PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection

The PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection honors an exceptionally talented fiction writer whose debut book, a collection of short stories, represents distinguished literary achievement and suggests great promise for a second work of literary fiction. The winner will receive a $25,000 cash prize intended to allow significant time and resources with which to pursue subsequent work.

The PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize was established in memory of Robert W. Bingham, who died in 1999 at the age of 33. This prize commemorates his support of young writers, his love of literature, and his contribution to literary fiction.

All winners, finalists, and longlisted books are eligible to receive PEN America’s official emblems. If you are a publisher interested in obtaining a PEN America award emblem for use on a book cover, please write to [email protected]. 

For more information about PEN America’s Literary Awards, please visit our FAQ. 

2026 Winner

To an author whose debut collection of short stories represents distinguished literary achievement and suggests great promise for future work.

Winner: Guatemalan Rhapsody, Jared Lemus (Ecco)

Judges: Sidik Fofana, Aimee LaBrie, Jasmine Sawers 

From the judges’ citation: “Jared Lemus’s Guatemalan Rhapsody gathers a disparate ensemble of dreamers and bootstrappers, those who toe both sides of the law, and those who are bound by tenaciousness when life gets bleak. These are characters who scrimp and scavenge, put their hearts on a perch and love hard. Lemus’s stories are written with tenderness and lithe prose intertwined with humor that never undercuts the very real dangers the characters face—whether they are putting their lives on the line for a highway robbery or sacrificing themselves to an altar of fire. The details of place and circumstance ground the reader in every tale and have you rooting for the characters to succeed. Rare is the debut that arrives fully rendered and delivers a writer whose voice and talent promise even greater things to come.”

Eligibility

• This prize honors a debut writer’s short story collection, which also must be the writer’s first published book.
• The candidate’s first collection of short fiction must have been published by a U.S. trade publisher between January 1 and December 31 of the current calendar year.
• Eligible books must be written by a single, living author.
• Candidates must be U.S. residents; American citizenship is not required.
• There are no restrictions on the candidate’s age or on the style of their work as long as it is a collection of individual short stories.
• Books submitted for this award may not be submitted for any additional PEN America Literary Awards, with the exception of the PEN Open Book Award. Please note that the PEN/Faulkner and PEN/Hemingway Awards are not considered PEN America Literary Awards.

Submission Guidelines

• All submitted books must be published by a trade or academic publisher between January 1 and December 31 of the current year. Self-published books are ineligible for the PEN America Literary Awards.
• Books with more than one original author are ineligible for the PEN America Literary Awards.
• PEN America will only accept submissions from publishers or literary agents. Authors may not submit their own books.
• Please be sure to select the award you are submitting to on the submission form.
• Submitting a book for multiple awards is allowed only in the case of the PEN Open Book Award. Please complete a separate submission for this award if applicable.
• Please submit verified email addresses on the submission form. Your order cannot be processed without an email address. Multiple addresses are essential so that we can get in touch directly if an author or translator is selected as a longlister, finalist, or winner.
• Upload a PDF file of the galley or final manuscript to the book submission form. Book award submissions will be read as PDF files. Please upload the file saved as BOOKTITLE_AUTHORNAME. For the judges’ ease of reading, please upload a book file WITHOUT watermarks. Each book file will remain confidential and is accessible only to the Literary Awards team and the awards judges. Please note that if a book is longlisted, PEN America may request physical copies for the judging panel.
• Upload a high-resolution image of the book cover. This will be used if the book is a longlister, finalist, or winner.
• Each submission is $85. Submission fees are not refundable. Please note that all payments must be made via the submission form.
• Submission fees may be waived for publishers whose annual net sales are less than $2 million. You may request an exemption here; a letter on company letterhead stating that the press’s annual net sales are less than $2 million is required. Do not submit your title before requesting your fee exemption, as the Literary Awards Team will provide you with an alternative submission method.
• Once a submitted book is received and reviewed for eligibility by PEN America, it will be passed along to the judges. Please add [email protected] to your address book, as it will be the main point of contact from PEN America.