Library foundation to launch $10,000 prize for Hoosiers

Indiana has its share of renowned dead writers, but the Indianapolis-Marion County Library Foundation is planning to recognize modern-day Hoosier scribes with a new and quite hefty prize.

The foundation is recruiting judges for the first Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award, which has a top prize of $10,000.

The awards are to be announced Sept. 26 and accompanied by a day of bookish activities that organizers hope will become the state’s "premier" literary event.

How does a writer qualify as a Hoosier? He or she must be born here, or have lived in Indiana at least five years. The $10,000 is for a nationally recognized author. A regionally recognized author will receive $7,500, and an "emerging" author will receive $5,000. The writers will be judged on their body of work.

Each winner’s hometown library will get a $2,500 grant.

An $845,000 grant from the Glick Fund, a fund of the Central Indiana Community Foundation, established the award.