Two Books Honored with 2020 Excellence-in-Craft Awards

Newport News, VA, May 13, 2020 --(PR.com)-- Swoope Almanac: Stories of Love, Land, and Water in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley (Lot’s Wife Publishing, 2019) has won first place, while The Legend of the Fairy Stones (Morgan James Kids, 2019) was awarded second place, in the “Outstanding Book” category of the 2020 Excellence-in-Craft Awards from the Virginia Outdoor Writers Association, a coalition of artists who inform on the outdoors through various media.

In originally authored lyrical verse, The Legend of the Fairy Stones, by Kelly Anne White, retells a woodland tale of fairy tears turning to cross-shaped stones—real-life staurolite crystals. The ages-old lore has been passed along through oral tradition in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, where staurolite stones are abundant. To illustrate the book’s interior pages, White curated nearly 200 public domain images for digital collage. The book won a Purple Dragonfly Award for Best Interior Design in 2019 from Story Monsters LLC.

Swoope Almanac, by Robert Whitescarver, is a collection of poetry, essays, anecdotes, and reflections to educate readers on how to contribute to a healthier Chesapeake Bay watershed. Whitescarver is a farmer and conservationist, retired from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. With 31 years of field experience, Whitescarver teaches natural resources management at James Madison University. Visit SwoopeAlmanac.org to learn more.

Author Kelly Anne White is actively involved in the Chincoteague Storytelling Guild. She was an author panel presenter at the 2019 Annual Conference of the Virginia Association of School Librarians. Learn more about the author of The Legend of the Fairy Stones at KellyAnneWhite.com. Go to VOWA.org for more on the Excellence-in-Craft Awards.