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. Each year, one manuscript is selected for publication with UGA Press and a prize of $1000. 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. One winner is 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, Andrew Porter, Molly Giles, and Amina Gautier. See the latest books publish this series and learn more about this year's judges here. Edited by Lori Ostlund, the contest is open for submissions from April 1 to May 31 each year and all submissions are judged blind.
Crux: The Georgia Series in Literary Nonfiction
Named for intersections, and for the heart of the matter, this series publishes literary nonfiction by diverse writers working in a variety of modes, including personal and lyric essay, literary journalism, cultural meditation, and memoir. Engagement with the world, dedication to craft, precision, and playfulness with form and language are valued. The series is open to non-American writers and experiences as well as American. All submissions are evaluated by series editor, Nicole Walker, and acquiring editor, Sarah Shermyen. See the latest books published in this series here. Submissions are open from May 15 - February 15 each year.
The Georgia Poetry Prize
In partnership with Poetry@Tech at 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. Each year, one manuscript is selected for publication with UGA Press and a prize of $1000. 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 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 McEve. The contest is open for submissions from October 1 to November 30 and all submissions are judged blind.
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 in early September.
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. At this time, we are unable to waive submission fees under any circumstances.
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. The winning manuscript is subject to some degree of editorial development with the series judge, but authors should not expect to be able to substantially change their manuscript after notification of award. More information about the series editor and this year's judges can be found at http://www.ugapress.org/index.php/series/FOC. if you have a question about your submission, please contact sshermyen@uga.edu.
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 ensure no identifying information is included in the manuscript (more on this in the below Blind Review section)
- 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. Judges, including the series judge, will not read cover letters. Should your manuscript contain identifying information, the work may be disqualified without refund. Though we try to contact authors to allow for resubmission of clean work, this is not always feasible within the contest timeline.
- 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 early September.
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.