Gerard Receives 2012 Sam Ragan Award

Philip Gerard, professor and chair of the department of creative writing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, is the recipient of the 2012 Sam Ragan Fine Arts Award presented by St. Andrews University in Laurinburg. Created in 1981 to honor Samuel Talmadge Ragan (1915–1996), N.C.’s first Secretary of Cultural Resources and a longtime editor of the Raleigh News & Observer, the award is made annually to one or more persons for outstanding contributions to the fine arts of N.C.

Gerard is the author of three novels: Hatteras Light, Cape Fear Rising and Desert Kill, and two books of nonfiction: Brilliant Passage and Creative Nonfiction: Researching and Crafting Stories of Real Life. He has written episodes of Globe Watch, an international affairs program for WUNC-TV and has scripted two hour-long environmental documentaries, one of which won a Silver Reel of Merit from the International Television Association in 1994.

For more about the award and a list of previous winners, visit http://www.sapc.edu/academics/cw/raganawards.php.