Only two days left for 2025 Robert Traver Fly-Fishing Writing Award (the Traver Award) submissions!
This award is named after Robert Traver, pen name for the late John Voelker, author of Trout Madness, Trout Magic, Anatomy of a Fisherman, the 1958 best seller Anatomy of a Murder, and the historical novel Laughing Whitefish.
The Traver Award, which includes a $2,500 prize, was created in 1994 to encourage and recognize “distinguished original stories or essays that embody the implicit love of fly fishing, respect for the sport, and the natural world in which it takes place.” The Traver stories and essays must demonstrate high literary values in one or more of these three categories:
• The joy of fly fishing: personal and philosophic experience
• Ecology: knowledge and protection of the natural world
• Humour: piscatorial friendships and fun on the water
The 2025 Traver Award will be granted for the winning short work of fiction or non-fiction essay in the English language not previously published commercially in print or digital media. “Short work” means 3,000 words or less. An entry fee of $25 will offset the administrative costs of the award program. Previous Traver Award winners are not eligible. All entrants will be required to certify that no part of their entry was generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
The deadline for submissions is midnight on May 31, 2025. The submission form and additional rules and instructions can be found on the Voelker Foundation website (www.voelkerfoundation.com).
Learn More & Read Past Winners
Reel Talk With AMFF Curator Jim Schottenham: Episode 7
On Thursday, May 29, at 3 p.m. EDT, AMFF curator Jim Schottenham will present his seventh Zoom seminar highlighting a special selection of fly reels from the museum’s “Wish List” of items that we would like to see added to our permanent collection. As past president of the Old Reel Collectors Association and former reel expert for Lang’s Tackle Auction, Jim has spent decades collecting, studying, and writing about antique reels for numerous publications. Reels selected for the upcoming webinar include:
Reel Selections
Anson Hatch side-mount, c. 1866
Fred Malleson’s Patent Multiplying Reel, c. 1883
Frederick Skinner’s Archimedian Reel, c. 1848
Edward Vom Hofe’s Model 360 Perfection Fly Reel, c. 1890s
Andrew Chapin Reel, c. 1899
Alround No. 50 Reel, c. 1892
George Gates Fly Reel, c. 1888
Smith Patent/Barnum & Morehouse, c. 1882
Get The Zoom Link For Reel Talk Episode 7
American Museum of Fly Fishing, 4070 Main Street, Manchester, VT 05254, USA
