Vaughn, Bill

Dayton: A Peace Process began as a means of connecting Dayton, OH, area businesses with work that needed to be done to reconstruct the war zone in the former Yugoslavia. Chairman Bruce Hitchner worked with Thomas S. Norwalk of the Miami Valley Marketing Group, Inc. to connect local businesses with counterparts in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Each year on November 21, the anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords, the Dayton Peace Accords Project would gather for several days of symposiums for local and international businesses and a celebratory dinner. As the fifth anniversary of the Peace Accords approached in 2000, the decision was made to honor one individual each year who had worked in order to broker peace. On November 21, 2000, the first Dayton Peace Prize was awarded to President Bill Clinton for his work to bring an end to the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In 2006 the Dayton Peace Prize became the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and is awarded to writers whose work promotes peace.

From the guide to the Dayton: A Peace Process Collection, 1994-2001, (Wright State University, Special Collections and Archives)