not as simple as sending an RSVP. 

So I thought I'd begin a featurette here in my blog that highlights the good press releases and spotlights their worthy news.

The first one comes to me via the good people of MKPR, announcing Taylor Branch's win of the Dayton Literay Peace Prize for Lifetime Achievement. Branch (pictured right, courtsey of Ellen W's Flickr Stream). Branch, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning trilogy America in the King Years is widely considered the definitive history of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement, will accept the award at a ceremony in Dayton, Ohio on September 28, 2008. Previous Lifetime Achievement honorees include authors Studs Terkel and Elie Wiesel. Much more on Taylor Branch here; he's truly an accomplished writer, and if you haven't read any or all of his King trilogy, you should.

The September ceremony will also honor the fiction and nonfiction winners of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, which is the only one of its kind in the country. (Did you know that? I certainly didn't.) Since submissions are due tomorrow -- May 3, 2008 -- hurry up and send them in: 

"To be considered for the 2008 awards, publishers must submit English-language books published in 2007. Submissions may address the theme of peace on a variety of levels, such as between individuals, among families and communities, or among nations, religions, or ethnic groups. The submission deadline is May 3, 2008. Submissions may be sent to Sharon Rab at sharonrab@woh.rr.com or by mail at P.O. Box 461, Wright Brothers Branch, Dayton, OH 45409. Please see www.daytonliterarypeaceprize.org for more information about nomination criteria."

Posted by Bethanne Patrick on May 2, 2008 | Comments (0)