The Smith-Pettit Foundation is an American

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

research organization based in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. The foundation was founded in the year 2000. The foundation "supports scholarly research and publication". It is also the majority owner of

Signature Books Signature Books is an American press specializing in subjects related to Utah, Mormonism, and Western Americana. The company was founded in 1980 by George D. Smith and Scott Kenney and is based in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is majority owned by the ...

Management

George D. Smith is the founder, president, and treasurer of the Smith-Pettit Foundation. Gary J. Bergera is the Vice President, Secretary, and managing director of the Smith-Pettit Foundation. David P. Wright, Professor Emeritus of Bible and the Ancient Near East at

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...

, is on the Smith-Pettit's Foundation board as Director. Ronald L. Priddis, Gary J. Bergera's former writing partner, is also a director at the foundation.

Associations

Since 2005 the Smith-Pettit Foundation has sponsored an

AML Award The AML Awards are given annually by the Association for Mormon Letters (AML) to the best work "by, for, and about Mormons." They are juried awards, chosen by a panel of judges. Citations for many of the awards can be found on the AML website. T ...

through the

Association for Mormon Letters The Association for Mormon Letters (AML) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1976 to "foster scholarly and creative work in Mormon letters and to promote fellowship among scholars and writers of Mormon literature." Other stated purposes have inc ...

for "Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters". Past winners of the award include

Margaret Blair Young Margaret Blair Young (born 1955) is an American author, filmmaker, and writing instructor who taught for thirty years at Brigham Young University. Biography Young's published work includes the novels ''House Without Walls'' (1991), ''Salvador' ...

Orson Scott Card Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the first and (as of 2022) only person to win both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for both ...

, and Melissa Leilani Larson. The Smith-Pettit Foundation sponsors an annual lecture through

Sunstone Magazine ''Sunstone'' is a magazine published by the Sunstone Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, that discusses Mormonism through scholarship, art, short fiction, and poetry. The foundation began the publication in 1974 and con ...

References

{{Reflist Research organizations in the United States Mormon studies Organizations based in Salt Lake City