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April 7, 2003
Contact:
Tom Davis
Troy Office of University Relations
334/670-3196
tomdavis@troy.edu
Office of University Relations
253 Adams Administration
Troy, AL 36082
(334) 670-3196
(334) 670-3274 (fax)
| TROY
STATE UNIVERSITY OFFICE OF UNIVERSITY RELATIONS PRESS RELEASE FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL 1-334-670-3196 |
| Author
and reporter Rick Bragg receives Hall-Waters Prize at TSU Author and reporter Rick Bragg, recipient of the 2003 Hall-Waters Southern Prize at Troy State University, says the only people he’s ever cared writing about are those that handle life with perseverance and toughness. Bragg visited the TSU campus Friday to receive the Hall-Waters Prize at a ceremony held in Sartain Hall. The Hall-Waters Prize is endowed by TSU alumnus Dr. Wade Hall, an author and Professor Emeritus of English at Bellarmine College in Louisville, Ky. Dr. Hall endowed the prize as a memorial to his parents, Wade Hall, Sr. and Sarah Elizabeth Waters Hall. The award is presented annually to a person who has made significant contributions to Southern heritage and culture in history, literature or the arts. Bragg said he writes about the people who have worked in sweatshops, those that picked cotton in the fields and those that worked holding babies on their hips. “Those are our people,” he said. Bragg, responding to a question from Dr. Hall, said, “Those writers show that poor people are represented from a distance. They know them only as a convenience. They don’t know the sacrifices the poor people make and the sadness they face. They don’t know the fear of losing everything like the poor people do.” Bragg’s first book, “All Over But the Shoutin’,” focused on the perseverance and toughness of his mother while telling the story of how he grew up poor in northeast Alabama. Bragg added the book also deals with “injustices and inequalities.” “The main reason I am tickled to death to get the Hall-Waters Prize is because I know you know those people I write about,” he told approximately 200 TSU students, faculty and staff. “They are your grandparents, parents, uncles and aunts.” Dr. Hall said that Bragg’s advocacy on behalf of the poor and disadvantaged, makes him an excellent choice to receive the Hall-Waters Prize. “Most writers describe the poor people as oddities,” Dr. Hall said. “They write as if they were superior to the poor. For the first time I think people, like Rick, are telling the story truthfully. “This award is about selecting people who will honor us and Rick Bragg has done this.” Bragg, a native of Piedmont, worked for several newspapers including the Birmingham News before joining the New York Times. He was chosen as a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. He is author of three works of non-fiction, including the best selling memoir “All Over But the Shoutin’” and his latest book, “Ava’s Man.” |