New Literary Project is pleased to announce that submissions are open for the 2025 Joyce Carol Oates Prize for mid-career authors of fiction. This would be the ninth such annual award given by the not-for-profit New Literary Project (NewLit), which inspires and equips writers across the generations—in the words of Joyce Carol Oates—to “write their hearts out.” Its vision is to drive social change, unleash artistic power, and lift up a literate, democratic society. Joyce Carol Oates Prize submissions close on October 31, 2024.

The $50,000 Joyce Carol Oates Prize celebrates authors who advance the vision and mission of NewLit. Prize Recipients are emerged and continually emerging writers of major consequence—short stories and/or novels—at the relative midpoint of a burgeoning career. They have earned a distinguished reputation and the approbation of American literary communities. The Prize acknowledges their accomplishment beyond recognition of a single literary work, and Prize Recipients receive the award to encourage and support forthcoming work. To be eligible, a mid-career author is based in the United States, has published at least two full-length works of fiction (short stories and/or novels), and has yet to achieve capstone recognition (such as an NBA, Pulitzer, MacArthur). There are no age or other geographic restrictions. 

The Joyce Carol Oates Prize is a working prize, one that entails a brief residency at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Bay Area.

The Prize is offered by NewLit in collaboration with its marquee partner, the University of California, Berkeley, English Department. NewLit appreciates the trust and confidence of generous individuals as well as altruistic family foundations and corporate donors who subscribe to its vision and who are dedicated to sustaining its multifaceted programs.

NewLit was created in 2015. The Oakland, California–based organization’s mission is to foster new literature, support writers and teachers, and enhance the lives of readers, writers, educators, librarians, and students in diverse communities in California and the nation.