Genre: Fiction

Awards of $15,000 each are given annually to women, transgender, and/or gender-nonconforming poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers in the Philadelphia area who have been creating art for social change for at least five years. Writers who have lived in Bucks, Camden, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia counties for at least two years and who are not full-time students in a degree-granting arts program are eligible. Submit a completed application form, which includes a list of relevant experience and a statement demonstrating the applicant’s commitment to “art for social change work” by May 15. A panel of community-based artists will review applications and invite selected poets and prose writers to submit work for the second stage of the application process. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for the required application form and complete guidelines.

A prize of $500, publication by Livingston Press, and 20 author copies is given annually for a novel-in-verse. Eleanor Boudreau will judge. Submit a manuscript of 90 to 160 pages of poetry and a cover letter via e-mail by May 31. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Two prizes of $1,000 each and publication by Moon City Press are given annually for a poetry collection and a short story collection. The editors will judge. Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of at least 48 pages of poetry or 30,000 to 65,000 words of a short story collection (novellas may be included in the short story collection) with a $27 entry fee by June 1. All entries are considered for publication. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Four prizes of $10,000 each are given annually for books of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and young people’s literature written by U.S. writers and published in the United States during the previous year. A $10,000 prize is also given for an English translation of a book of fiction or nonfiction by a living writer and translator published in the United States during the previous year. Finalists in all categories receive $1,000 each. Using the online submission form, publishers may submit titles published or scheduled for publication between December 1, 2025, and November 30, 2026, with a $135 entry fee per title by May 13. Additionally, a digital copy and six hard copies (or bound galleys) of the books must be submitted to the judges and the National Book Foundation by June 5. Visit the website for the required entry form and complete guidelines.