PEN American Center - Contest Guidelines

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ANNUAL PRISON WRITING CONTEST

PEN American Center sponsors an annual writing contest for prisoners. Anyone incarcerated in a federal, state, or county prison in the year before the September 1 deadline is eligible to enter.

Prizes of $200, $100, and $50 are awarded for first, second, and third place, respectively, in each of the following categories:

Poetry
Submit up to 10 poems of any form, no more than 20 pages total.

Fiction
Short story or excerpt from a longer piece, no more than 25 pages.

Drama
Monologues, scenes, or plays intended for stage or screen, no more than 25 pages.

Nonfiction
Essay, observation, journal excerpt, editorial, article, or memoir (personal experiences from childhood or later life) no more than 25 pages.

PLEASE SEND ENTRIES TO:

PEN Writing Awards for Prisoners
PEN American Center
588 Broadway, Suite 303
New York, NY 10012

CONTEST GUIDELINES

PEN's Prison Writing Contest accepts contest submission between January 1 and September 1 of each year. Winners will be announced the following March. Manuscripts should be typewritten and double-spaced whenever possible, or legibly handwritten on 8.5-by-11-inch paper. All submissions should be accompanied by a brief cover letter with the author's name, identification number, and complete mailing address.

Authors may not submit more than one entry in each category, except in poetry, which has a 20-page limit.

Only unpublished manuscripts will be considered, with the exception of pieces that have appeared in publications for the prison population only. Any subject matter will be considered.

Please be sure to send copies of your work, not the originals. PEN is unable to return manuscripts. Always include a return address.

Selected winning entries will be published by The Fortune Society in Fortune News and on PEN's web site.


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