Juniper Prize for Fiction
The Juniper Prize for Fiction is awarded annually to two original manuscripts of fiction: one short story collection and one novel. The University of Massachusetts Press publishes the winning manuscripts and the authors receive a $1,000 award upon publication.
Competition guidelines
Submissions will only be accepted each year between August 1 and September 30 (11:59pm EDT). The entry fee is $30. All manuscripts will be judged anonymously by a faculty-judge from the distinguished University of Massachusetts MFA program. The winners will be announced at the University of Massachusetts Press website in April, with publication slated for the following spring.
Eligibility
1. The competition is open to all writers in English, whether or not they are U.S. residents. However, current employees and students of the University of Massachusetts and previous Juniper Prize for Fiction winners are not eligible.
2. Both novels and collections of stories are eligible.
3. Work that has previously appeared in magazines, in whole or in part, is eligible, but should be so identified on the manuscript cover sheet.
4. Self-published works are ineligible.
5. Manuscripts by more than one author are not eligible.
6. Translations are not eligible.
Submission guidelines
1. Submit your manuscript online through Submittable: https://umasspress.submittable.com/submit
2. Manuscript files must be between 150 and 350 pages, double-spaced in 12-point, standard font, with pages numbered consecutively. Acceptable file types are pdf, doc, docx, and rtf.
3. Upload a separate cover letter with complete contact information and acknowledgements or include this information in the cover letter field in Submittable.
4. Do not include your name on any of the pages of the manuscript file; the first page of the manuscript should include only the title of the manuscript. If the author’s name appears anywhere in the file, the submission will be disqualified.
Multiple submissions
You may submit your manuscript to other publishers while it is being considered for this competition, but if it is accepted for publication elsewhere, please notify us immediately.
You may submit more than one manuscript to the competition as long as each submission is accompanied by the $30 fee, meets the eligibility requirements, and does not include material submitted to us in another manuscript.
General information
Manuscripts and entry fees will not be returned.
The University of Massachusetts Press and the University of Massachusetts MFA program will not provide feedback on manuscripts submitted for competition.
The decision of the judge is final. If they find no manuscript that, in his or her estimation, merits publication and the Juniper Prize, no winner may be chosen for that cycle.
The winners will be notified by the end of March and an announcement of the winners will be placed at the University of Massachusetts Press’s website in early April. No information about the winners will be released before the April announcement. (Please note: this timeline may be impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.)
Please send questions about the Juniper Prize competitions to juniperprize@umpress.umass.edu.
