The John D. Voelker Foundation and the American Museum of Fly Fishing (AMFF) are pleased to announce the winner of the 2022 Robert Traver Fly-fishing Writing Award: “A Dog Named Fish” by Frank Sargeant of Guntersville, Alabama. Mr. Sargeant’s story is a warm, humorous, but heart-rending story about a man and his dog who both love tarpon fishing.

The winning entry will receive a $2,500 prize and will be published in the Winter 2023 or Spring 2023 edition of the American Fly Fisher, the journal of the American Museum of Fly Fishing.

Winner Frank Sargeant is author of ten outdoors and boating books and a regular contributor to a number of outdoors magazines and online publications. He is a former fishing guide—in Homosassa, Florida, where his story takes place—and has owned a number of dogs who were his best friends and fishing companions. He has an M.A. in English from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.

Sargeant commented “I am truly honored, and astounded, to be this year’s winner. The Robert Traver Award is a great incentive for talented writers to produce their best work. It provides a venue for creative writing that’s very hard to find in the modern publishing world, and the element of competition adds a special spice to each year’s contest. I greatly appreciate the committee’s hard work each year in organizing and judging the contest.”

Read the winning story by clicking the link below.

The 2022 competition drew a field of 86 stories and essays. Entries were judged anonymously resulting in seven finalists. The Traver Award judges also bestowed Honorable Mention recognition on two other entries:

The other four finalists were:

“How Bobby Crump’s Trout Won the Bronze Star” by Richard Landerman of Sandy, Utah
“The Leather Shop Man” by David Gray-Clough of North Yorkshire, United Kingdom
“How many anglers…” by Katie MacDonald of Charlottestown, Prince Edward Island, Canada
“The Wedding Planner” by Chris O’Byrne of Mulberry, Florida