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   ‘N Gratitude best selling author and Tuskegee native, Willa Brigham, was awarded the National Association of Black Storytellers’ (NABS) prestigious Zora Neale Hurston Award (2015). Past recipients have included such notables as actors Ossie and Ruby Davis; actor, singer, songwriter, and civil rights activist Oscar Brown, Jr., and Black Arts Movement activist and poet, Sonia Sanchez. The award was presented to Mrs. Brigham during that organization’s annual festival and conference held last fall in Arlington, Virginia.

  

   Willa, who is a Lifetime Member of NABS, has been nominated for five (5) Emmys and is a two-time Emmy Award winner in the category of “Best Educational Programming for Young Children.” Both awards were in recognition of her role as host of a North Carolina children’s television show, “Smart Start Kids,” which encourages children to create and share their imaginative stories.

Her book, The Pizza Tree, is an ‘N Gratitude best seller, and her recent book signing at Barnes and Noble was a big success. The Pizza Tree is an entertaining story about a young girl who comes in possession of “magical pizza seeds” and Willa uses the book to introduce the concept of sharing to young children. It is available online for $12.99; it can also be purchased at the Barnes and Noble on Maynard Road in Willa’s hometown of Cary, North Carolina.