Literary Awards Program

Literary Awards Program Is Not Available for Fiscal Year 2018
 

Literary Awards recognize Illinois writers and promote greater awareness of non-commercial publishing in the state. The award encourages Illinois not-for-profit literary magazines to publish and disseminate new work by living Illinois writers and poets. Awards are given to both the selected writers and to the magazines (print or web-based) that published their work.

Literary Awards are given to those publications whose primary mission is to publish contemporary poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction. Creative non-fiction (CNF) is distinguished from non-fiction by its strong narrative and literary quality as found in personal essays or memoirs. CNF does not include work that is predominately analytical, scholarly, or journalistic.

Companion awards of $1,000 will be given to selected Illinois writers and to the publications that nominated their work.

• Nominations must be previously unpublished works of fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction.
• Nominated works cannot:
  • Be collaborative pieces.
  • Consist of interviews, reviews, or literary translations.
  • Have been previously published.
• Nominations must be made by the editorial staff of the applicant magazine.
• Editorial staff may not nominate their own work.
• A maximum of ten pieces can be nominated by any one applicant.
• Nominations can include a combination of poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction pieces.
• More than one piece by the same writer can be nominated, but each piece will count toward the maximum of ten.
• The nominated work must be available for review by PDF document or via a direct link on the publication’s website.

Deadline

TBD

For further information about the Literary Awards program, contact Susan Dickson, Director of Arts-in-Education, Ethnic and Folk Arts, and Literature Programs by email susan.dickson@illinois.gov or by phone 312/814-6740.