AWP Small Press Publisher Award
AWP’s Small Press Publisher Award is an annual prize for nonprofit presses and literary journals that recognizes the important role such organizations play in publishing creative works and introducing new authors to the reading public. The award acknowledges the hard work, creativity, and innovation of these presses and journals, and honors their contributions to the literary landscape through their publication of consistently excellent work.
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. In even years, the award is given to a journal, and, in odd years, to a press.
Congratulations to Dzanc Books, winner of the 2023 AWP Small Press Publisher Award!
Dzanc Books is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, created in 2006 to champion innovative and award-winning literary fiction and nonfiction. The press also runs the Dzanc Writers-in-Residence Program, which places published authors in public schools to teach creative writing to elementary and secondary students; organizes the Disquiet International Literary Program, a writing conference held in Lisbon, Portugal; and runs an expansive internship program for those interested in independent publishing. The press is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Finalists for the 2023 AWP Small Press Publisher Award
Now in its 30th year, Four Way Books was founded by four women writers in 1993. FWB publishes one of the US’s most diverse, accomplished lists. Key programs are the press; the Levis Prize; the Four Way Books Symposium, an online magazine; and a partnership with Kimbilio. FWB authors have long had a fantastic presence among the nominees/winners of awards that celebrate underrepresented groups, including NAACP Image; Hurston-Wright; Lambda; Publishing Triangle; Phillis Wheatley, and include fellows/faculty from Canto Mundo, Cave Canem, Kimbilio, and Kundiman. FWB titles have also received the PEN Voelcker, Kingsley Tufts, Four Quartets, Believer, Balcones, and Rilke prizes, and further back, the Pulitzer, Lenore Marshall, Kate Tufts, PSA Norma Farber. Since 2019, our books have been finalists for the PEN Open Book, National Book Award, NBCC, Kingsley Tufts, PEN USA Open Book, Lenore Marshall, Great Lake Colleges Award, Pulitzer, and many more. Four Way Books is located in New York City.
Through nearly twelve years of publications, events, and active community participation, Nomadic Press collectively weaves together platforms for intentionally marginalized voices to take their rightful place within the world of the written and spoken word. Through its limited means, we are simply attempting to help right the centuries’ old violence and silencing that should never have occurred in the first place and build alliances and community partnerships with others who share a collective vision for a future far better than today. www.nomadicpress.org Instagram: @nomadicpress
Judges
Jennifer (JP) Perrine, Portland Community College
Carey Salerno, Alice James Books
Deborah Jackson Taffa, Institute of American Indian Arts
Nominations
Letters of nomination are accepted each year between September 1 and October 27. All nominations should be in PDF format and submitted through AWP's Submittable portal. Postal submissions will not be considered.
To nominate a candidate for the AWP Small Press Publisher Award, please consult our award guidelines.
Should you need assistance with processing your nomination please feel free to contact Aubrey Kamppila, Conference Events Manager, by emailing events@awpwriter.org.
