The University of Georgia Press, established in 1938, is the oldest and largest book publisher in the state. We currently publish 60-70 new books a year and have a long history of publishing significant scholarship, creative and literary works, and books about the state and the region for general readers.
Flannery O'Connor Short Fiction Award
The University of Georgia Press is proud to be the publisher of the Flannery O'Connor Short Fiction Award series. More than seventy short fiction collections have appeared in the series, which was established to encourage gifted emerging writers by bringing their work to a national readership. The first prize-winning book was published in 1983; the award has since become an important proving ground for writers and a showcase for the talent and promise that have brought about a resurgence in the short story as a genre. Winners are selected through an annual competition. Past winners of the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction include such widely read authors as Ha Jin, Antonya Nelson, Rita Ciresi, and Mary Hood. For news and updates about the competition and past winners, visit the Flannery O'Connor Short Fiction Award on Facebook. Edited by Lori Ostlund, the contest is open for submissions from April 1 to May 31 each year.
Crux: The Georgia Series in Literary Nonfiction
Named for intersections, and for the heart of the matter, this series will publish literary nonfiction by diverse writers working in a variety of modes, including personal and lyric essay, memoir, cultural meditation, and literary journalism. Books are intended for general readers, including writers, teachers of writing, and students, and will be both intelligent and accessible. Engagement with the world, dedication to craft, precision, and playfulness with form and language are valued. As the series develops, it will include non-American writers and experiences.
Edited by Nicole Walker, the series aims to publish two to four new titles annually. Walker is the author of Processed Meats: Essays on Food, Flesh and Navigating Disaster, Sustainability: A Love Story, and the collaborative collection The After-Normal: Brief, Alphabetical Essays on a Changing Planet. She has previously published the books Where the Tiny Things Are, Egg, Micrograms, Quench Your Thirst with Salt, and This Noisy Egg. She edited for Bloomsbury the essay collections Science of Story with Sean Prentiss and Bending Genre: Essays on Creative Nonfiction with Margot Singer. She is the co-president of NonfictioNOW and is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts award and a noted author in Best American Essays. Her work has been most recently published in the New York Times, Longreads, and Ploughshares, among other places. She teaches at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ.
The Georgia Poetry Prize
In partnership with the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Georgia, the University of Georgia Press has established the Georgia Poetry Prize, a national competition that celebrates excellence in poetry. Supported by the Bruce and Georgia McEver Fund for the Arts and Environment, the Georgia Poetry Prize is open to unpublished, original collections of poems written in English by residents of North America. Winners are selected through an annual competition. The contest is open for submissions from October 1 to November 30. The prize has been established through a generous gift from Bruce McEver, a graduate of Georgia Tech and member of the Advisory Council of the University of Georgia Press, in memory of his late wife, Georgia McEver.
Dates for submission: Manuscripts may be submitted between 9:00 a.m. EST on April 1 and 11:59 p.m. EST on May 31. Winners will be announced by the end of August.
Contest queries can be directed to press@uga.edu. The press will not accept phone calls regarding the Flannery O'Connor Award. If you encounter any technical difficulties while using the submissions manager, don't hesitate to contact our submission manager support: support@submittable.com. The $30 entry fee can be paid online via credit card or PayPal.
Selection process: Each of four contest judges reads approximately one-fourth of the manuscripts submitted to the competition, with a fifth judge available if needed based on the total number of submissions. Judges select seven to ten finalists each; the pool of finalist manuscripts is read by series editor Lori Ostlund, who makes the final selection of one winning manuscript. The author of the winning manuscript receives a cash award of $1,000, and the collection is subsequently published by the University of Georgia Press under a standard book contract. The winner has ten days to accept the award and ten days to sign the contract once it is received. More information about the series editor and this year's judges can be found at http://www.ugapress.org/index.php/series/FOC
Eligibility: The competition is open to writers in English, whether published or unpublished. Previous winners of this award are not eligible to win again. Writers must be residents of North America.
Manuscript Guidelines
- Manuscripts should be double-spaced and 40,000-75,000 words in length.
- The award recognizes outstanding collections of short fiction. Collections may include long stories or novellas (est. length of a novella is 50-150 pages). However, novels or single novellas will not be considered.
- Please be sure manuscript pages are numbered.
- Please include a table of contents.
- Please use a standard, easy-to-read font such as Times New Roman in twelve-point size.
- Stories included in the submission may have appeared previously in magazines or anthologies but may not have been previously published in a book-length collection of the author’s own work.
- Authors may submit more than one manuscript to the competition for consideration as long as no material is duplicated between submissions. Each submission will require a separate entry fee.
- Manuscripts under consideration for this competition may be submitted elsewhere at the same time. Please withdraw your manuscript if it is accepted by another publisher and should no longer be considered for the Flannery O’Connor Short Fiction Award competition. Withdrawal can be completed via the submissions manager website. Entry fees are not refundable.
Blind review: The intent of this contest is that manuscripts will be considered on the merits of the fiction and that judges will not be aware of the names or publication records of the authors.
- Please do not include your name on the pages of the manuscript—only in the form boxes of the electronic submission manager. The first page of the manuscript should include the title of the collection only.
- Please do not include a list of acknowledgments crediting where stories have been published.
- Judges who recognize work will recuse themselves, and the submission will be reassigned to a different judge.
Confirmation of receipt and notification: You should receive an e-mail confirmation immediately after submission. An announcement of winners and finalists will be sent to all entrants via e-mail by the end of August.
Statement of Integrity: The University of Georgia is thoroughly committed to academic integrity in all of its endeavors, and the University of Georgia Press adheres to all University of Georgia policies and procedures. To help ensure the integrity of the competition, manuscripts are judged through a blind review process. Judges in the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction competition are instructed to avoid conflicts of interest of all kinds.
Thank you for your interest in the University of Georgia Press's Crux series.
These are our guidelines for submitting information on a prospective book project. Please include as much of the following information as you can:
- Title
- Overview (1–2 pages) and explanation of the scope, focus, and purpose of the book.
- Significant or unique features (e.g., new subject area, distinguished contributors, unique form). Provide information that will help us answer the question, “Why would this book be a valuable contribution to the genre of literary nonfiction?” Please tell us what other books or resources are available on your topic, or on closely related topics, and how your proposed book differs from these.
- At least two sample chapters; complete manuscripts are very welcome. (Please send us your full manuscript or proposal.)
- If you are proposing a book of unusual size or format, please describe and tell us why you think it's necessary to the project.
- Describe any photographs, illustrations, charts, etc., that will be part of the book.
- Estimated length. (We're looking for manuscripts that range from 40,000 to 100,000 words.)
- Tentative schedule for completion of draft.
- A copy of your current résumé or CV.
Please also provide the following information, so we can understand how better to market your work:
- The book’s target audience and relevant demographics. Who needs this book? Readers interested in a topic? A certain sub-genre of nonfiction? Other writers? Students? If students, in which kinds of classes, at what level?
- The book’s selling points: What might motivate someone to purchase the book? What will readers gain, so to speak?
- Positioning your book in the market: What books on the same subject are currently in print? How is your book different from them?
If you are unsure about whether your project fits the editorial program of the Press, please feel free to send a brief initial query to Ms. Snead at crux.series@gmail.com.
Please allow us one month to consider your proposal before you make any followup inquiries. We make every effort to respond as quickly and humanely as possible. Thank you.