PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers 2025

Deadline Date: November 01, 2024

Donor Name: PEN America

Grant Size: $1000 to $10,000

The PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers recognizes 12 emerging writers each year for their debut short story published in a literary magazine, journal or cultural website and aims to support the launch of their careers as fiction writers.

Prize Information

• The winning writers each receive a $2,000 cash prize and will be published by Catapult in their annual anthology, Best Debut Short Stories: The PEN America Dau Prize.

Eligibility Criteria

• Stories must be submitted by editors of literary magazines, journals, or cultural websites and published in the English language. Publications may be based and/or distributed anywhere in the world, so long as the story submitted was originally written in and published in English. Authors may not submit their own work.
• Participating publications include literary magazines, journals, or cultural websites published on a recurring schedule.
• Stories must have been published or forthcoming in the applicable calendar year.
• Editors from eligible publications may only submit a writer’s debut short story. “Debut” is defined as the writer’s absolute first fiction publication in any language, which has undergone an editorial review process and been accepted and published in a literary outlet that the author is not academically or professionally associated with. 

Ineligibility Criteria

• Writers who have published one or more books of poetry, nonfiction, or other writing which has undergone editorial review are ineligible for the prize.
• An author would be ineligible if they are being published in a book with a press. Stories published in anthologies are ineligible.
• The debut short story must be originally published in English. Translations are not eligible.

Application Requirements

• Editors from eligible publications may submit up to four eligible stories from debut authors in a given award year. Stories may not exceed 12,000 words in length.
• Submitted story files should not include the journal name or other identifying information.

For more information, visit PEN America.