Details

• The award-winning author will receive a prize of $25,000.
• The award will be presented at a public event co-hosted by the The National Writers Series in Traverse City, MI in April 2026. 
• The award-winner will participate in a 2-3 day residency at Interlochen Center for the Arts in April 2026. The scope and nature of this engagement will be created to suit the award winner.
   

Eligible Books

• This prize recognizes the best of fiction or nonfiction literature that centers on the creative process of an artist or the arts—broadly defined—as its theme. 
• Eligible books include full-length books of fiction and nonfiction or collections of short stories and/or essays by a single author. Books of poetry are not eligible.
• Works must be originally created in English and cannot be self-published.
• The publication date must fall within two years before the submission deadline of May 1, 2025.
• Books by current Interlochen Center for the Arts faculty or staff and books by authors who were members of Interlochen’s faculty or staff at the time the book was written are not eligible.
• We follow Community of Literary Magazines and Presses Guidelines for contests and are committed, in all we do, to the highest ethical standards. If you are a close personal friend, family member, student (outside of brief, one-off workshops), or if you have engaged the editing/consultation services of any Book Committee Member, or if you are a former or current intern or staff member of any Book Committee Member, please refrain from submitting. Email us at bookaward@interlochen.org if you have questions about eligibility.

Criteria for Selection

• The books considered for this award will inspire, illuminate, or exemplify creative achievement in fields such as creative writing, dance, film and new media, music, theatre, and visual arts.
   

Nomination Process

• Nominators must complete an award submission form for each book submitted.
• The entry form opens on November 20, 2024 and closes on May 1, 2025.
• There is no cost to submit a book for the award.
• The Selection Committee will be made up of representatives from Interlochen Center for the Arts and The National Writers Series.
• Finalists will be contacted in September 2025 for review copies. Interlochen will request from the publishers seven copies and a PDF of those books selected for further review. The winning author will be announced in November 2025 and will participate in an awards ceremony and residency at Interlochen in April 2026.

RED WHEELBARROW CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!
 The Red Wheelbarrow is a quarterly literary magazine edited and produced by Creative Writing majors in collaboration with Visual Arts majors. A public reading/performance is held to celebrate the launch of each issue.

Current Interlochen Arts Academy students in all arts majors are welcome to submit their writing and visual artwork for consideration by the editors. Singer-Songwriters are invited to submit songs to be played live at the reading.

The deadline for submissions for the first Red Wheelbarrow of the 2024-25 school year will be Friday, September 27 by 11:59 pm EDT.The reading/performance for this issue will be on Wednesday, October 23 at 7:30pm.

 Please follow the submission guidelines below and go to the following link to create an account and upload your work using Submittable: https://interlochen.submittable.com/submit

Red Wheelbarrow Submission Guidelines:

Writing Submissions: 

• Students may submit poems, flash fiction, short stories or fiction excerpts, creative nonfiction (personal essay or memoir), scripts/screenplays, and experimental/unclassifiable writing.
• Students are limited to 3 submissions for poetry, and 2 submissions for prose and scripts/screenplays (maximum 5 pieces total).
• Prose and script/screenplay excerpts are limited to 5,000 words.
• Please remove your name from each individual piece before submitting. If your name appears on the document or in the title of the file, the piece will not be considered by editors. 
• Please submit each individual piece separately. 
• Following the instructions on Submittable, upload each submission as a .docx ONLY. To download as a .docx from Google Drive, click on File, select Download as from the dropdown menu, and select Microsoft Word (.docx) from the dropdown menu. 

 
Notification for All Submitters:
 If your work is selected, you will be notified by the editors via e-mail by 5pm on Friday, October 4th. Due to the volume of submissions, editors are not able to respond to every submission.

  We look forward to receiving your submissions!

  Thank you,

The Editors