English Department Spring Writing Awards

Please visit this page again in the spring. We will provide updated submission guidelines for the 2022 Spring Writing Awards at that time. See the announcement below to familiarize yourself with the awards and general guidelines.

Dear Students,

It’s that time again! You now have an opportunity to win monetary prizes for your writing. Take a look at the following, and PLEASE READ CAREFULLY.

If you wish to apply for these awards, please send an email to me, Emily Ezzo @ eve1@english.rutgers.edu. Any submissions that do not follow instructions will not be counted.

Deadline to apply: Thursday, March 11 , 2021

Rules for applying:

Please send each of your submissions attached as separate documents (PDF, Word Doc, or Word Docx).
Please do not send links to Google Docs. Multimedia submissions may be shared via Google Drive; however, Youtube links are preferred.
Please label each individual document as the title of the award you are submitting to — i.e. “Julia Carlie Prize in Poetry”
Please do not put your name on the work itself. The exception to this rule is for multimedia projects that may have the writer’s identity revealed in the media submission.
You may apply to any number of the awards — one, a few, or all — as long as you meet the requirements.
In your submission email, please include your NAME, EMAIL ADDRESS, RU ID, and GRADUATING YEAR.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to email me and ask!

List of CREATIVE WRITING Awards and Scholarships:

Academy of American Poets 2021 Enid Dame Memorial Poetry Prize

Open to all undergraduates
Awarded to the best poem or set of poems
Dedicated to the art of poetry, the Academy publishes prize-winning poems
Maximum of 5 poems may be submitted

Evelyn Hamilton Award in Fiction

Evelyn Hamilton Award in Non-Fiction

Evelyn Hamilton Award in Poetry

Open to all undergraduates
Three separate awards: best original story, best creative essay/memoir, and best poem or poems
10 pages maximum

Composing in New Media Prize

Open to all Rutgers students
Awarded to best multimedia composition, documentary film, digital story, graphic narrative, or any work in new media

Julia Carlie Prize in Poetry

Open only to undergraduate Douglass Women. Do not apply if you are not a Douglass Woman.
Prize awarded for best original poem or set of poems
10 pages maximum

Edna Herzberg Prize in Fiction

Edna Herzberg Prize in Non-Fiction

Edna Herzberg Prize in Poetry

Open only to undergraduate Douglass Women. Do not apply if you are not a Douglass Woman.
Three separate awards: best original story, best creative essay/memoir, and best poem or poems
10 pages maximum

Joyce Carol Oates Award for Literary Fiction

Open to all undergraduates
Awarded to the best short story or excerpt of literary fiction
Genre fiction (i.e. fantasy, romance, thriller, etc.) will not be accepted
18 pages maximum

List of ENGLISH LITERATURE Awards and Scholarships:

James Suydam Prize in English Composition

Open to all undergraduates
Awarded to the best essay on a topic of contemporary social, political, or educational significance
5 pages minimum; 10 pages maximum

Ernest W. Thomas Memorial Prize for Interpretation of Shakespearean Works

Open only to Douglass Residential College Students
Awarded to the best paper submitted for a regular course assignment concerning Shakespeare’s works
You must include the name of the instructor and the course you originally submitted the essay for
10 pages maximum

Irving D. Blum Prize

Open to all undergraduates
Awarded for the best essay submitted for a regular course assignment
You must include the name of the instructor and the course you originally submitted the essay for
Essays may be in original form or revised, but should be retyped and free of instructor’s marks and comments
10 pages maximum

English Department Faculty Prize

Open to all undergraduates
Awarded to an outstanding essay written in coursework
You must include the name of the instructor and the course you originally submitted the essay for
Essays of 1,000 to 4,500 words are eligible and will be judged on substance and style
10 pages maximum

Jamima Dingus Qualls Prize

Open to all undergraduates
Awarded to the best undergraduate essay on women writers or feminist issues in English or American Literature
You must include the name of the instructor and the course you originally submitted the essay for
10 pages maximum

Submissions will be judged anonymously, and the English Department reserves the right not to give a prize or award if no entries are judged to be of sufficiently high quality.

We look forward to receiving your work!