Award |
Description |
Founded |
Status |
PEN Award for Poetry in Translation |
To honor a poetry translation |
1996 |
Active |
PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award |
Honours writers anywhere in the world who have fought courageously in the face of adversity for the right to freedom of expression. |
1987 |
Active |
PEN/Bellwether Prize |
For a previously unpublished work of fiction that address issues of social justice. |
2000 |
Active |
PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay |
For a book of original collected essays |
1990 |
Active |
PEN/Edward and Lily Tuck Award for Paraguayan Literature |
To honor an author of a major work of Paraguayan literature and the English translator. |
2012 |
Active |
PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award |
For writing that exemplifies literary excellence on the subject of physical and biological sciences. |
2011 |
Active |
PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing |
To honor a nonfiction book about sports. |
2010 |
Active |
PEN/ESPN Lifetime Achievement Award for Literary Sports Writing |
To honor an authors body of work and long-term contributions to the field of literary sports writing. |
2011 |
Active |
PEN/Fusion Emerging Writers Prize |
Recognizes a promising young writer of an unpublished work of nonfiction that addresses a global and/or multicultural issue |
2015 |
Active |
PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography |
To honor a "distinguished biography possessing notable literary merit which has been published in the United States during the previous calendar year. |
2008 |
Active |
PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award |
To a distinguished book of general nonfiction that possess the qualities of intellectual rigor, perspicuity of expression, and stylistic elegance conspicuous in the writings of author and economist John Kenneth Galbraith. |
2007 |
Active |
PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry |
In recognition of a book of poetry with high literary character by a new and emerging American poet of any age with the promise of further literary achievement. |
1999 |
Active |
PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Awards |
To a Grand Master of American Theater and a playwright in mid-career. |
1998 |
Active |
PEN/Nora Magid Award for Magazine Editing |
To "a magazine editor whose high literary standards and taste have, throughout his or her career, contributed significantly to the excellence of the publication he or she edits." |
1993 |
Active |
PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories |
Annual American award given to short stories of exceptional merit. |
1919 |
Active |
PEN Open Book Award |
To books published in the United States (but without citizenship or residency requirements) by "authors of color who have not received wide media coverage". |
1991 |
Active |
PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship |
To a writer of children's or young-adult fiction of high literary caliber "at a crucial moment in his or her career to complete a book-length work-in-progress." |
2001 |
Active |
PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation |
To a translator "whose career has demonstrated a commitment to excellence through the body of his or her work". |
1982 |
Active |
PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize |
To "exceptionally talented fiction writers whose debut work—a first novel or collection of short stories...represent distinguished literary achievement and suggests great promise." |
2002 |
Active |
PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction |
To "a distinguished living American author of fiction whose body of work in English possesses qualities of excellence, ambition, and scale of achievement over a sustained career which place him or her in the highest rank of American literature." |
2007 |
Active |
PEN/Steven Kroll Award |
"to acknowledge the distinct literary contributions of picture book writers." |
2011 |
Active |
PEN Translation Fund Grants |
Grants are awarded each year to a select number of literary translators |
2003 |
Active |
PEN Translation Prize |
To outstanding translations into the English language. |
1963 |
Active |
PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry |
To an American poet whose distinguished and growing body of work to date represents a notable and accomplished presence in American literature. |
1994 |
Active |
PEN/W.G. Sebald Award |
To honor a promising writer who has published three works of fiction. |
2010-2011 |
Inactive |
PEN/Nabokov Award |
To writers, principally novelists, "whose works evoke to some measure Nabokov's brilliant versatility and commitment to literature as a search for the deepest truth and the highest pleasure". |
2000-2008 |
Inactive |
PEN Emerging Writers Awards |
To up-and-coming authors whose writing have been featured in distinguished literary journals, but haven't published book-length works. |
2011-2011 |
Inactive |
PEN/Amazon.com Short Story Award[2][3] |
Unpublished writers submit original short story manuscripts. Each manuscript will compete for a $10,000 cash grant and publication at Amazon.com and in The Boston Book Review. Award active for one year. |
2000-2000 |
Inactive |
Architectural Digest Award for Literary Writing on the Visual Arts[4][5] |
For literary writing on the visual arts. Award active for two years. |
2000-2001 |
Inactive |
Gregory Kolovakos Award |
To a U.S. literary translator, editor, or critic "whose work, in meeting the challenge of cultural difference, extends Gregory Kolovakos's commitment to the richness of Hispanic literature and to expanding its English-language audience". |
1992-2004 |
Inactive |
Jerard Fund Award[6] |
Honors a work in progress of general nonfiction distinguished by high literary quality by a woman at the midpoint in her career. Presented every 2 years. |
2001-2005 |
Inactive |
Martha Albrand Award for the Art of the Memoir[7] |
For a first published memoir. |
1998-2006 |
Inactive |
Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction[8] |
For an American author's first-published book of general nonfiction. |
1989-2006 |
Inactive |
PEN/Katherine Anne Porter First Amendment Award[9] |
To a U.S. resident "who has fought courageously, despite adversity, to safeguard the First Amendment right to freedom of expression as it applies to the written word." The award succeeded the PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award |
2008-2008 |
Inactive |
PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award |
To a U.S. resident who "fought courageously, despite adversity, to safeguard the First Amendment right to freedom of expression as it applies to the written word." |
1993-2006 |
Inactive |
Renato Poggioli Translation Award[10] |
For a translator at work on an English-language version of Italian literature. |
1991-2000 (?) |
Inactive |
Roger Klein Award for Career Achievement[11] |
To a trade book editor every two years for "distinguished editorial achievement."[12] |
1971-2000 (?) |
Inactive |
Roger Klein Award for Editing[13] |
An honor "given [every two years] to an outstanding editor in trade hardcover publishing."[14] |
1971-2000 (?) |
Inactive |
Award |
Description |
Founded |
Status |
Laurence L. & Thomas Winship/PEN New England Award |
To honor a New England author or book with a New England setting or subject. |
1975 |
Active |
Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award |
To a novel or book of short stories by an American author who has not previously published a book of fiction. |
1976 |
Active |
Vasyl Stus Freedom-to-Write Award[17] |
Recognizes a writer persecuted for the peaceful expression of his or her views and whose courage in the face of censorship and oppression is exemplary. |
(?) |
Active |
Susan P. Bloom Children's Book Discovery Award[18] |
Given to a New England resident for an unpublished work in one of four categories of children’s literature: picture books, novels, poetry, and nonfiction. |
(?) |
Active |
Henry David Thoreau Prize[19] |
Awarded annually to a writer demonstrating literary excellence in nature writing. |
(?) |
Active |
Friend to Writers Award[20] |
To one individual and one organization whose commitment to a culture of literature and the free and open exchange of ideas personifies PEN’s core mission. |
(?) |
Active |
Howard Zinn Award[21] |
Presented to an American writer for speaking truth to power. |
(?) |
Active |