The Literary Encyclopedia Book Prizes 2024
Rules and Entry
Open for entries from 11 March 2024. Entries should be sent as soon as they are available.
In 2024, The Literary Encyclopedia will award three prizes, including a new biennial prize for scholarly editions. The winner in each category will receive a prize of £1500.
The three prize categories are:
- scholarly contributions to our understanding of literature originally in the English language
- scholarly contributions to our understanding of literature originally in another language
- scholarly editions of works originally in the English language
Funding
These prizes are funded by contributors to and editors of The Literary Encyclopedia who donate their royalties to our Scholarship Fund which also provides Research Travel Grants to early career researchers.
Eligibility
- have been published in 2022 or 2023 (or 2021, 2022, or 2023 for scholarly editions)
- originally written in English
The works will be:
- critical studies of literary writers, groups, works or periods
- biographies
- scholarly editions (scholarly editions of translated works in English are eligible for this prize, and will be judged on the merits of their critical apparatus)
Works that are not eligible are:
- volumes of collected essays by various authors
- translations of literary works into English
Authors of submitted works must be:
- engaged in research at an institution which subscribes to The Literary Encyclopedia AND/OR
- contributors of articles to The Literary Encyclopedia AND/OR
- members of scholarly associations affiliated to our publication who currently have an active membership account with the publication.
Process of Submission
Full details of the publication being submitted and up to three endorsements of the submitted work by reputed scholars in the relevant field should be sent to The Literary Encyclopedia by 1 July 2024.
These endorsements should be confidential (and sent directly to us by the reviewers) and should address the significance and originality of the work in less than 1500 words. Submissions may also include copies of published or forthcoming reviews of the book in reputable academic journals or national media. The judges will review the submissions and prepare a shortlist, which will be announced in August.
In the meantime, we also invite you to submit e-copies of the book you are submitting for review. This is not a requirement at this stage, but we encourage authors to make arrangements with their publishers in good time for an electronic copy of the book to be sent to us. If a book is longlisted, we need to have the full electronic copy to review by 5 August. Unfortunately, we cannot accept physical copies. Winners will be announced on 2 December 2024.
***Please direct all submissions and correspondence about the prize to Dr Jessica Gossling, Deputy Managing Editor***
