Lois Moran Award for Craft Writing

Lois Moran Award for Craft Writing

Lois Moran Award for Craft Writing Call for Submissions

ABOUT THE LOIS MORAN AWARD FOR CRAFT WRITING

The Lois Moran Award for Craft Writing is given for a thoughtfully written and dynamic individual article or essay on some aspect of American craft. Lois Moran, the longest-serving editor of American Craft magazine and a monumental figure in the history of the American Craft Council, was a tireless proponent of the American craft field. She had a mission to elevate the importance of craft for a broad audience. ACC seeks nominations and submissions annually for an award in her name recognizing the work of writers committed to moving the craft conversation forward.

Nominations/submissions for this award are now closed.

NOMINATION SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

  • Eligible articles and essays must have been previously published between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023.
  • Entries may have first appeared in craft publications, general interest magazines, newspapers, online publications, blogs, or as stand-alone essays in books. Full-length books, academic papers, and American Craft magazine articles are not eligible.
  • Entries can be up to 5,000 words.
  • International applicants are welcome as long as the writing is in English and addresses American craft.
  • There is no entry fee.

We welcome nominations and submissions from diversity of backgrounds and do not discriminate on the basis of age, ancestry, disability, family status, gender identity or expression, national origin, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation, or for any other reason.

 

MEET OUR 2023 GUEST JURORS

Sarah Darro

Sarah Darro (she/her) is a curator, writer, and visual anthropologist working at the nexus of contemporary craft, art, and design. She has established an intersectional curatorial vision that is invested in reinvigorating museum spaces as forums for discourse, innovation, action, and engagement through experience. She lives and works in Houston, TX, where she is the Curator and Exhibitions Director of Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. Darro was the 2022 Jentel Foundation Art Critic at the Archie Bray Foundation and the 2019 American Craft Council Emerging Voices Scholar Awardee. From 2021-2022, she was the Gallery Manager of the Center for Craft in Asheville, NC; in 2020 she completed a Curatorial Research Fellowship in Modern and Contemporary Glass at the Corning Museum of Glass; and in 2018 she completed a three-year Windgate Curatorial Fellowship at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. She holds a Master’s degree in Visual, Material, and Museum Anthropology from the University of Oxford and dual Bachelor’s degrees in Art History and Anthropology from Barnard College of Columbia University. Her research interests include artist communities and collectives, movement and performance practice in craft, architecturally-influenced design, radical accessibility, systems esthetics, and the life histories and agency of objects.

Sara Clugage

Sara Clugage's art practice focuses on economic and political issues in craft and food. She is the editor-in-chief of Dilettante Army (an online journal for visual culture and critical theory) and core faculty for the MA program in Critical Craft Studies at Warren Wilson College. Her most recent publication is the 2021 Haystack monograph, New Recipes: Cooking, Craft, and Performance. She serves on the boards of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and the Textile Society of America.

Andres Payan Estrada

Andres Payan Estrada was born in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. An artist and curator whose practice engages issues revolving around contemporary craft with a focus on material and object theory along with ceramics and queer practices. He is currently the director of public engagement at Craft Contemporary and has served as visiting art faculty at the California Institute of the Arts, mentor in the Warren Wilson College Master of Arts in Craft Studies and has mentored in the A+B Projects Certificate.

Make a donation in support of this award

Special thanks to all those who have made a donation honoring Lois Moran’s legacy in support of the Lois Moran Award for Craft Writing. You can help continue to fund this annual award and support writers in the craft field for years to come by making a donation today.