Congratulations, Morgan!
The Whiting Writer's Award is a prestigious prize given to writers who have shown “exceptional talent and promise in early career,” and has previously been won by the likes of Elif Batuman, Mark Doty, Jeffery Eugenides, Jonathan Franzen, Tony Kushner, Suketu Mehta, William T. Vollman, and David Foster Wallace.
Morgan is certainly a deserving winner and will no doubt go on to even bigger and better things. As you may recall, he already won a $30,000 Andy Warhol Foundation Award some years ago. His collection of essays (some of which were first published here on 3QD) called Ruins was explicitly cited by the Whiting awards committee. You may buy that book by clicking the ad in the right-hand column.
I was honored to be invited to the awards ceremony in New York City last night but unfortunately I could not make it. Robin Varghese was there, however, and took this photo just after Morgan received his award:
Needless to say, everyone at 3QD is extremely excited for Morgan. And as a mutual friend said, “That tie alone deserves an award!” Congratulations again, my dear friend! The announcment in the New York Times is here.