Writing Competition: The Chautauqua Janus Prize

The Chautauqua Janus Prize

The Chautauqua Janus Prize will be awarded for the seventh time this summer, celebrating an emerging writer’s single work of short fiction or nonfiction for daring formal and aesthetic innovations that upset and reorder readers’ imaginations. In addition to receiving a $5,000 award plus a travel expense of $2000, the winner gives a lecture on the grounds during the summer season and appears in a forthcoming issue of the literary journal Chautauqua. Eligibility and submission information can be found below under “Guidelines.”

Named for Janus, the Roman god who looks to both the past and the future, the prize will honor writing with a command of craft that renovates our understandings of both. The prize is funded by a generous donation from Barbara and Twig Branch.

We are now accepting submissions for the 2024 prize. Deadline for submissions is January 31, 2024.

Entry Fee: $20.00 

Eligible entries:

• May be up to 15,000 words in length but no more than 100 pages. The Chautauqua Janus Prize encourages writing that challenges conventional presentation and publication of fiction/nonfiction in the English language.

• Must be either unpublished or published no earlier than April of 2023.

• Must be authored by emerging writers of fiction/nonfiction. Emerging writers are defined as writers who have yet to publish their first book (exceeding 15,000 words and/or 100 pages) in any prose genre. (Poets: This prize was created to support emerging writers. Reconsider your eligibility if you have published one or more poetry collections, even if our word count parameters technically qualify you.) There is no age or citizenship status restriction for eligibility.

• May be nominated by the authors themselves or on an author’s behalf by editors or creative writing program directors. Self-nominating authors may submit no more than two entries per submission period. Editors and program directors must have the consent of authors to nominate their work and may nominate no more than three entries per submission period. Nomination by an editor program or press/magazine does not preclude an author from submitting additional self-nominated entries.

SUBMISSIONS

• Complete the Submittable form, including fee payment*, by the advertised deadline EST. Please use PDF format. Contact Emily Carpenter at:

 ecarpenter@chq.org

if PDF format is not ideal for your submission.

• Meet formatting specifications where possible. If your submission’s prior publication or experimental form simply aren’t conducive to Times New Roman, 12 pt. font, and double-spacing, know that we will give full consideration to all legible PDF submissions.

The deadline for submissions is January 31, 2024. 

*The fee is waived for submissions nominated by editors or program directors. We invite authors to encourage their editors and/or program directors to contact Emily Carpenter at:

 ecarpenter@chq.org

to learn more!