The PEN Literary Awards are the most comprehensive in the United States. Each year, with the help of its partners and supporters, PEN confers more than $150,000 to writers in the fields of fiction, science writing, essays, sports writing, biography, children’s literature, translation, drama, or poetry. Below you’ll find the awards for which submissions are now open in 2013. 

Fiction

The PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize ($25,000)

The PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize honors exceptionally talented fiction writers whose debut work—a first novel or collection of short stories published in 2012—represents distinguished literary achievement and suggests great promise. One PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize winner will be selected by a panel of three writers or editors who are PEN Members.

The PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship ($5,000)

The PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship of $5,000 is offered annually to an author of children’s or young-adult fiction. The Fellowship has been developed to help writers whose work is of high literary caliber but who have not yet attracted a broad readership.

Poetry

The PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry ($5,000)

The PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry of $5,000 is given in odd-numbered years and alternates with the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry. The Osterweil Award recognizes the high literary character of the published work to date of a new and emerging American poet of any age and the promise of further literary achievement. Poets nominated for the award may not have published more than one book of poetry. 

The PEN Award for Poetry in Translation ($3,000)

The $3,000 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation is conferred every year in New York. The award recognizes book-length translations of poetry from any language into English published during the current calendar year, and is judged by a single translator of poetry appointed by the PEN Translation Committee.

Nonfiction/Essay

The PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay ($10,000)

The PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay aims to preserve the dignity and esteem that the essay form imparts to literature. The winner receives a cash award of $10,000 and will be honored at the PEN Literary Awards.

The PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction ($10,000)

This biennial prize of $10,000 will go to the author of a distinguished book of general nonfiction possessing notable literary merit and critical perspective and illuminating important contemporary issues which has been published in the United States during the previous two calendar years.

The PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography ($5,000)

The PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography is awarded for excellence in the art of biography. This prize of $5,000 will go to the author of a distinguished work published in the United States during the previous calendar year.

The PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award ($10,000)

The PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award celebrates writing that exemplifies literary excellence on the subject of physical and biological sciences.

The PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing ($5,000)

The PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing honors a nonfiction book about sports. Eligible titles should be of a biographical, investigative, historical, or analytical nature and of the strongest literary character.

The PEN/ESPN Lifetime Achievement Award for Literary Sports Writing

The PEN/ESPN Lifetime Achievement Award for Literary Sports Writing, which was conferred for the first time in the fall of 2011, is given to one living American or U.S.-based writer each year to celebrate their body of work and long-time contributions to the field of literary sports writing.

Drama 

PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation For Theater Award For An American Playwright In Mid-Career And A Master American Dramatist ($7,500)

Two playwrights are selected for the following honors: a specially commissioned art object will be presented to a master American dramatist, in recognition of his or her body of work; and a cash prize of $7,500 will be awarded to an American playwright in mid-career, whose literary achievements are vividly apparent in the rich and striking language of his or her work.

Translation

The PEN Translation Prize ($3,000)

The $3,000 PEN Translation Prize invites submissions of book-length translations from any language into English published during the current calendar year. 

Translation Fund Grants ($2,000-$4,000)

The PEN Translation Fund was established in the summer of 2003 by a gift of $730,000 from an anonymous donor in response to the dismayingly low number of literary translations currently appearing in English. Its purpose is to promote the publication and reception of translated world literature in English.

Multiple Genre

The PEN Open Book Award ($5,000)

The PEN Open Book Award, formerly the Beyond Margins Awards, invites submissions of book-length writings by authors of color, published in the United States during the current calendar year. The Open Book Award was created by PEN American Center’s Open Book Committee, a group committed to racial and ethnic diversity within the literary and publishing communities.

The PEN/Nora Magid Award ($2,500)

The PEN/Nora Magid Award, established in 1993, honors a magazine editor whose high literary standards and taste have, throughout his or her career, contributed significantly to the excellence of the publication he or she edits.

The PEN/Steven Kroll Award ($5,000)

The PEN/Steven Kroll Award was established in memory of Steven Kroll to acknowledge the distinct literary contributions of picture book writers. Kroll, a former PEN Trustee and long-time Chair of PEN’s Children’s/Young Adult Book Authors Committee, was also a prolific author of books for children.