Meet the 2026 Phil Reed Environmental Writing Award finalists
The Southern Environmental Law Center is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2026 Phillip D. Reed Environmental Writing Award. Presented each year, the Reed Award celebrates writers who achieve both literary excellence and offer extraordinary insight into the South’s natural treasures and environmental challenges.
The work of this year’s finalists spans a wide range of environmental issues—from threats to wildlife and shrinking habitats to clean water, environmental injustices affecting Southern communities, and the pressures our region faces from data centers, energy demands, and the accelerating realities of climate change.
The award recognizes outstanding writing in two categories: the Book Category for works of nonfiction (not self-published) and the Journalism Category for newspaper, magazine, and online writing published by a recognized institution such as a news organization, university, or nonprofit group. This year, we received more than 20 book submissions and nearly 25 journalism articles and collections for consideration.
2026 book category finalists:
- Catherine Coleman Flowers, Holy Ground: On Activism, Environmental Justice, and Finding Hope
- Georgann Eubanks, The Fabulous Ordinary: Discovering the Natural Wonders of the Wild South
- Andrew S. Ramey, Saving the Chesapeake: The History of a Movement
- Charlotte Taylor Fryar, Potomac Fever: Reflections on the Nation’s River
- Paula Whyman, Bad Naturalist: One Woman’s Ecological Education on a Wild Virginia Mountaintop
2026 journalism category finalists:
- Antonia Juhasz, Rolling Stone
“A Trump Win Would Threaten Historic Climate Progress in North Carolina” - Diana Kruzman, Inside Climate News
“Virginia Once Drained and Dried Peatlands, but Now Eyes Them as Carbon Sinks” - Lindsey Liles, Garden & Gun
“Inside the Fight to Save the World’s Most Endangered Wolf” - Julia Tilton, The Daily Yonder
“This Rural Community Fought One of Country’s Biggest Gas-Powered Data Centers, and Won” - Justin Worland, Time
“The Backlash to High Electric Bills Could Transform U.S. Politics”
Reed Award winners are selected by a national panel of judges that includes leading environmental writers, journalists, and advocates.
Winners will be announced in early February 2026. There will be an award ceremony honoring the winners held on March 20, in Charlottesville, Virginia, in conjunction with the Virginia Festival of the Book. For last year’s event, we welcomed over 300 attendees in person, with an additional 200+ joining virtually via live stream. The event will also be available online the following week.
SELC presents the award annually in memory of Phillip D. Reed, a founding trustee of SELC who helped guide our organization through the early years before his untimely death in 1993. A talented attorney, committed environmental activist, and editor of the widely read Environmental Law Reporter, Phil was known for his ebullient spirit and inquiring intellect.