The Robert Traver Fly-Fishing Writing Award is our sport's exclusive opportunity to get your original manuscript read by fly-fishing-writing professionals and possibly published in FR&R. The Robert Traver Fly-Fishing Writing award carries a $2,000 First Prize, from the John D. Voelker Foundation, sponsor of the award; a Second Place award of $750 will be included this year; Third Place, known as the Rusty Gates Memorial Honorable Mention Award, is $250. The ranks of past winners include Pete Fromm, Seth Norman, Keith McCafferty, Richard Chiappone…

DEADLINE: 2011 submissions must be postmarked by May 16, 2011.

Submitted Traver Award essays or short stories must be:

"A distinguished original essay or work of short fiction that embodies an implicit love of fly-fishing, respect for the sport and the natural world in which it takes place, and high literary values."

Send in a typed, double-space manuscript of no more than 3,500 words to Fly Rod & Reel, Robert Traver Award, PO Box 370, Camden, ME 04843. The winning stories or essays will be published in the Autumn 2011 issue of FR&R and on this Web site.

You must submit your manuscript on a CD or DVD along with a hard copy, and please include an oversize self-addressed stamped envelope if you'd like your materials returned—materials without an SASE will not be returned. No e-mail submissions will be accepted. Please, no phone calls. Enter only once.