In the 1990s, drawing upon faculty success in both the teaching and practice of writing fiction, poetry, plays, and non-fiction, the Wofford creative writing program was organized into a formal sequences of courses, including a capstone experience in which the goal of every student was to produce a publishable novel.
Benjamin Wofford Prizes are awarded for book-length works of fiction and nonfiction that are judged clearly superior. Rucht Lilavivat’s novel, The Stars of Canaan, received the first award, published in 1995, In 2000, Scott Neely's A Good Road to Walk became the first winner of the Benjamin Wofford Prize for Nonfiction.
Two thousand copies of each book, in paperback, are distributed to the campus community, English teachers and honors students in high schools, book review editors, and creative writing professors at other campuses. Between 1995 and 2004, more than 50 Wofford students have written novels in the course, offered every other year.
For Fiction
1995- Rucht Lilavivat The Stars of Canaan
1997- Travis Wheeler The Joshua Requiem
1999- Mac Leaphart Strange Light
2001- Josh Hudson When You Fall
2002- Liz Dearing Scarborough Tangle
2004- Thomas Pierce said the dark fishes
2006- Lauren Stephenson scrap
2011- Kemper Wray
For Non-Fiction
2000- Scott Neely A Good Road to Walk
For Poetry
2005- Emily Smith baboon heart