By Grace Briggs-Jones, Florrie Hulbert, Daisy Shayegan and Harry Banham
The Hurston/Wright Foundation's mission is to mentor, discover and honour both aspiring and emerging professional Black writers by providing culturally-competent services, support and opportunities. This includes summer workshops for Black writers, readings, virtual courses and special events and also the Legacy Awards.
The Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards were founded in 2001 and are a prestigious programme that aim to honour Black writers from the United States and around the world for their literary achievements. It is the first national award to be presented to Black writers by a national organisation of Black writers.
The Legacy Awards aim to elevate the voices of Black writers and acknowledge the cultural and historical impact of their work. Former winners and finalists are invited to serve as judges, ensuring that the selection process is guided by those who have demonstrated excellence in their craft. This peer-based approach reinforces the importance of community within the Black literary landscape.
In addition to celebrating established authors, the Legacy Awards also encourage emerging voices, especially through the Debut Fiction category, which highlights promising new talent. The program has become a hallmark event, helping to elevate Black authors in both national and international literary communities.
The Legacy Awards for Merit are granted to Black writers whose works support and encourage the creation and the legacy of Black literature; helping to advance and promote social justice for people of colour and are considered to be a significantly impactful literary achievement. In 2024, the Merit Award winners are N.K. Jemison, Claudia Rankine and Marcus Books for the North Star Award, the Ella Beer Award and the Madam “CJ” Walker Award respectively. Jemison is known for her science fiction and fantasy writing, driven thematically by conflict, oppression and the use of power. Rankine has published a range of work, including poetry, plays and essays and is known for how her writing questions America’s history and culture. Marcus Books is a bookstore founded by Drs Raye and Julian Richardson which strives to advocate for Black history in literature and advertises artistic works alongside other Black creators.
There will also be awards for a range of categories including Debut Fiction, General Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Historical Non-fiction, Memoir Non-fiction and Poetry. For Debut Fiction, there are three finalists: Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo, The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts by Soraya Palmer and In the Upper Country by Kai Thomas. Their work tackles topics such as death, loss, motherhood and survival, telling exciting new stories about the experience of being Black in America.
The nominees for the General Fiction category are equally diverse, including stories of gladiatorial prison fights and a journalist's quest to solve their own great-grandfather’s murder. The shortlist includes Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Time’s Undoing by Cheryl A. Head, The Unsettled by Ayana Mathis and The History of a Difficult Child by Mihret Sibhat.
The shortlisted authors for Speculative Fiction are Johnny Compton for his gothic thriller Spite House, Mary McLaughlin Slechta for the magical realist Mulberry Street Stories and Moses Ose Utomi for his novella The Lies of the Ajungo. In the Historical Non-fiction shortlist, Victor Luckerson tells the story of America’s Black Wall Street in Built from the Fire, Donovan X. Ramsey discusses the drug epidemic in When Crack was King and Yepoka Yeebo introduces one of history's most charismatic scammers in Anansi’s Gold.
Both the shortlists for Memoir Non-fiction and Poetry are packed with five nominees each. Dionne Ford, Emmanuel Iduma, Cassandra Jackson, Leta McCollough and Aomawa Shields are all recognised for their memoiristic works while Amanda Gunn, Patricia Jones, A. Van Jordan, Airea Matthews and Charif Shanahan are finalists for their collections of verse.
Several other awards celebrate Black authors. The Jhalak Prize, established in 2017, honours books by writers of colour in the UK and Ireland. In 2020, it expanded with the Jhalak Children’s & Young Adult Prize and in 2024, the Jhalak Poetry Prize was introduced. Winners include Travis Alabanza for None of the Above (2023), Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi for The First Woman (2021) and Johny Pitts for Afropean (2020).
The Coretta Scott King Book Awards, founded in 1969, honour Dr Martin Luther King Jr. and Mrs Coretta Scott King by recognising exceptional books by African American authors and illustrators. Awarded annually, it celebrates works for young adults and children, highlighting the Black experience through literature and graphic arts. Notable winners include Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson, Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis and Heaven by Angela Johnson.
The NAACP Image Awards, presented by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, honour achievements in film, TV, theatre, music and literature. Some 2024 winners include Elizabeth Acevedo’s
Family Lore for Fiction, Krystle Zara Appiah’s Rootless for Debut Author and Aleema Omotoni’s Everyone’s Thinking It for Youth/Teens.
Prizes that celebrate Black authors play a vital role in amplifying diverse voices and stories, providing much-needed recognition and support for under-represented talent. These awards not only reiterate the importance of voicing the Black experiences but also inspire future generations of writers and readers. By honouring literary excellence, they help shape a more inclusive and equitable literary landscape.