The James Jones Fellowship Contest is now in its 29th year. It awards $10,000 to an American writer with a first fiction novel in progress in 2020. Two runners-up may each receive $1000.
Entrants are asked to supply a two-page outline of their entire novel, plus the first 50 pages of the work.
The fellowship is only for unpublished first novels: collections of short stories, memoirs and self-published novels are not eligible. To enter this contest, writers must be United States citizens.
An entry fee of $30 is payable and writers can choose to enter either online or via mail. Multiple entries from the same author are allowed and novels submitted in the previous year’s competition may be resubmitted. Also, manuscripts may be simultaneously submitted for the contest and to a publisher for publication. If the work is accepted by a publisher at any time up to the announcement of the winner, the organisers must be notified and the selection will be withdrawn from the contest.
The 2019 James Jones Fellowship Contests attracted 580 entries and was won by Marco Kaye for his manuscript Levon. The winner of the 2020 contest will be notified in September and an excerpt from the winning manuscript will be published in Provincetown Arts in July 2021.
Entries close at midnight on Sunday 15 March 2020. For further information about the James Jones Fellowship Contest please visit the Wilkes University website.
