The Hackney Literary Awards, open to writers nationwide, are presented each year as part of the Birmingham-Southern College Writing Today Conference. Sponsored since 1969 by the Cecil Hackney family of Birmingham, the competition awards $5,000 in annual prizes for poetry and short fiction, ($2,500 national and $2,500 state level; 1st place, $600; 2nd place, $400; and 3rd place, $250) plus a $5,000 prize sponsored by Morris Hackney for an unpublished novel. The winners will be announced at the conference on March 13-14, 2009.