2020 Robert Traver Award Submissions Now Accepted

The John D. Voelker Foundation and the American Museum of Fly Fishing (AMFF) are pleased to announce the 2020 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, the fine historical novel Laughing Whitefish, and the 1958 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 B. Ecology: knowledge and protection of the natural world C. Humor: piscatorial friendships and fun on the water. 

$2,500 Prize: The 2020 Traver Award will be granted for the winning short work of fiction or non-fiction essay in the English language, not previously published commercially in print or digital media. “Short work” means 3,000 words or less. A fee of $25 per entry will offset the administrative costs of the Award program. Previous Traver Award winners are not eligible. 

Writers must submit an Entry Form, upload a PDF file of the Traver Award entry, and submit a fee of $25 per entry on the Voelker Foundation website www.voelkerfoundation.com by midnight on May 1, 2020. Additional submission requirements and instructions are on the Voelker Foundation website.

The 2020 Traver Award winner will be announced in September 2020. The winning entry will be published in the Spring 2021 edition of The American Fly Fisher – Journal of the American Museum of Fly Fishing.