Drue Heinz Literature Prize Submission Guidelines

Learn about the History & Winners of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize

1. The Prize is open to writers who have published a novel or a book-length collection of fiction with a reputable book publisher, or a minimum of three short stories or novellas in reputable magazines, journals, or online publications.  Self-published materials do not count toward this requirement. 
2. The Prize is open to manuscripts written in English, whether or not the authors are citizens of the United States.  
3. Current University of Pittsburgh employees and students, and former employees and students affiliated with the University within the last five years, are not eligible for the Prize. 
4. Manuscripts translated into English will be considered for the Prize. 
5. Eligible submissions include an unpublished manuscript of short stories; two or more novellas (a novella may comprise a maximum of 130 double-spaced pages); or a combination of one or more novellas and short stories. Novellas are only accepted as part of a larger collection. Manuscripts may be no fewer than 150 and no more than 300 pages. Prior publication of the entire content of your manuscript in any format makes it ineligible. 
6. Manuscripts may also be under consideration by other publishers, but if a manuscript is accepted for publication elsewhere and you wish to accept this offer, you must notify the Press immediately. Manuscripts under contract elsewhere are no longer eligible for the Prize. 
7. Authors may submit more than one manuscript to the competition as long as one manuscript or a portion thereof does not duplicate material submitted in another manuscript. 
8. The winning submission will be offered a standard Prize publication contract, the terms of which are not subject to revision.  

Manuscripts must be received in July. That is, they must be submitted on or after July 1 and on or before July 31. 

Each manuscript must be accompanied by a $25.00 fee, paid through Submittable at the time of your submission. 

All manuscripts must be submitted online at our Submittable contest site: https://upress.submittable.com/submit 

1. During the submission period (July 1 – July 31) simply click the link above. You’ll be taken to our secure Submittable page where you’ll find easy-to-follow instructions: 
2. Manuscripts must be double-spaced and pages must be numbered consecutively. 
3. Each submission must include a list of all of the writer’s published short fiction work, with full citations. You will be given an opportunity to enter this information into a field in Submittable. 
4. Manuscripts will be judged anonymously. Therefore, the author’s name, other identifying information, and publication information must not appear within the manuscript. This is to ensure that only anonymous manuscripts are visible to the judges. Failure to strictly adhere to this rule is grounds to remove your manuscript from consideration for the Prize. 

If you have any questions about these guidelines, please email eomalley@upress.pitt.edu.