The Publishers Association of the South presented the 1995 Robin Mays Award for outstanding contribution to Southern publishing to Louis D. Rubin Jr., founder of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. The award was presented at the PAS annual meeting in Atlanta on September 29, 1995, as part of the Southeast Booksellers Association convention and trade show. Rubin, a noted author, critic, editor, and professor, has written and edited more than 45 books. His most recent books, released this fall, are A Writer's Companion (LSU Press) and a novel, The Heat of the Sun (Longstreet Press). As founder of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, he has been instrumental in shaping the careers of prominent authors including Lee Smith, Jill McCorkle, John Barth, and Clyde Edgerton. The Robin Mays Award was created in honor of Robin Mays, longtime Publishers Weekly staffer who helped form PAS years ago.

The Tennessee Humanities Council announces the presentation of the 1995 Governor's Award in the Humanities to Will D. Campbell, the 1995 Nashville Banner's Tennessee Writer Award to John Egerton, and the 1995 Southern Book Critics Circle Southern Book Awards to Doris Betts for fiction and John Egerton for nonfiction. Presentations were made during the Southern Festival of Books on Friday, October 13, in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Wilkinson County Museum in Woodville, Mississippi, is hosting the exhibit "Jewish Life in Wilkinson County, 1820-1920," September 9-December 31, 1995. For more information contact the Wilkinson County Museum, P.O. Box 1055, Woodville, MS 39669; telephone 601-888-3998 or 601-888-3177.

The Center for African American History and Culture is hosting the exhibits "Equal Rights and Justice" and "Reflections on Rights" September 23, 1995-March 3, 1996. The exhibits examine the ways in which the civil rights movement and its leaders motivated subsequent generations of Americans confronted with the questions of human rights. For more information, contact the Center for African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution, 900 Jefferson Drive SW, A&I 1130, Washington, D.C. 20560; telephone 202-357-4500.

Berry College, Rome, Georgia, will hold a Southern Women Writers Conference April 12-14, 1996. For more information, contact Emily Wright, Berry College English Department, 5010 Berry College, Mount Berry, GA 30149; telephone 706-236-7389; E-mail swwc@berry.edu.

Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Natchez, Mississippi, will host the 59th Annual Southern Literary Festival April 18-20, 1996. The emphasis of the festival is children's literature and mystery stories. All entries should be sent to Price Caldwell, MSU, Department of English, Drawer E, Mississippi State, MS 39762. The deadline for entries is January 31, 1996. For more information about the festival, contact Durr Walker at 601-643-8371; fax 601-643-8212.

The Oral History Association invites applications for three awards that will recognize outstanding work in the field. The categories are published article or essay, completed oral history project, and postsecondary educator, for work published or completed between January 1, 1995-March 30, 1996. Deadline for receipt of all nomination materials is April 1, 1996. Awards will be announced at the Association's annual meeting October 10-13, 1996. For guidelines and submission information, contact Rebecca Sharpless, Executive Secretary, Oral History Association, Baylor University, P.O. Box 97234, Waco, TX 76798-7234; e-mail: OHA_Support@Baylor.edu.

Three books that celebrate the heroism of ordinary individuals in the social movements that have reshaped the South are recipients of the 27th annual Lillian Smith Book Awards. The two 1995 nonfiction award winners are Charles M. Payne, I've Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle (University of California Press) and Adam Fairclough, Race & Democracy: The Civil Rights Struggle in Louisiana, 1915-1972 (University of Georgia). The fiction winner is Mary Lee Settle, Choices (Nan Talese/Doubleday). The awards were presented on November 3 in Decatur, Georgia. The awards are sponsored annually by the Southern Regional Council, the region's oldest interracial organization, which works to promote democratic values and institutional change. The awards recognize outstanding writing about the South, particularly work that highlights the concerns of the Council race relations and social justice issues that also occupied the Georgia writer and human rights activist for whom the awards are named.

The second Southern Studies Teachers Institute will be held June 23-28, 1996 at the University of Mississippi. The week-long residential seminar will explore the art, music, literature, and history of the region. High school and elementary school teachers from across the country are invited to participate. For more information, contact the Center for Public Service and Continuing Studies at the University of Mississippi, Post Office Box 879, University, MS 38677; telephone 601-232-7282.