2019 Robert Traver Fly Fishing Writing Contest

March 14, 2019 By: Erin Block

The John D. Voelker Foundation and the American Museum of Fly Fishing have announced the 2019 Robert Traver Fly Fishing Writing Award. “Distinguished original stories or essays that embody the implicit love of fly-fishing, respect for the sport and the natural world in which it takes place” must be submitted by May 31, 2019.

Read more in the press release below.

2019 Robert Traver Fly Fishing Writing Contest

John D. Voelker, aka Robert Traver
Art by Jill Osgood

March 7, 2019, Marquette, Michigan and Manchester, Vermont –

The John D. Voelker Foundation and the American Museum of Fly Fishing (AMFF) are pleased to announce the 2019 Robert Traver Fly Fishing Writing Award (the Traver Award). The Award is named after Robert Traver, pen name for the late John Voelker, author of Trout Madness, Trout Magic, Anatomy of a Fisherman and the 1964 best seller Anatomy of a Murder.

The Traver Award was created in 1994 by Nick Lyons and the Voelker Foundation to encourage and recognize “distinguished original stories or essays that embody the implicit love of fly-fishing, respect for the sport and the natural world in which it takes place.”  The Traver stories and essays must demonstrate high literary values in one or more of these three categories:

  1. The joy of fly-fishing: personal and philosophic
  2. Ecological: knowledge and protection of the natural world
  3. Humor: piscatorial friendships and fun on the water.

Since 1994, nineteen awards have been given for the winning entry. Two anthologies of the Traver Award winning essays were published in two volumes: In Hemingway’s Meadow (2009) and Love Story of the Trout (2010).

$2,500 Prize: The 2019 Traver Award will be granted for the winning short work of fiction or non-fiction essay in the English language, either unpublished or published within the previous two years (e.g. for 2019 award, only works published after January 1, 2017). “Published” means released to the public in print or digital media, including a blog, website or social media; any previously