Prizes
FC2 conducts two annual manuscript contests
The Sukenick
$1,500 and publication by FC2. Open to writers of, from, or in the US writing in English who have not previously published with FC2.
The Doctorow
$15,000 and publication by FC2. Open to writers of, from, or in the US writing in English with at least three books of fiction published.
Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Contest
Eligibility
The FC2 Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Contest is open to writers of, from, or in the United States writing in English who have not previously published with FC2. Submissions may include a collection of short stories, one or more novellas, or a novel of any length. There is no length requirement. Works that have previously appeared in magazines or in anthologies may be included. Translations and previously published or self-published novels and collections are not eligible. To avoid conflict of interest, employees and Board members of FC2, as well as former or current students or close friends of the final judge, are not eligible to enter. FC2 remains dedicated to recruiting new and diverse makers of the images of tomorrow and to forging an ever more representative and provocative collective to challenge and overwrite the brutal conventions of our insufficient now. We particularly encourage submissions from writers who dismantle assumed points of view and dominant narratives.
Prize
The Prize includes $1,500 and publication by FC2, an imprint of the University of Alabama Press. In the unlikely event that no suitable manuscript is found among entries in a given year, FC2 reserves the right not to award a prize.
Judges
Finalists for the Sukenick Contest will be chosen by the FC2 Editorial Board. The winning manuscript will be chosen from the finalists by our final judge. Selection criteria will be consistent with FC2’s mission to publish fiction considered by America’s largest publishers too challenging, innovative, or heterodox for the commercial milieu, including works of high quality and exceptional ambition whose styles, subject matter, or forms push the limits of American publishing and reshape our literary culture. For more information on FC2’s mission, history, aesthetic commitments, authors, events, and books, please visit our About page.
The final judge for the 2024 contest will be Ray Levy. Ray Levy is the author of School (forthcoming, FC2), Negative Space (Spiral Editions), A Book So Red (Caketrain), and Necessary Objects (Tree Light Books). Short fictions appear or are forthcoming in ANMLY, Black Warrior Review, DIAGRAM, Fence, Tarpaulin Sky, Territory, SPORAZINE, Western Humanities Review, and others. The recipient of an NEA Fellowship in Prose, Levy is currently Assistant Professor of English at the University of Mary Washington and a founding editor at Dreginald. He lives in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Guidelines
Submissions for the 2024 contest are now closed. The winner will be announced in April. Next year’s contest will open to submissions on August 15, 2024.
Catherine Doctorow Innovative Fiction Prize
Eligibility
The FC2 Catherine Doctorow Innovative Fiction Prize is open to writers of, from, or in the United States writing in English with at least three books of fiction published. Submissions may include a collection of short stories, one or more novellas, or a novel of any length. There is no length requirement. Works that have previously appeared in magazines or in anthologies may be included. Translations and previously published or self-published novels and collections are not eligible. To avoid conflict of interest, FC2 authors and employees of FC2, as well as former or current students or close friends of the final judge, are not eligible to enter.
FC2 remains dedicated to recruiting new and diverse makers of the images of tomorrow and to forging an ever more representative and provocative collective to challenge and overwrite the brutal conventions of our insufficient now. We particularly encourage submissions from writers who dismantle assumed points of view and dominant narratives.
Prize
The Prize includes $15,000 and publication by FC2, an imprint of the University of Alabama Press. In the unlikely event that no suitable manuscript is found among entries in a given year, FC2 reserves the right not to award a prize.
Judges
Finalists for the Doctorow Prize will be chosen by the FC2 Editorial Board. The winning manuscript will be chosen from the finalists by our final judge. Past judges include Matt Bell, Cristina Rivera Garza, Joyelle McSweeney, Renee Gladman, Shelley Jackson, Mary Caponegro, Rikki Ducornet, Percival Everett, Laird Hunt, Stephen Graham Jones, Ben Marcus, Carole Maso, Stacey Levine, and Sam Lipsyte. Selection criteria will be consistent with FC2’s mission to publish fiction considered by America’s largest publishers too challenging, innovative, or heterodox for the commercial milieu, including works of high quality and exceptional ambition whose styles, subject matter, or forms push the limits of American publishing and reshape our literary culture. For more information on FC2’s mission, history, and aesthetic commitments, please visit our About page.
The final judge for the 2024 contest will be Amina Cain. Amina Cain is the author of the novel Indelicacy, a New York Times Editors’ Choice and finalist for the Rathbones Folio Prize and the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, and two collections of short stories, Creature and I Go To Some Hollow. Her latest book, A Horse at Night: On Writing, came out in 2022.
Guidelines
Submissions for the 2024 contest are now closed. The winner will be announced in April. Next year’s contest will open to submissions on August 15, 2024.