Bob McWhorter Award

Affectionately known as "The Clock"

This award is presented annually to the individual or individuals who have done the most to promote storytelling in West Virginia.  It is chosen via an election, with each dues-paying WVSG member casting a vote.  The Storytelling Guild adopted a clock as the symbol of storytelling achievements, because it represents the ageless art of storytelling from the past into the future. The Robert “Bob” McWhorter Storytelling Award clock derived its name from Bob McWhorter, one of the founders of the West Virginia Storytelling Festival that is still known as the  Jackson’s Mill Storytelling Festival.

Past Recipients include:

2007 Suzi “Mama” Whaples - Mountain Women founder and performer of many original tales

2007 Paul Lepp - Six time winner of the WV Liars Contest held during the Vandalia Gathering music festival

2006 Betty Cross - Storyteller who is one of the leading authorities of WV supernatural phenomenon and historical tales

2005 Tiffany Turner - Organizer of the Strand Theatre Storytelling Festival

2004 Ilene Evans - Founder of Voices From the Earth and History Alive presentations

2003 Bonnie Collins - Winner of Vandalia Award and numerous other storytelling awards

2002 Karen Vuranch - Well known storyteller of original and adapted tales

2001 Judy Byers - Director of the Folklife Center at Fairmont State University

2001 Jodi French-Burr - First president of the WV Storytelling Guild and responsible for making it a nonprofit organization

2000 “Granny Sue” Holstein - Past president of WVSG

2000 Betty Bea Cox - Original cofounder of the WV Storytelling Festival

2000 Bob McWhorter (for whom the award is named) - Cofounder of the WV Storytelling Festival and patron of the WV Storytelling Festival

2000 David Mann - past director of the WV Storytelling Festival and former director of Jackson’s Mill

2000 Joe & Anne Hutchison - Original cofounders of the WV Storytelling Festival