Overview
Scholarship type
Merit based
Number of scholarships to award
One
Grant
up to $5,500
Scholarship coverage
- other
Description
The AWP Award Series is an annual competition for the publication of excellent new book-length works. The prizes are supported by the AWP Award Series Endowments.
Applicable programmes
Benefits
Sue William Silverman Prize for Creative Nonfiction: $2,500 and publication by the University of Georgia Press
James Alan McPherson Prize for the Novel: $5,500 and publication by the University of Nebraska Press
Donald Hall Prize for Poetry: $5,500 and publication by the University of Pittsburgh Press
Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction: $5,500 and publication by Mad Creek Books, an imprint of The Ohio State University Press
Eligibility
- The competition is open to all authors writing in English regardless of nationality or residence and is available to published and unpublished authors alike.
Only book-length manuscripts are eligible. The AWP Award Series defines “book-length” as:
- Poetry: 48 pages minimum text;
- Short story collection or creative nonfiction: 150–300 manuscript pages; and
- Novel: at least 60,000 and no more than 110,000 words.
To avoid conflicts of interest, friends and former students of a judge (former students who studied with a judge in an academic degree-conferring program or its equivalent) are ineligible to enter the competition in the genre for which their former teacher is serving as judge.
Current staff of AWP and members of AWP’s Board of Directors may not enter the AWP Award Series, and previous staff and Board members may not enter for a minimum of three years after leaving AWP or rotating off the Board, respectively.
Scholarship requirements
Disciplines
Any
Locations
United States
Nationality
Any
Study experience required
None
Age
Unknown
Application
Application deadline
28 Feb 2026
Entries for the competition will be accepted from January 1 to February 28. Submit via our online submission system.
Financing
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