Judy Gaines Young Book Award
The Judy Gaines Young Book Award is given annually by Transylvania University to honor the author of a book of distinction written in the Appalachian region in the previous two or three years. The award was endowed in 2015 by Dr. Byron Young, a Lexington-area professor and neurologist, in honor of his late wife.
The program is currently coordinated by Transylvania Professor of English Martha Billips and Poet-in-Residence Maurice Manning.
Winners
- 2015 - Holly Goddard Jones for The Next Time You See Me
- 2016 - Amy Greene for Long Man
- 2017 - Crystal Wilkinson for The Birds of Opulence
- 2018 - Kathleen Driskell for Next Door to the Dead
- 2019 - Silas House for Southernmost
- 2020 - Frank X Walker for Last Will, Last Testament
Past Nominees
2015
- Ron Houchin for The Man Who Saws Us in Half
- George Ella Lyon for Many-Storied House
- Jeff Daniel Marion for Letters to the Dead
- Allison Seay for To See the Queen
- Lee Smith for Guests on Earth
2016
- Robert Gipe for Trampoline (first nomination)
- T.J. Jarrett for Zion
- Jeremy B. Jones for Bearwallow
- Denton Loving for Crimes Against Birds
- George Ella Lyon for What Forest Knows
2017
- Lee Smith for Dimestore
2018
- Darnell Arnoult for Galaxie Wagon
- Robert Gipe for Trampoline (second nomination)
- Mark Powell for Small Treasons
- Mary Ann Taylor-Hall for Out of Nowhere