Uncategorized | May 27, 2005

In mid-May, The Missouri Review proudly welcomed Tom Ireland to Columbia to receive our first annual Jeffrey E. Smith Prize. Generously established by Jeffrey E. Smith, a resident of Columbia and friend and supporter of The Missouri Review, the Smith Prize honors the best piece of nonfiction published within the pages of the Review over for the previous volume year. In addition to a reading and reception here in Columbia, hosted this year by the Grand Cru Restaurant, the award includes a cash prize of $2,000. Like our annual Peden Prize for the best piece of fiction published in the Review during the previous volume year, the Smith Prize allows us to celebrate the writers we publish and to affirm our commitment to supporting our writers’ efforts. The prize of $2,000 is in addition to the $1,000 Ireland initially received for publication of “My Thai Girlfriends,” this year’s prize-winning essay–our present standard rate for creative nonfiction.

We thank Jeffrey E. Smith for his generosity and commitment to literature and the arts, and we look forward to a long and fruitful relationship.