NEW YORK —The 2022 Pulitzer Prize Books competition is now open for the 2022 awards in Fiction, U.S. History, Biography, Poetry and General Nonfiction has opened.

  • The recommended deadline for books published in the first half of 2021 was Thursday, July 15, 2021. But the final deadline for all eligible books published in 2021, including those slated for publication in the final quarter of the year, is Friday, October 15, 2021.
  • The criteria for entry in all book categories remain the same as for the 2021 awards: Books must be submitted as PDF e-books.
  • All materials must be uploaded electronically to the entry site, where the $75 handling fee for each entry may be tendered via credit or debit card.  Due to the pandemic, we cannot accept shipments of books and other physical media, nor can we accept check or cash payments.
  • In order to be eligible, entered books must be available for purchase as hard copies; as stated in our Plan of Award, “eligibility for these awards shall be restricted to works first published in the United States during the year, and made available in hardcover or bound paperback for purchase by the general public.” Titles released exclusively as e-books during the cycle are thus ineligible.
  • United States citizenship remains a prerequisite for entry in the Fiction, Biography, Poetry and General Nonfiction categories. Permanent residency does not satisfy the citizenship requirement.  Anyone submitting an entry must verify that authors meet this requirement before proceeding with their submission.
  • Otherwise eligible works by entrants with pending U.S. citizenship may be submitted with the caveat that they will not be released to the jury until the naturalization process is complete and confirmed. If this does not occur by the October deadline, any resulting entries will be refunded.

Technical specifications regarding e-books are available on the entry form at the Pulitzer entry site, bdmentrysite.pulitzer.org.The How to Enter page at pulitzer.org/page/how-enter offers detailed guidelines for the Books, Drama and Music competitions.

The Pulitzer Prize staff is always available for assistance. Please email pulitzer@pulitzer.org with any questions or general inquiries.

On July 22, 2021, the organization announced it has picked three new chairs to preside over the judging process that results in the 2022 winner and finalists, which will be announced in April 2022.

New York Times opinion columnist Gail Collins, Associated Press Editor at Large John Daniszewski, and journalist Katherine Boo have been elected as co-chairs of the Pulitzer Prize Board. The organization announced the positions on its website. 

The three new co-chairs succeed ProPublica Editor-in-Chief Stephen Engelberg and Simon & Schuster Vice President and Executive Editor Mindy Marqués González.

The leadership role rotates annually to the most senior member or members of the 19-person board. Each of the three journalists joined the Pulitzer Board in 2013. The Pulitzer site has more details about the new chairs.

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