The submission period for the 2014 Annual Literary Awards is now open.

Click here for the guidelines and eligibility requirements.

About

PEN Center USA’s annual awards program, established in 1982, is a unique, regional competition that recognizes literary excellence in eleven categories: fiction, creative nonfiction, research nonfiction, poetry, children’s literature, graphic literature, translation, journalism, drama, teleplay, and screenplay. Past award winners include:

Woody Allen
Paul Thomas Anderson
Ray Bradbury
T.C. Boyle
George Clooney
Cameron Crowe
Betty Friedan
Matt Groening
Charlie Kaufman
Barbara Kaufman
Maxine Hong Kingston
Ursula K. Le Guin
Neil Simon
Oliver Stone
Gus Van Sant
Gore Vidal
Alice Walker
Billy Wilder

PEN Center USA accepts submissions of work produced or published in the current calendar year by writers living west of the Mississippi River. Entries in the eleven categories are reviewed and judged by panels of distinguished writers, critics and editors. Winners are announced the following September and each receives a $1,000 cash prize, a free year of membership with PEN Center USA, and an invitation to the Annual Literary Awards Festival, which is held at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles. The Annual Literary Awards Festival includes a dinner, a silent auction or raffle, and the presentation of the literary awards and honoree awards. This gala is the only one of its scope on the west coast and is attended by more than 400 prominent members of the literary community.

WATCH THE VIDEO FROM THE 21st ANNUAL LITERARY AWARDS FESTIVAL: