This annual award is given to the manuscript collection of short fiction selected by an independent judge to be the best submitted. The winning author will receive publication under a standard book contract that includes a cash prize of $1,500 as an advance against royalties. The winner and finalists will be announced in May.

Eligibility Requirements

• Submissions may include short stories, novellas, or a combination of both (but a single novella is not an eligible submission).
• The competition is open to all writers in English.
• Previously published stories or novellas may be included in the manuscript.
• Current students and employees of The Ohio State University are ineligible.
• Manuscripts must be between 150 and 300 typed pages (approx. 40,000 to 80,000 words).
• Individual stories or novellas in the collection may not exceed 125 pages (approx. 35,000 words).
• No translations unless done entirely by the author.

Submission Format

• Manuscripts must be typed, double-spaced, on quality white 8 1/2" x 11" paper, 250–300 words per page, one side only, pages numbered consecutively.
• Crisp photocopies are acceptable.
• Your identity is not revealed to the judges, so your name should not appear anywhere on the manuscript. Instead, please include the following with your submission:
   
  • a cover sheet with name, street and email address, and phone numbers
  • an acknowledgement page with publication history for any previously published work
  • a title page listing title and approx. word count
  • a table of contents page listing only the stories and/or novellas and page number
     
• Include a self-addressed stamped envelope so we can notify you of the contest results.
• Include a self-addressed stamped postcard if you wish to receive confirmation of receipt of your manuscript.
• OSU Press assumes no responsibility for lost or damaged manuscripts.
• Do not send your only copy.

Deadline information

Manuscripts must be postmarked in the month of January and be accompanied by a nonrefundable fee of $20 (U.S. dollars). Send check or money order (no cash) made payable to The Ohio State University.

Mail to

Fiction Editor
The Ohio State University Press
180 Pressey Hall
1070 Carmack Road
Columbus, OH 43210-1002

2007 Winner

Ric Jahna, the recipient of an AWP Intro Journals Award in 2004, is a Ph.D. student in English and Creative Writing at the University of Louisiana Lafayette. His fiction has appeared in Mid-American Review, GHLL, and other journals.

Congratulations to the 2007 runners-up
Armand Inezian, “Bringing Ararat”
Peter Selgin, “Bodies of Water”