Ann Petry Award


Founded in 2020 in partnership with Red Hen Press and the Peauxdunque Writers Alliance, the Ann Petry Award seeks to publish prose literature by Black authors. The Ann Petry Award is for a work of previously unpublished prose, either a novel or a collection of short stories or novellas, with a minimum of 150 pages, by a Black writer. The awarded manuscript is selected through an annual submission process.

Award details

$3000
Book publication by Red Hen Press
Deadline: March 31, 2024

Note:  The Ann Petry Award is for a work of previously unpublished prose, either a novel or a collection of short stories or novellas, with a 25,000-word minimum (approximately 150 pages, double-spaced, Times New Roman 12pt font) by a Black writer. Entries will be accepted via Submittable only.

Submissions are currently open for this award.

Guidelines

The award is open to all Black writers, with the following exceptions:

  • Authors who have had a full-length work published by Red Hen Press, or a full-length work currently under consideration by Red Hen Press
  • Employees, interns, or contractors of Red Hen Press
  • Relatives of employees or members of the executive board of directors
  • Relatives or individuals having a personal or professional relationship with any of the final judges where they have taken any part whatsoever in shaping the manuscript, or where, for whatever reason, selecting a particular manuscript might have the appearance of impropriety

Procedures and Ethical Considerations

To be certain that every manuscript finalist receives the fairest evaluation, all manuscripts shall be submitted to the judges without any identifying material. Bios, acknowledgments, and other identifying material shall be removed from judged manuscripts until the conclusion of the competition.

Please remove all names, bios, acknowledgments, and other identifying material from the submitted manuscript, and include only your name, contact information, and a short biographical statement in the cover letter field of Submittable.  

The Ann Petry Award of Red Hen Press is committed to maintaining the utmost integrity of our awards. Judges shall recuse themselves from considering any manuscript where they recognize the work. In the event of refusal, a manuscript score previously assigned by the managing editor of the press will be substituted.

For questions or to withdraw a submitted entry, please contact editorial@redhen.org.