“This workshop has given me the inspiration and motivation needed to grow. Being surrounded by so many creative minds pushes me to elevate the way I think and write. I am grateful to each of my peers for their willingness to open up and be vulnerable.
Being recognized as the annual Writer of the Year and receiving the Daniel J. Byrd Memorial Award has been the most meaningful achievement of my time in the Indiana Prison Writers Workshop and the past four years of my incarceration as a whole. In prison, I have earned nearly fifty certificates, but none has made me as happy and proud as the day I received this award. I share this accomplishment with my facilitator, Tiffany, and each of my peers. Thank you, Indiana Prison Writers Workshop.”
MORE ABOUT THE DANIEL J. BYRD MEMORIAL AWARD
Daniel J. Byrd participated in the inaugural Indiana Prison Writers Workshop in late 2017. After his passing, IPWW established an annual “Writer of the Year” award in his honor, beginning in 2020. Each year since, one writer has been recognized for significant growth as a writer and for exemplifying the same qualities of fearlessness and vulnerability that Daniel J. Byrd brought to his own writing.