The Bakwin Award for Full-length Prose will be open from November 15, 2023, through 11:59 pm ET on January 15, 2024, or until the submission cap of 300 is reached.
This award is for an unpublished full-length literary prose work of fiction or nonfiction, prioritizing manuscripts by authors that fit Blair’s mission of publishing new and historically neglected voices.
Entries should be literary in nature. Novels, short story collections by a single author, memoirs, essay collections, and biographies are all acceptable. Blair does NOT publish strict genre fiction (mystery, science fiction, fantasy, horror, etc.) but acknowledges that some elements of genre fiction may be present in literary fiction.
This contest is free to enter. There is a suggested donation of $25. Donation information will not be known to the team of readers nor the final judge. Submissions will be accepted through Submittable; no mailed submissions will be accepted.
About the final judge:
Tiya Miles is the author of seven books, including a work of historical fiction originally published by Blair titled The Cherokee Rose, and four prize-winning histories: All That She Carried, The Dawn of Detroit, The House on Diamond Hill, and Ties That Bind. She has also published a lecture series on haunted plantations titled Tales from the Haunted South and various essays in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Atlantic, and other media outlets. Her research has been supported by a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Award, the Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, A Black Family Keepsake, won eleven prizes including the National Book Award for Nonfiction, the PEN John Kenneth Galbraith Award, the Frederick Douglass Prize, and the Cundill History Prize. Her latest book, Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation was named a best nonfiction book of 2023 by Publishers Weekly. Miles is currently the Michael Garvey Professor of History and Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at Harvard University.
Blair is a nonprofit press based Durham that publishes ten to twelve books per year: fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Blair strives to publish quality writing, focusing on authors and subjects historically neglected by mainstream publishers, including authors of color, authors with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ authors. True to its roots in North Carolina, Blair looks to the many voices of the South—and beyond—as sources of work and inspiration.