AWP Small Press Publisher Award

Submit a nomination for the 2025 AWP Small Press Publisher Award now!

Criteria for the AWP Small Press Publisher Award

The AWP Small Press Publisher Award is for presses or journals that have consistently demonstrated excellence in the following: quality and discernment in curatorship of published work, quality of content, quality of editing, and skill and innovation in design. Nominees will be committed to nurturing the talents of their published authors, supporting their literary communities, and actively engaging in consistent and effective public engagement and outreach.

In even years, the award is given to a journal, and, in odd years, to a press. The 2025 AWP Small Press Publisher Award will be given to a press.

Letters of nomination are accepted each year between October 1 and November 22. The award recipient will be announced at the upcoming AWP Conference & Bookfair.

The award includes a $2,000 honorarium and a complimentary exhibit booth, including two complimentary conference registrations, at the AWP Conference & Bookfair in the year following the recipient’s recognition. The exhibit booth is not transferrable; winners who choose not to exhibit at the next year’s bookfair will forfeit their complimentary exhibit space.

Eligibility Requirements

The AWP Small Press Publisher award will be given to a press or journal that has made significant contributions to contemporary literature.

• The nominee will be a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.

• The nominee will have participated in at least three previous AWP Bookfairs, which may include the Bookfair held in the year in which they are nominated.

• The nominee will have been in operation for five years or more at the time of its nomination.

• The winner must travel to the AWP conference to receive the award.

Previous recipients of the award may not be nominated and will not be considered. Nominations will be considered for three years, including the year the nomination is submitted.

Guidelines for Letters of Nomination

Letters of nomination should include a detailed explanation of how the nonprofit press or literary journal has demonstrated consistent excellence in the criteria above, contributed to the literary landscape, and demonstrated commitment to nurturing authors.

Letters should be no longer than two single-spaced pages. Letters should include the name, email address, and signature of the nominating person as well as contact information for a representative of the organization nominated who can accept the award on behalf of the organization. All nominations should be in PDF format and submitted through AWP’s submission portal. Postal submissions will not be considered. An employee of an organization may not nominate their own organization for the award.

Conflict of Interest Policy

A small committee of individual judges will select the finalists and determine the award winner. Judges will recuse themselves from ranking a nominee for the following reasons:

• when any organizations for which they serve on the board of directors or for which they serve as a consultant, faculty, or employee are nominated
• when their book publisher or any publisher where their work is currently under consideration is nominated
• when any organizations for which they have received a fellowship, residency, or financial or professional assistance, or any organization for which they are currently under consideration to receive a fellowship, residency, or financial or professional assistance, is nominated

AWP reserves the right to reevaluate nominations that receive a recusal.

Inquiries

Aubrey Kamppila, Conference Events Manager
Association of Writers & Writing Programs
events@awpwriter.org