2012 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Awards Winners: (front, l-r): Kim Tingley and Guest Speaker Kate Walbert (back, l-r): Julia Elliott, Inara Verzemnieks, Christina Nichol, Lauren Goodwin Slaughter, Rachel Swearingen taken at New York City Awards celebration on September 20, 2012. Photo credit: Star Black

The Rona Jaffe Foundation, an organization who awards women writers early in their careers, has announced the winners of the 2012 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Awards.

Julia Elliott, Christina Nichol, and Rachel Swearingen won the awards for fiction. Kim Tingley and Inara Verzemnieks were awarded prizes for their non-fiction work. Lauren Goodwin Slaughter won for poetry. These winners will receive $30,000 in grants.

The release explains the history of the awards: “The program – the only national literary awards program of its kind devoted exclusively to women – was created by celebrated novelist Rona Jaffe to identify and support women writers of unusual talent and promise in the early stages of their writing careers. Ms. Jaffe passed away in 2005.”