Calling Nature Writers, Poets And Videographers

Murie, recognized for his seminal studies of elk in Jackson Hole, advocating for creation of expanded boundaries for Grand Teton National Park, and helping to inspire Congress to pass the landmark Wilderness Act of 1964, once said: “We cannot overlook the importance of wild country as a source of inspiration, to which we give expression in writing, in poetry, drawing and painting, in mountaineering, or in just being there.”

As a way of honoring the spirit of both Murie’s words and his late writer wife, Layser created the Pattie Layser Greater Yellowstone Creative Writing and Journalism Fellowship, now in its second year. 

The juried competition is open to writers and journalists (both professional and amateur of all ages) and seeks “to intersect science, education, current events and natural history through creative and exceptional writing and subject communication.” 

A prize of $3500 will be awarded to an individual involved with creative writing (poetry, fiction, nonfiction) or in the field of journalism (writer, photojournalist, videographer, documentary filmmaker, online or print media) in order to pursue meaningful storytelling pertaining to issues shaping Greater Yellowstone. The competition is co-sponsored by the Pattie and Earle Layser Memorial Fund and the Wyoming Arts Council with involvement from Mountain Journal and the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative. 

The deadline for submission is March 11, 2020. Guidelines can be viewed by clicking here. 

In 2019, radio journalist Melodie Edwards was selected as the first recipient from a distinguished group of applicants from the Greater Yellowstone region and beyond. Edwards today works as a radio anchor and journalist whose reports air on Wyoming Public Media. She is also a mother of two and co-owner with her husband of Night Heron Books and Coffeehouse in the Wyoming college town of Laramie. 

This year two jurors will be reviewing the submissions: Naturalist and award-winning Jackson Hole author Susan Marsh, who spent years working as a backcountry specialist with the US Forest Service and writes a popular column for Mountain Journal titled “Back to Nature"; and writer Todd Wilkinson of Bozeman, who has been a journalist for 35 years. He is a correspondent for National Geographic and The Guardian and, in 2017, founded Mountain Journal as a public-interest, non-profit news site dedicated to exploring the intersection between people and nature, ecology and economy in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and larger American West. MoJo has readers in 193 different countries and more than 132,000 followers on Facebook. MoJo's stories are free but it relies upon the support of readers and funders who believe in fact-based journalism and science-informed conservation.

Wilkinson is hoping that some of the pieces produced by fellows might be published at MoJo to put the work in wide circulation.

"The Wyoming Arts Council is excited to once again be offering the Pattie Layser Greater Yellowstone Creative Writing and Journalism Fellowship. When we were approached by Earle Layser about the possibility of collaborating on a fellowship, we felt a focus that expands the creative output of work about the GYE would be a wonderful way to honor the memory of the fellowship's namesake, Pattie Layser,” says Michael Lange, the Wyoming Arts Council’s executive director. “As the Wyoming Arts Council usually only funds opportunities for Wyoming artist, private funds have allowed us to offer this national fellowship as a way to expand the reach of the arts that are created in and around our beautiful state.” 

Applicants can be from anywhere in the world so long as they are a US citizen and intend to use Greater Yellowstone as a muse for their creative focus, Lange said. Another perk of the the fellowship is the opportunity to enjoy a one or two-week housing residency at the AMK Ranch in Grand Teton Park, the National Elk Refuge or the Taft-Nicholson Center in Montana’s Centennial Valley.