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           // DANA AWARDS ///

     ANNUALLY SINCE 1996

  

 

A NOTE OF ENCOURAGEMENT TO FUTURE ENTRANTS:

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW named as one of the 10 Best Books of  the Year in Non-Fiction in 2006 our 2001 winner of the Dana Award in the Novel.  To explain: Danielle Trussoni's novel, originally entitled Tunnel Rat, won our 2001 Novel Award, was then re-worked as a memoir of her relationship with her father, a Viet Nam vet, and was published in 2006 as FALLING THROUGH THE EARTH--which was then named by the New York Times Book Review as one of the 10 Best Books of 2006 in Nonfiction. 

 

NEW AWARD:

Dana Award in the Essay (See our guidelines)

 

We offer four $1,000 awards annually in the Novel, Short Fiction, Essay, and Poetry.

 

We began our awards in 1996. 

The $3,000 PORTFOLIO AWARD, offered from 2003-2007, HAS BEEN SUSPENDED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.  OTHER SOURCES WHICH  MAY LIST THE PORTFOLIO AWARD ARE NOT CORRECT.  

 

For  GUIDELINES and more information about us, click on our LINKS ON THE LEFT BORDER OF THIS PAGE.

 

WE DO NOT PROMISE PUBLICATION (see below).  THE PURPOSE OF THE DANA AWARDS IS MONETARY ENCOURAGEMENT FOR WORK THAT HAS NOT YET BEEN RECOGNIZED.

 

SO ALL WORK SHOULD BE UNAWARDED (honorable mention and finalist recognition okay, but no monetary awards), unpublished in print or online (except copies  for family and friends) and not under promise of award or publication AT THE TIME IT'S SUBMITTED TO US.

 

SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSION IS FINE WITH US.  Because we can’t promise publication, once you submit to us you may then market that work simultaneously to other competitions, journals, and publishers during the time we are considering it and still be eligible for Dana Awards.

 

   WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

Whether fiction or poetry, it must be work that is original yet not merely sensational for the sake of sensation. It must contain clear, well-developed themes and be written in a style that exhibits love of language and mastery of craft.

If fiction, whether literary/mainstream or genre fiction, the characters must be fully drawn, not stereotypes, and must be engaged in conflicts (either internal or external) that are compelling and show forward momentum.

In both poetry and fiction, if it's a universal story (love, death, loss, coming of age, moral responsiveness or failure to respond), it must be told in a fresh way.

And poetry, whether formal or free-verse, must exhibit rhythm and "music" in its use of language, syntax, line breaks, and structure. A group of words carelessly slung lengthwise down a page is not a free-verse poem; it's a group of words that needs to be made into a poem.

Furthermore, a group of words that ‘plays’ with language without attempting meaning or message is not a poem, it’s an exercise.

   HOW WE STARTED 

As a writer who entered competitions myself, I was often mystified when I read winners' work--often I disagreed with the judges' choices.

Then I realized that as first reader for my own competition, I could steer toward reward what I deemed good work.

I also knew that by starting my own competition and casting my editor's net into the wide pool of work out there, I could see how my own writing measured up to other hopefuls'.

I've learned a heartening but frightening thing in managing the Dana Awards: that there are thousands of excellent writers out there.

Which is heartening for the sake of literature, but frightening because of the sheer numbers of good writers looking for recognition--so much competition for each one of us, and so many people who deserve notice but aren't getting it.

Writing is a profession for talented, imaginative, sensitive Gila monsters (I say this because good writers don't give up, and legend claims that when a Gila monster clamps its jaws on something it won't let go.)

PUBLICATION IS NOT PART OF OUR CONTRACT.

DANA AWARDS WINNERS FOR 2000 (ONLY) DID HAVE A PUBLISHING SHOWCASE, AT UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA.  CENTER: A Journal of the Literary Arts, from University of Missouri-Columbia (the  same creative writing program that produced the award-winning MISSOURI REVIEW  edited by Speer Morgan) in Spring 2002 released Volume 1, Issue 2 of CENTER, highlighting the Dana Awards on the cover and on their Web site and including a  60-page center section showcasing in its entirety the winning work of  our YEAR 2000 AWARD RECIPIENTS. (A typo on the issue’s cover says 2001 awards, but those weren’t even decided until after the issue went to press.)  But because of editorial board/policy changes and their decision to focus on their students' work, CENTER Magazine can no longer publish Dana Awards winners.

We affiliated with CENTER as our publisher that year  as a courtesy to our winners, not as a part of a promised contract.   We promise only monetary awards each year.

This courtesy arrangement  will also be true if/when we find another journal to publish any future winners.

Our contract with our winners ends with us paying them the monetary Dana Awards.  Any publication or further  payment is between the winners and the literary journal.

Also, it is our winners’ choice, not a requirement, to publish with any  journal with which we form an affiliation.

Furthermore, since our contract with winning authors ends when we pay them their award money, we can not be held responsible if a journal promises and then fails to publish.

FOR QUESTIONS ONLY, 

E-MAIL AT THIS ADDRESS danaawards@pipeline.com  

or 

E-MAIL AT THIS ADDRESS danaawards@gmail.com