Submit To Iowa City UNESCO City Of Literature Prize 2022

The annual Paul Engle Prize from the Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature 2022 honor an individual who, like Paul Engle, represents a pioneering spirit

City Of Literature Paul Engle Prize 2022

The annual Paul Engle Prize from the Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature honors an individual who, like Paul Engle, represents a pioneering spirit in the world of literature through writing, editing, publishing, or teaching, and whose active participation in the larger issues of the day has contributed to the betterment of the world through the literary arts. 

The Paul Engle Prize is made possible through the generous support of the City of Coralville, which is home to 11 permanent sculptures with artistic and literary ties to Iowa. 

The sculptures all have ties to work found in The Iowa Writers’ Library, housed in the Coralville Marriott, which features about 800 books written by former students, graduates and faculty of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Paul Engle (October 12, 1908 – March 22, 1991), though best remembered as the long-time director of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop and founder of the UI’s International Writing Program, also was a well-regarded poet, playwright, essayist, editor and critic.

This prize does not recognize one work, nor is it solely limited to reflecting literary achievement. Rather, the award seeks to recognize a writer, like Engle, who makes an impact on his or her community and the world at large through efforts beyond the page. It also seeks to raise awareness about Engle and his works.

Click here to get fast updates on literary contest, news, magazine submission and other available opportunities for writers

Editor's Pick

• Quramo Writers'Prize 2022
• Wakini Kuria Prize For Children's Literature 2022
• African Teen Writers Award 2022
• African Liberty Writing Fellowship Program 2022
• African Writers Award 2022
• Waterson Desert Writing Prize 2022
• Iowa Scholarship 2022
• P.E.N America Writers Aid Initiative 2022
• Writers' Digest Contest 2022
• Ella T. Scholarship 2022
• Bars Fiction Prize For Young Writers 2022
• Jack London Young Writers Contest 2022
• UNESCO City Of Literature Prize 2022
• Our Voices Our Stories Award 2022
• Vweda Chadwick Poetry Prize 2022
• Jacklyn Potter Young Poets Award 2022
• Writers Of The Future Contest 2022

Past recipients: James Alan McPherson, longtime instructor at the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Elbow Room; Kwame Dawes, Chancellor Professor of English at the University of Nebraska, and Editor of Prairie Schooner; Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Devil’s Highway and Queen of America,  Sara Paretsky the author behind the bestselling Chicago-based V.I. Warshawski mystery series, Roxane Gay, professor, editor, commentator and author of the short story collection Ayiti, the novel An Untamed State, and the essay collection Bad Feminist, and novelist, activist, essayist, and professor Alexander Chee; novelist and essayist Dina Nayeri; poets and co-founders of Cave Canem Toi Derriocotte and Cornelius Eady; and poet and essayist Dr. Eve L. Ewing.

As of 2021, the winner receives a $20,000 cash award and a one-of-a-kind work of art.

Nominations for each year’s prize run from Nov. 1 through March 31. 

Nominations may be submitted to info@iowacityofliterature.org, and should include the authors name, a list of work highlights, and a statement about why the author meets the unique criteria for this award. 

Self-nominations are not accepted.

 Please note: The prize is not awarded for a specific work, nor does the prize involve publication. 

Winners are selected by a panel assembled by the City of Literature board of directors and are recognized at a ceremony in Iowa City.