The deadline for entry in the 2020 Pulitzer Prize Letters competitions (including Fiction, History, Biography, Poetry and General Nonfiction) is 11:59 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time on October 1, 2019.
Applications for all book prizes, including submission of author photos, bios and payment of entry fees, must be done through our entry site. Please visit the Letters, Drama and Music section of our How to Enter page for more information.
We will continue to accept the physical book components of otherwise complete entries until 5:30 p.m. EDT on October 15. Tracking should indicate that your submission was delivered to Pulitzer Hall or 2950 Broadway by that time. While this is a hard deadline, please contact us at [email protected] if you anticipate that an entry will be affected by an embargo, pending citizenship or other extenuating forces.
To address our most frequently asked question, books published in October, November and December must be submitted for the October 1/15 deadline in galley, page-proof or bound manuscript form. These titles are not eligible in any subsequent Pulitzer Prize cycle. Additionally, manuscripts of forthcoming works will not be processed until you submit a link demonstrating availability for purchase by the general public in either hardcover or paperback form by a United States-based press to [email protected].
As you prepare to enter, please be mindful of the following factors.
Accessing the entry site; payment method; number of required books; difference from Journalism competition:
- The URL for the Letters entry site is ldmentrysite.pulitzer.org. The Letters site is also accessible through three links (the main "Letters, Drama and Music" link, the "Online Entry Site" button and a third link) on the How to Enter page. (If you are accessing the page on a mobile device, this section will appear after the Journalism section.)
- Although a mobile variant is available, the Letters entry site is optimized for laptops and desktops. We strongly suggest that you utilize those devices while preparing your entry.
- We cannot accept personal or business checks under Columbia University's financial regulations. Potential entries containing a check and/or the pre-2010 entry form will not be processed unless these requirements are remitted via the Letters entry site.
- Books are not eligible in the 2020 Journalism contest, which will opens in December 2019 for work published this year. Please read our 2019 Journalism submission guidelines (which will be revised for the upcoming cycle this fall) for general information on this competition.
- Six copies are now required in the Fiction and General Nonfiction categories. Four copies are required in History, Biography and Poetry. Separate entry forms, fees and sets of books must be furnished if you intend to submit in multiple categories.
- We accept books by global publishers that maintain an editorial presence in the United States, including Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and Bloomsbury. However, foreign-based presses distributed by U.S. publishers are ineligible.
- While the Administrator's Office enforces the eligibility criteria of the competition, we cannot appraise or evaluate your work beyond those parameters.
Shipping procedures, including specified USPS materials:
- As Columbia University's facilities department has transitioned to an itemized building services model in recent years, our staff is now primarily responsible for the direct disposal of refuse and recyclable materials. Due to the volume of entries, this has the potential to delay greatly the processing of your submission.
- Accordingly, we ask that you minimize the use of bubble wrap, shipping popcorn, shrink wrap, rubber bands and paper stuffing in your submissions. In particular, please do not sheathe each individual book in newspaper or embed them in styrofoam popcorn.
- While large boxes are always welcome in mass submissions from publishers, small, conventional boxes or bubble or padded mailer(s) are preferred for individual submissions. "Jumbo" iterations are available for larger books from many retailers.
- We strongly discourage the use of the narrow, rectangular line of USPS flat rate boxes, including the Shoebox, DEMPBOX 2, A2, B2, 1092, 1095, 1096L and 1097A models; these packages are very difficult to open and break down. If at all feasible, please use the agency's more conventional stock, including the A1, B1, 7, 4, and DEMPBOX 1 models or Tyvek envelopes. You may consult each model at the USPS online store in advance of shipping.
- Over the past cycle, several Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express packages have been lost or temporarily rerouted to other buildings on campus due to attempted deliveries outside of Columbia's central mail process. We recommend using FedEx or UPS for all shipments sent after October 1. All packages sent through these carriers are routed directly to the Pulitzer Hall mail room.
- Please refrain from including extraneous materials in your submission, including printouts of the entry form or publicity booklets. These will be discarded during processing. Any supplemental correspondence should be directed to [email protected].
Delivery and processing:
- You need only apprise the office of the status of an entry if tracking indicates that it was not delivered. Please do not include [email protected] as a tracking contact.
- Most USPS packages are routed through Columbia's central mail facility before being delivered to the Pulitzer Hall mail room. This process takes about two business days. If your tracking page indicates that the package was "delivered" without specifying 2950 Broadway or Pulitzer Hall, it is still en route to us.
- While our office and the Pulitzer Hall mail room will be open, October 14 is a federal holiday that will further delay the delivery of mail. Shipments received after October 15 will not be processed.
- Please do not inquire about the processing status of individual submissions in the immediate aftermath of their delivery. We anticipate that all submissions will be processed by October 31.
- Entrants will receive an automated confirmation note as soon as the package is opened. Please contact us if you have not received your confirmation note by October 31.
If you have any questions or are not sure whether your entries are complete, please call us at (212) 854-3841 or email [email protected].