McSweeney’s is seeking submissions for two literary prizes set to be awarded this year.
The indie publisher announced in a news release that it is looking for entries for the Gabe Hudson Prize and the Stephen Dixon Award for Short Fiction.
The Gabe Hudson Prize is named after the McSweeney’s editor and author of books including Gork, the Teenage Dragon who died in 2023 at age 52. It “honors a fiction writer’s second book, published in the United States the year prior, that conveys humor, pathos, and a deep understanding of contemporary America.” The prize was first awarded in 2024 to Ayana Mathis’ The Unsettled; Kate Greathead won last year’s award for The Book of George.
The Stephen Dixon Award for Short Fiction honors the prolific author of books including Interstate and Gould who died in 2019 at age 83. The award “recognizes an emerging fiction writer who is experimenting with form and expanding the boundaries of storytelling.”
Submissions for the Gabe Hudson Prize, which comes with a cash award of $10,000, are now open, with a deadline of Feb. 15. McSweeney’s says publishers and agents can request information about submitting books via email at gabehudsonprize@mcsweeneys.net.
Submissions for the Stephen Dixon Award will open on Jan. 28 at 10 a.m. PST. Authors can send stories for consideration via Submittable; McSweeney’s says that the stories must be under 9,000 words and that “the piece must be original and not previously published online or in print—the author must not have published a book or have a book forthcoming at the time of submitting.”
Rita Bullwinkel, the editor of McSweeney’s Quarterly, told Kirkus, “McSweeney’s is honored to confer these two awards, both of which support authors at notoriously vulnerable points in their career.…Literature’s unique capacity to reach the depths of our interior emotional lives was something that Gabe Hudson and Stephen Dixon knew well, and that these two prizes seek to affirm and celebrate.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
