Kansas authors who have written an outstanding book published during the calendar years 2011 or 2012 are eligible for nomination for the 2013 Byron Caldwell Smith Book Award. Works of scholarship or creative literature meeting the criteria of “originality and superiority in conception and execution and of taste, proportion and outstanding scholarship” will be considered. The author must have been a Kansas resident or employed in Kansas at the time of the book’s publication.

A bequest from Kate Stephens, a former KU student and one of the University’s first female professors, established the $1,500 biennial award. As an undergraduate at KU, Stephens learned to love the study of Greek language and literatures from Professor Byron Caldwell Smith (who at the age of 24 was the youngest member of the faculty in 1872). Stephens received her Master of Arts degree at KU and led the early struggle for women’s rights and suffrage in this area. Professor Stephens taught Greek language and literature at KU from 1878 to 1885.

The recipient of the Byron Caldwell Smith Book Award will be expected to deliver a public talk on the subject of the book.

Deadline for nominations is March 1, 2013.

For more information, please visit the competition instructions.