The Dzanc Books Prize for Fiction recognizes daring, original, and innovative novels. Alan Grostephan, author of The Banana Wars, was chosen as the winner of last year’s Prize for Fiction. A $5,000 advance and publication by Dzanc Books will be awarded to the winner.

Qualified submissions will include:

• New, upcoming, and established writers alike. Agented submissions are also eligible

• Previously unpublished novel-length manuscripts (generally over 40,000 words, but there is no hard minimum)

Not qualified submissions:

• Genre fiction (sci-fi, mystery, romance, etc.), children's books, and YA are not qualified. We encourage you to familiarize yourself with the type of work we publish by browsing through our recently released titles.

• Previously released and/or self-published titles

Please submit the following materials to the Prize for Fiction submittable form:

• The full manuscript as a PDF, Word, .doc or .docx

• A brief synopsis

• Author bio

• Author contact information

• All agency contact information (if applicable)

• $25 entry fee

Submissions open from Feb 1st - midnight June 30th.
Simultaneous submissions are permitted. We will not accept physical submissions.

Submissions are open from Fed 1st - midnight June 30th. Finalists will be compiled in-house and passed along for evaluation to this year’s judges: Mark Dunny (Ella Minnow Pea), Julie Ann Stewart (Water and Blood), and Alan Grostephan, author of The Banana Wars, which was chosen as the winner of last year’s Prize for Fiction. The winning submission and a short list of finalists will be announced on the Dzanc web page in November.