Submission Period Opens for Maurice Prize in Fiction
Unpublished Aggie novelists, brush off your manuscripts and polish your prose. Submissions are now being accepted for the 2020 Maurice Prize in Fiction at UC Davis.
Past Winners of the Maurice Prize
2019: Peter Shahrokh (English, M.A., ’75, Ph.D. ’83; MBA ’99), A Wind Will Come
2018: No prize awarded (program hiatus).
2017: Ben Hinshaw (English, M.A., ’14), Exactly What You Mean, A Novel in Stories
2016: Megan Cummins (English, M.A., ’11), Beasts
2015: Reema Rajbanshi (English, M.A., ’07), Sugar, Smoke, Song
2014: Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi (English, M.A., ’11), Poor as You Are, My Heart, Don’t Grieve Here in Earth
2013: Naomi Williams (English, M.A., ’07), Landfalls (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 2015)
2012: Cora Stryker (English, M.A., ’07), The Evolution of Flight
2011: Maria Kuznetsova (English, M.A., ’10), The Accident
2010: Melinda Moustakis (English, M.A., ’06), Bear Down, Bear North (University of Georgia Press, 2011)
2009: Angie Chau (English, M.A., ’05), A Map Back to You (released as Quiet As They Come, by IG Publishing, 2010)
2008: Melanie Thorne (English, B.A., ’04, M.A., ’06), Hand Me Down (Dutton, 2012)
2007: Elizabeth Chamberlin (English, M.A., ’06; ecology, Ph.D., ’08), these people, they crawl all over the place
2006: Shawna Yang Ryan (English, M.A., ’01), Water Ghosts (Penguin Press, 2009), originally released as Locke 1928 (El Leon Literary Arts)
2005: Spring Warren (English, M.A., ’02), The Breaks
The annual $5,000 prize recognizes the best book-length prose fiction written by a UC Davis graduate who has not yet published or been accepted for publication by the contest deadline.
The prize was established by best-selling author John Lescroart in honor of his father, Maurice Lescroat.
Open to all UC Davis alumni
In the past, only UC Davis creative writing alumni were eligible for the prize, but in 2019 the contest was opened to all Aggie alumni. The competition is co-hosted by the College of Letters and Science.
Literary merit will be the overriding criterion in the selection of the winning entry.
Manuscripts must be received by March 13, and the winner will be announced in May. There is no fee to enter a submission.
Instructions for submission:
- Bind the manuscript to keep pages intact.
- Include separately a cover letter with your name, mailing address, email address and phone number.
- Remove any names on the manuscript, as they are judged anonymously. Please note that submitted manuscripts will not be returned.
Mail your entry to:
College of Letters and Science
RE: Maurice Prize
1333 Research Park Drive
Davis, CA 95618