Association of Writers and Writing Programs AwardsThe Association of Writers & Writing Programs offers six contests for both members and nonmembers of AWP.

Click on the links below for complete guidelines, winners, and more!

The AWP Award Series in the Novel, Poetry, Fiction, and Creative Nonfiction

The AWP Award Series is an annual competition for the publication of excellent new book-length works of poetry, fiction,and creative nonfiction. Winners in the Award Series receive a $2,000 cash honorarium plus publication of their book by University of Pittsburgh Press, University of Massachusetts Press, or University of Georgia Press.

Only book-length manuscripts are eligible. The Award Series de&Mac222;nes “book-length” as: poetry—48 pages minimum text; short story collection and creative non&Mac222;ction—150–300 manuscript pages; novel—at least 60,000 words.

Poems and stories previously published in periodicals are eligible for inclusion in submissions, but manuscripts previously published in their entirety, including self-published, are not eligible. As the series is judged anonymously, no list of acknowledgements should accompany your manuscript. The AWP Award Series is open to all authors writing original works in English. No mixed-genre manuscripts can be accepted. Criticism and scholarly monographs are not acceptable for creative non&Mac222;ction, which the Award Series de&Mac222;nes as factual and literary writing that has the narrative, dramatic, meditative, and lyrical elements of novels, plays, poetry, and memoirs.

You may submit your manuscript to other publishers while it is under consideration by the Award Series, but you must notify AWP immediately in writing if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere. No e-mail or phone calls, please. AWP cannot consider manuscript revisions during the course of the contest, but the winning authors will have an opportunity to revise their works before publication. Please read carefully the entry requirements and guidelines before submitting your work.

An entry fee of $20 to nonmembers and $10 to AWP members (not Chronicle subscribers). All entry fees are nonrefundable.

An official AWP entry form, completed with the required information.

You may enter in more than one genre, and you may also enter multiple manuscripts in one genre, provided that each manuscript is accompanied by its own entry form, postcard, and entry fee.

Your submitted manuscript must be an original work of which you are the sole author.

Deadline: Manuscripts must be postmarked between Jan. 1 and Feb. 28

AWP/ George Garrett Award for Outstanding Community Service in Literature

The award includes a $1,000 honorarium from AWP in addition to travel, accomodations, and registration for attending the AWP Conference, where the Award will be conferred.

AWP welcomes letters from our members who wish to nominate individuals for the George Garrett Award. Letters of nominations must be postmarked between August 1st and September 16th.

Nominations must be postmarked no later than Dec. 1

Nominations must be accompanied by a cover letter from the program director, which verifies that the enclosed nominations are by students currently enrolled in the university's creative writing program.

The Intro Journals Project

The Intro Journals Project is a literary competition for the discovery & publication of the best new works by students currently enrolled in the programs of AWP. Winners of this contest receive a $50 cash honorarium and are published in Hayden's Ferry Review, Mid-American Review, Puerto del Sol, Controlled Burn, Quarterly West, Tampa Review, Willow Springs, and Artful Dodge.