The John D. Voelker Foundation and the American Museum of Fly Fishing (AMFF) are pleased to announce the winner of the 2026 Robert Traver Fly-Fishing Writing Award: “The Restraint of the Hunter” by Andrei Romanov. This story, set in Romania, shows the development of a conservation ethic and respect between a father and son through poignant scenes that occur decades apart. Mr. Romanov’s writing is clean, clear, and compelling.
The winning entry will receive a $2,500 prize and will be published in the Winter 2027 edition of the American Fly Fisher, the journal of the American Museum of Fly Fishing.
Andrei Romanov is an award-winning writer and historian based in Portugal. Born in Bucharest, Romania, he learned to fly fish in the Danube delta. His narrative history, Masters of the Ocean Sea (Sagres Heritage Press), won the 2026 London Book Festival Award for General Nonfiction. Romanov’s short fiction and essays have appeared in Touchstone, The Windhover, and Thin Places. In 2026, he won the memoir category of Ireland’s Write By The Sea competition.
The 2026 competition drew a field of 77 stories and essays. Entries were judged anonymously, resulting in seven finalists. In addition to the winner, judges bestowed honourable mention recognition on two entries:
“The Goddess of Compassion, Holding Open the Door” by Steve Duda, Seattle, WA
“The Big Bang Theory” by Tim Schulz, Houghton, MI
The other four finalists were:
“Falling Scales” by Genevieve Bentz, Bethesda, MD
“Hands and Fish” by Henry Hughes, Monmouth, OR
“Hatches of the Mind” by David Lynch, Concord, MA
“The Gorge” by Norm Richter, Lexington, MA
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