Submissions Now Open for 2026 Joyce Carol Oates Prize
OAKLAND, CA— New Literary Project announces that submissions are now open for the 2026 Joyce Carol Oates Prize. The annual $50,000 Prize celebrates mid-career authors of fiction who are emerged and continually emerging writers of major consequence—short stories and/or novels—at the relative midpoint of a burgeoning career, beyond recognition of a single literary work.
In order to be considered for the Prize, authors’ most recently published full-length work of fiction will be submitted via Submittable (explained below).
Prize winners advance the mission and represent the vision of New Literary Project. They receive the award to honor their distinguished achievement and to encourage and support future work. Writers based in the United States who have published at least two notable full-length works of fiction (novels and/or short stories) are eligible. Submissions close on October 31, 2025.
This is the tenth annual award offered by the not-for-profit New Literary Project (NewLit), founded in 2015, which inspires and equips writers across the generations—in the words of Joyce Carol Oates—to “write their hearts out.” Through a variety of innovative initiatives, including the Prize, the organization drives social change, unleashes artistic power, and lifts up a literate, democratic society.
The Joyce Carol Oates Prize is a working prize, in the sense that the prize-winning author will take up brief residence with the University of California, Berkeley, English Department and in the Bay Area, including the MFA Department of Saint Mary’s College of California–teaching and public speaking–in Fall 2026, dates to be determined.
The Prize is offered by NewLit, collaborating with its marquee partner, the University of California, Berkeley, English Department. Based in Oakland, California, NewLit appreciates the trust of generous individuals as well as altruistic family foundations and corporate donors who subscribe to its vision and sustain its multifaceted programs.
Prize-winning authors’ publishers are relied upon to contribute their meaningful support and whole-hearted good will.
Jurors, who consider the longlist, are: Laura Cogan, Joseph Di Prisco, Fiona McFarlane, Molly Metherd, Geoffrey O’Brien, and David Wood. Upon deliberation, the jury hands up a shortlist of finalists in March 2026 to the NewLit Board of Directors, which makes the selection of the prize recipient.
“Over the past ten years, we have been consistently dazzled by the nominated authors and cheered by the bracing vitality of literary publishing. Since 2016, we have longlisted 333 writers from fifty-six publishing houses, forty-one of whom became finalists, and ten of whom were named Joyce Carol Oates Prize Recipients. We very much look forward to considering this year’s nominees and to celebrating them and their publishers.”
—Joseph Di Prisco, NewLit founder and chair
General Submission Process & Guidelines for Joyce Carol Oates Prize
● Publishers, editors, agents, publicists, marketers, and authors themselves may complete the online entry form and submit associated submission fees no later than 8:59 p.m. Pacific Time on October 31, 2025 through the Submittable link.
● $95 entry fee for each submission of a mid-career author based in the United States: that is, an author with at least two published full-length books of fiction composed in English (novels and/or short stories) and one who has yet to garner capstone or lifetime achievement recognition (such as a Pulitzer, NBA, or MacArthur)—an author who is in the relatively middle stage of a burgeoning career.
Accepted forms of payment include credit card and PayPal. (No checks permitted.) Please be prepared with payment information before beginning online submission process.
Submissions include author’s current (most recently published) work of full-length fiction (novel or book of short stories) in a pdf. (Physical books will be later requested from authors designated on the Longlist.)
● Submissions deemed ineligible by the Project will still be subject to the stated entry fee.
● NewLit may on its own initiative invite submissions.
● Each submission must list one person (with contact information, including email and phone) to coordinate all Prize–related matters. This person will be contacted in the case that an author becomes part of the Longlist or the subsequent shortlist of Finalists.
● Author must be made aware of and consent to prize entry; author’s email and contact information required.
Longlist, Shortlist, and Prize Recipient Announcements
● On or around November 11, 2025, New Literary Project will request physical books and additional information for authors identified for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize Longlist. Please do not send physical books or any additional information or materials unless specifically requested. Longlist books and materials must then be delivered no later than November 21, 2025 to remain eligible—sent to a postal address to be identified.
2026 Joyce Carol Oates Prize Longlist announced on or around December 4, 2025
2026 Joyce Carol Oates Prize Finalists announced early March 2026
2026 Joyce Carol Oates Prize Recipient announced in April 2026
2025 Joyce Carol Oates Prize Recipient Guidelines
● $50,000 awarded an author in recognition of mid-career literary achievement and future promise.
● Author’s publisher pledges whole-hearted support and good will with respect to the Joyce Carol Oates Prize Fall Residency and to related activities of the Prize Recipient and New Literary Project.
● Recipient collaborates with NewLit, sponsors, the University of California, Berkeley, English Department, and the Saint Mary’s College of California MFA Department on NewLit–related engagements during the Prize year.
This is a working prize: the Prize Recipient will be in brief residence (seven or so days) at the University of California, Berkeley, and in the Bay Area in Fall 2026, during a period to be mutually determined (traditionally in October or November). During the residence the Recipient teaches classes at Cal and Saint Mary’s, gives readings and talks, and makes public appearances coordinated by NewLit.
New Literary Project
Previous Joyce Carol Oates Prize Winners, with representative publication, are listed below. They are expected to continue engagements with New Literary Project:
2025 Jennine Capó Crucet, Say Hello to My Little Friend (Simon & Schuster)
2025 Willy Vlautin, The Horse (HarperCollins)
2024 Ben Fountain, Devil Makes Three (Flatiron)
2023 Manuel Muñoz, The Consequences (Graywolf Press)
2022 Lauren Groff, Matrix (Riverhead)
2021 Danielle Evans, The Office of Historical Corrections (Riverhead)
2020 Daniel Mason, The Winter Soldier (Little, Brown)
2019 Laila Lalami, The Other Americans (Pantheon)
2018 Anthony Marra, The Tsar of Love and Techno (Hogarth)
2017 T. Geronimo Johnson, Welcome to Braggsville (HarperCollins)
New Literary Project, a not-for-profit created in 2015, fosters new literature, supports authors, and enhances the lives of readers, writers, educators, librarians, and high school and college students in diverse communities in California and the nation. Along with the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, the Project offers high school-age writers Bonetti-Bell Writing Workshops and Starn Writing Workshops at no cost, led by Bonetti-Bell Fellows and Starn Fellows, UC Berkeley graduate student creative writing teachers and Saint Mary’s College of California MFA creative writing teachers. In Spring 2026, eleven workshops are expected to take place in marginalized communities, such as Contra Costa County Juvenile Hall, Girls Inc. of Alameda County, Hope Solutions, East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, Northgate High School, and elsewhere.
In addition, NewLit curates an internationally distributed annual anthology of Project-related artists, including Joyce Carol Oates, Prize winners, and finalists along with younger writers appearing in print for the first time; published by Rare Bird Books. Simpsonistas: Tales from New Literary Project Vol. 7 (Rare Bird) launches in October 2025.
NewLit also offers annual Jack Hazard Summer Fellowships, $5,000 each to creative writers teaching high school anywhere in the United States. Since 2022, thirty-eight Jack Hazard Fellows have been named from fifteen states around the nation. For Summer 2026, the fourth class of Jack Hazard Fellows is to be named.
For more information, please contact:
Diane Del Signore, Executive Director, (510) 919-0970