About PenCraft
An award should feel like a door opening.
PenCraft exists to help excellent books find their readers—and to give the authors behind them a little more momentum.
The short version
Open to every kind of author.
The PenCraft Book Awards is an annual literary competition founded in 2016. It recognizes outstanding work across fiction, nonfiction, and a wide range of genres.
There is no preferred publishing path here. Independently published books, small-press releases, e-books, self-published titles, and books from traditional publishers all enter on equal footing.
We believe awards can be more than a line in a bio. They can be a reason for a reader to pause, a useful signal for a bookseller, and a reminder to an author that the work landed exactly where it needed to.
2016
PenCraft is founded
10th
Annual competition
$1k
Top annual prize
The people behind the page
A small team with a big shelf.
Editorial director
David Hearne
David has written books and articles since 1990 and leads PenCraft with the ambition to make it one of the best-recognized literary awards for authors and publishers.
Voting member
Mark Wulf
A National Book Critics Circle voting member and avid reader, Mark brings a lifelong commitment to books, libraries, and the communities that gather around them.
Ready to give your book a wider audience?
See the current program and entry details.