The Lillian Smith Book Awards' are an award which honors those authors who, through their outstanding writing about the American South, carry on Lillian Smith's legacy of elucidating the condition of racial and social inequity and proposing a vision of justice and human understanding. The award is jointly presented by the Southern Regional Council and the University of Georgia Libraries.
Since 1968, the awards have been presented annually, except for 2003 when the Southern Regional Council experienced funding shortfalls.[1] It is the South's oldest and best-known book award, and is presented in fiction and non-fiction categories.[2]