Aspen Words Literary Prize
The Aspen Words Literary Prize honors a novel or short story collection that addresses vital contemporary issues and demonstrates literature’s power to inspire social change.
Funder: Aspen Institute
Due Dates: August 4, 2025 | August 3, 2026
Funding Amounts: $35,000 annual prize for a single work of fiction; awarded to the author; one of the largest U.S. literary prizes for social impact fiction.
Summary: Annual award recognizing a work of fiction that addresses vital contemporary issues and demonstrates literature’s power to inspire change.
Key Information: Submissions must come from publishers; authors cannot self-nominate.
Description
The Aspen Words Literary Prize is a prestigious annual award honoring an influential work of fiction—either a novel or a collection of short stories—that illuminates a vital contemporary issue and exemplifies the transformative power of literature to foster cultural dialogue and societal change. The prize is open to authors of any nationality, provided the work is published by a U.S. trade publisher, and it is one of the few major awards in the U.S. focused exclusively on fiction with social impact.
