Behind the Curtain: LaSalle Storyteller Award

---

Since 2015, the LaSalle Storyteller Award has provided $30,000 in unrestricted funding to three outstanding Washington State fiction writers. It is one of two discipline-specific awards available from Artist Trust and seeks to recognize artists who engage in storytelling through their artistic discipline. Past recipients of the award are Anca L. Szilágyi (2015), Peter Mountford (2016), and E. Lily Yu (2017).

Funding and inspiration for the LaSalle Storyteller Award comes from Artist Trust Board Member Gar LaSalle, a renowned physician, sculptor, filmmaker, and writer. He is an active supporter of Washington’s arts communities and collaborated with Brian McGuigan and Artist Trust to develop the award. Gar wanted to create the award as a way of giving back to the literary community, honoring the tradition of storytelling, and inspiring writers to push the limits of their craft.

In 2018, the LaSalle Storyteller Award will provide $10,000 in unrestricted funding for one fiction writer in Washington State.

Application Process

Applications for the 2018 LaSalle Storyteller Award are open to all fiction writers living and working in Washington State. Applications consist of a biography, impact statement, resume, essay describing how the applicant’s work demonstrates excellence in storytelling, and one to two collections of work samples with accompanying synopsis pages. Applicants may submit up to fifteen pages of work samples that were published or created after January 2017, as well as three pages of secondary work samples from before January 2017.

Applications are reviewed by a three-person panel with a background in the literary arts. Panelists base their decisions on the artistic excellence and excellence in storytelling demonstrated in the work samples, originality and writing skill, and the applicant’s professional background. Panelists are also encouraged to look at applications through a lens of racial equity.

Interested in applying?

Applications for the 2018 LaSalle Storyteller Award are open until September 10. Applicants who submit their applications before August 20 may receive a preliminary review from Artist Trust staff and an opportunity to revise and resubmit their application. Award recipients will be announced in December 2018. More information about the awards as well as application guidelines can be found here.

Learn more about Gar on Artist Trust’s blog.

–
Megan Gallagher is a writer from Redmond, Washington. She has been writing for the Artist Trust blog since July 2017 and loves learning more about Washington State’s arts communities.

---