Hal Crowther’s recent collection of essays, Gather at the River: Notes From the post-millennial South (Southern Literary Studies, 2005) was a 2006 finalist for the National Book Critics Circle prize for criticism. His first collection, Unarmed But Dangerous: A Withering Attack on All Things Phony, Foolish, and Fundamentally Wrong with America Today (Longstreet, 1995) received the Lillian Smith Book Award, the 1999-2001 Fellowship Prize for Non–Fiction from the Fellowship of Southern Writers, and the 2001 Book of the Year award for essays from Foreword Magazine, and was a finalist for The Southern Book Critics Circle award for non-fiction.  He is also the author of Cathedrals of Kudzu: A Personal Landscape of the South (LSU Press, 2002).

His syndicated column, “Dealer’s Choice,” has been awarded the Baltimore Sun’s H.L. Mencken Writing Award (1994), the American Association of Newsweeklies first prize for commentary (1998), and was a finalist for a National Magazine Award (2002). Crowther is a regular contributor to The Atlanta Journal–Constitution and a featured political columnist for The Progressive Populist.

In 2000, Crowther received the Russell J. Jandoli Award for Excellence in Journalism from St. Bonaventure University, a career achievement award. His essays have been published in several anthologies, including Novello: Ten Years of Great American Writing (University of Michigan, 2000).