Shepherd University is proud to honor those literary artists who have found sustenance and material from this heritage. The Appalachian Heritage Writer’s Award and the $5000 accompanying prize are presented annually to a writer whose work features or draws upon, in some respect, this cultural heritage. The recipient of the award fulfills a brief residency each fall, enriching the campus and community with lectures, workshops, and special programs as part of The Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Residence Project, a West Virginia Humanities Council sponsored program. The Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Residence also selects winners of the West Virginia Young Writers Fiction Competition, interacting with these young writers before and during the residency to encourage the continuation of storytelling traditions in the region. The residency is associated with the Appalachian Heritage Festival, held each fall in Shepherdstown, West Virginia and developed by the Performing Arts Series at Shepherd.