 He received many awards, including the John Hay Whitney Fellowship (1965–66), the New York Council on the Arts fellowships (1971–81), and the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (1974–81).Benny Andrews was born into a family of ten on November 13, 1930, in the small community of Plainview, Georgia.His parents, George and Viola (née Perryman), were sharecroppers.