1977
Lena Penland Purkey

Lena Lucas Penland Purkey (1904 – 1994) grew up in Madison County near Hot Springs and attended Dorland Institute and Asheville Normal School. She won the award in 1977 for her 1975 publication, Home in Madison County, an autobiography that provided a realistic and authentic description of life in the foothills of the Southern Appalachian mountains shortly after the turn of the century.