CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Feb. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Today the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) announced Catherine Coleman Flowers and Lindsey Liles as the winners of its 2026 Phillip D. Reed Environmental Writing Award. Their work exemplifies the power of storytelling to capture some of the most important environmental issues facing the South.
2026 Reed Environmental Writing Award
The Reed Award celebrates writers who achieve both literary excellence and offer extraordinary insight into the South’s natural treasures and environmental challenges. Presented annually, the award recognizes outstanding writing on the Southern environment in two categories: Book and Journalism. The Book category honors work of nonfiction that are not self-published, and the Journalism category honors newspaper, magazine, and online writing published by a recognized institution such as a news organization, university, or nonprofit group.
An award ceremony will be held in honor of the winners during the Virginia Festival of the Book. This event is free and open to the public. It will start at 5 p.m. on March 20, in the CODE Building, located at 225 West Water Street on the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville, Va. The event will also be streamed for free online.
Christian Cooper will serve as the keynote speaker for the 2026 Reed Environmental Writing Award ceremony. Christian Cooper is an Emmy Award-winning host and the New York Times bestselling author of “Better Living Through Birding.” Known for his work as the host of National Geographic’s “Extraordinary Birder with Christian Cooper,” he brings his lifelong passion for birding and environmental advocacy to a wide audience. A former president of the Harvard Ornithological Club and current vice president of the New York City Bird Alliance, Cooper champions safe, accessible green spaces and engages underserved communities in the joys of birdwatching.
Register now to attend the ceremony or watch the livestream. The first 400 virtual registrants will receive a copy of Catherine Coleman Flowers’s book, “Holy Ground: On Activism, Environmental Justice, and Finding Hope.” https://www.selc.org/reed-award-registration/
Here are additional details for this year’s winners:
Book Category
Catherine Coleman Flowers, a two-time recipient of the Reed Environmental Writing Award, is receiving the 2026 Reed Award for “Holy Ground: On Activism, Environmental Justice, and Finding Hope.“
In “Holy Ground,” Flowers shares an inspiring collection of deeply personal essays, with an urgent message. Drawing from a lifetime of organizing and advocacy, Flowers frames the defining challenges of our time, from climate change to rural poverty, through the lived experiences of the communities most often left behind. Grounded in the history of the South, the essays lay bare how planned disinvestments and systemic neglect continue to deprive people and communities of the basic right to clean air, safe drinking water, and a healthy environment. Flowers weaves together reflections on ancestry, faith, loss, resilience, and responsibility, honoring the trailblazers who paved the way while candidly reckoning with the personal costs of fighting for the common good. With grace, moral clarity, and unwavering hope, “Holy Ground” charts a path toward social and environmental justice, calling readers to take action for their communities and for the planet we share.
