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The MFA for Poets and Writers invites you to join us in the creation of the James W. Foley University of Massachusetts Memorial Prize, which honors the life and writing of MFA/fiction alumnus, teacher, and journalist James Wright Foley. In keeping with Jim’s concerns, the prize is designed to support the work of writers who express a political awareness and sensitivity in their prose, and whose concerns extend beyond the limits of their particular circumstances and home language.

The prize is meant to honor the conviction and courage of alumnus James Wright Foley.  Jim studied fiction and literature in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst from 1999 until 2003. In his years as a student here, he dedicated himself to working with marginalized communities, helping others to find their voices. Later he became a freelance journalist on the front lines in Libya and Syria, where he was kidnapped and horrifically executed by the so-called Islamic State in August of 2014. 

By the example of his teaching and written work, Jim encouraged us to care for those he cared for.  He invited us to be bound by a shared desire to matter to others.   The James W. Foley Prize is a collaboration between alumni and MFA faculty—a collective commitment to pay tribute to Jim’s work, and to assure that the stories he left behind continue in conversation with stories yet to be written.  Beginning in the spring of 2017, the prize will be awarded annually to a current MFA candidate, on the basis of a sample of prose, in the form of an honorarium generated by an endowment.  

Please help us make this prize a reality by contributing through https://minutefund.umass.edu/foleyprize.  The university will match donations from all current and retired faculty and staff, and every dollar of every gift to the Minute Fund will go directly toward an endowment.  

The memorial prize is a way to keep Jim among us. It is a way of reckoning with the loss of a beloved writer and friend, and of inviting the stories Jim left behind to continue in conversation with stories yet to be written.