The PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography is awarded for excellence in the art of biography. This prize of $5,000 will go to the author of a distinguished work published in the United States during the previous calendar year. The winning title should be a work of exceptional literary, narrative and artistic merit, based on scrupulous research.

Past winners: Stacy Schiff.

Deadline:
Submissions must be received between October 1, 2011 and February 1, 2012.

Who is eligible:
A candidate’s book of nonfiction must have been published in the United States between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011. Books must be works by an author about another figure; neither memoir nor autobiography is eligible. Candidates need not be U.S. residents. Submissions are welcome from any source: writers, editors, literary agents, or members of the literary community at large.

How to apply:
1) Pay the $50 entry fee online and proceed to checkout. If paying by check, skip to step 2.

2) Fill out the online submission form and click “Submit Form.”

3) Mail three copies of the candidate's book, your printed submission form, and proof of online payment or a check between October 1, 2011 and February 1, 2012 to:

Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography
PEN American Center
588 Broadway, Suite 303
New York, NY 10012

Pay the $50 entry fee online, or mail in payment with your submission. Submission fees may be waived for publishers whose annual net sales are less than $4 million. Please contact PEN if you wish to find out more.

For more information, please contact awards@pen.org or (212) 334-1660, ext. 126.