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National Institute of Arts and Letters Award in Literature
Back in 1898, when American literature was still trying to find its footing on the global stage, the National Institute of Arts and Letters was founded for the “advancement of art and literature” by visionary intellectuals who understood that art needed institutional support to thrive. The qualification for membership in the NIAL was notable achievement in art, music, or literature, making it one of the most prestigious honors an American writer could receive. The original Institute’s awards carried serious weight in literary circles because they came from peers – established writers recognizing emerging talent.
In 1904, the National Institute created the American Academy, a prestigious inner body of 50 members modeled on the Académie française. This dual structure created a hierarchy that American writers desperately coveted. This bicameral system of membership continued until 1993, when the Institute dissolved itself and all 250 members were enrolled in Arts and Letters, effectively ending this particular award’s standalone prestige.
Dial Award for Fiction
The Dial published one of modernism’s most famous poems, Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” in 1922 and published experimental art by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Constantin Brancusi, and Walker Grant. This wasn’t just another literary magazine – it was the epicenter of American modernist experimentation. Scofield Thayer bought control of The Dial from Martyn Johnson in 1919 and used his family’s wealth to give the magazine a budget uncommon to little magazines. Writers who received recognition from The Dial weren’t just getting another award; they were being inducted into America’s avant-garde elite.
Moore received The Dial Award in 1924 and the following year, she took over as the magazine’s editor until it ceased publication in 1929. When the magazine folded, so did its cultural influence. The Dial Award represented something unique in American letters – a prize that celebrated innovation over tradition, experimental technique over conventional storytelling.
O. Henry Memorial Award Original Format
Today’s O. Henry Prize Stories feel almost corporate in their slick presentation, but the award was first presented in 1919 and funded by the Society of Arts and Sciences, with the original collection called Prize Stories 1919: The O. Henry Memorial Awards. The original format was more exclusive and culturally significant. Until 2002 there were first, second, and third prize winners, creating a clear hierarchy that gave the top prize real prestige.
Past series editors have included Blanche Colton Williams (1919–32), Harry Hansen (1933–40), Herschel Brickell (1941–51), and these editors had serious literary clout that made their selections matter. Along with The Best American Short Stories, the O. Henry Prize Stories is one of the two “best-known annual anthologies of short fiction”, but it’s lost the concentrated cultural impact it once had when winning first place actually meant something specific.
Saturday Review Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards
Established in 1935 by Cleveland poet and philanthropist Edith Anisfield Wolf and originally administered by the Saturday Review, the awards have been administered by the Cleveland Foundation since 1963. During the Saturday Review era, these awards had much broader literary influence because the magazine itself was a cultural powerhouse. The Saturday Review magazine administered the awards while Wolf was alive, and the magazine’s editorial backing gave winners serious mainstream exposure.
Winners previously include Zora Neale Hurston (1943), Langston Hughes (1954), Martin Luther King Jr. (1959), Maxine Hong Kingston (1978), Wole Soyinka (1983), Nadine Gordimer (1988), Toni Morrison (1988), Ralph Ellison (1992). While the awards continue today, they’ve shifted from being broad literary prizes to the only American book prize focusing on works that address racism and diversity, narrowing their cultural impact significantly.
Harper Prize
The Harper Novel Prize was an award presented by Harper Brothers, an American publishing company located in New York City, presented to the best novel by “a writer who hitherto had not found a wide audience”. Harper Brothers wasn’t just any publisher – they were one of the most influential houses in American publishing, making their endorsement incredibly valuable. A number of the awarded books won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and many were adapted into films, showing the award’s ability to identify significant literary talent.
The Harper Prize elevated writers like Sinclair Lewis and Edna Ferber during their early careers, giving them the platform they needed to become literary giants. Edna Ferber’s novels include the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big (1924), Show Boat (1926), Cimarron (1930), Giant (1952) and Ice Palace (1958). When publishing houses began shifting away from funding literary prizes in the 1960s, the Harper Prize disappeared, taking with it a crucial stepping stone for emerging American novelists.
Atlantic Monthly Little Brown Prize
The Atlantic Monthly carried incredible cultural weight in the 19th and early 20th centuries, making any award bearing its name automatically prestigious. The Atlantic Monthly Little Brown Prize spotlighted high literary achievements, particularly in fiction and essay writing, at a time when magazine culture dominated American intellectual life. Writers who received this recognition weren’t just getting money or recognition – they were being inducted into New England’s literary establishment.
The prize represented the marriage of prestigious magazine publishing and book publishing, with Little Brown’s editorial judgment adding another layer of credibility. Unlike today’s fragmented literary landscape, when The Atlantic endorsed a writer, it meant something significant to readers across the country. The award’s disappearance reflects the declining influence of magazine culture in American literary life.
Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award
The Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Awards provide two awards of $5,000 each – the first, established in 1956, is for a fiction work of “considerable literary achievement” published in the previous year, and the second, created in 1959, is for a young painter. While this award technically still exists under the American Academy of Arts and Letters, it’s lost much of its public visibility and cultural cachet. In the 1960s and 1970s, winning a Rosenthal Award was a significant career milestone that could launch a writer’s reputation.
The award was specifically designed to recognize young writers, making it particularly valuable for emerging talent. The Willard L. Metcalf Award in Art and the Addison M. Metcalf Award in Literature are biennial awards of $10,000, showing how the Academy has shifted its focus to other honors. The Rosenthal Award’s fade from public attention reflects the general decline in awareness of literary prizes beyond the big three: Pulitzer, National Book Award, and Nobel.
Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award
Houghton Mifflin was one of America’s most prestigious publishers, and their Literary Fellowship Award gave early career boosts to writers like Robert Penn Warren, who would go on to become major American literary figures. The award represented the old publishing model where houses invested in long-term relationships with writers rather than just chasing bestsellers. Publishers had the financial stability and cultural commitment to fund literary prizes that might not generate immediate profits.
The fellowship model was particularly valuable because it provided not just recognition but ongoing support for writers’ careers. When publishing houses began shifting away from funding literary prizes, they lost a crucial tool for developing American literary talent. The disappearance of publisher-funded awards like this one marks a significant shift in how American literature gets supported and promoted.
New American Writing Award
During the turbulent 1960s and 1970s, the New American Writing Award celebrated innovation in American literature at a time when the country was experiencing massive cultural upheaval. This award specifically recognized experimental and boundary-pushing work, making it particularly valuable for writers who didn’t fit traditional literary categories. The award fell victim to the magazine closures and cultural shifts of the late 1970s, when many small literary magazines couldn’t survive changing economics.
The award’s brief existence reflects a particular moment in American literary history when there was institutional support for experimental writing. Its disappearance coincided with the consolidation of American publishing and the decline of small literary magazines that had served as launching pads for innovative writers. The New American Writing Award represents what we lost when American literary culture became more commercially focused.
National Book League Awards
Modeled after the successful UK Book League Awards, the American version launched in the 1940s and 1950s with great promise but never achieved the cultural penetration of its British counterpart. The awards were designed to celebrate literary achievement across multiple categories, potentially creating a comprehensive recognition system for American writers. The timing seemed perfect, as post-war America was experiencing a literary renaissance.
However, the American National Book League Awards couldn’t compete with the emerging National Book Awards and other established prizes. The failure highlights how difficult it is to establish new literary awards in a crowded field, even when they’re based on successful international models. The awards’ quick disappearance shows how American literary culture was becoming more institutionalized and resistant to new prize systems.
Books Abroad Translation Prize
Hosted by the University of Oklahoma journal Books Abroad, which later became World Literature Today, this prize served a crucial function in introducing international voices to American audiences during the mid-20th century. At a time when American literature was becoming increasingly insular, the Books Abroad Translation Prize provided a vital bridge to world literature. The award recognized both the translators and the original authors, understanding that translation is itself a literary art.
The prize disappeared as American publishing became less interested in translated works and more focused on domestic bestsellers. Its loss represents a significant reduction in America’s engagement with international literature. The Books Abroad Translation Prize’s disappearance coincided with the general decline in translation publishing in the United States, contributing to American literary culture’s increasing isolation from global literary movements.
National Council of Teachers of English Award for Fiction
This award once wielded enormous influence in American literary culture because it directly shaped what books were taught in classrooms across the country. Teachers looked to the NCTE Award for Fiction as a guide to which contemporary works were worth including in their curricula. The award’s influence extended far beyond the literary world into American education, making it one of the most practically important literary prizes of its era.
When the award was retired, American literature education lost a crucial mechanism for identifying teachable contemporary works. The disappearance reflects the broader fragmentation of American education and the decline of centralized literary authority. Teachers today must navigate a much more chaotic landscape of literary prizes and recommendations, without the clear guidance that the NCTE Award once provided.
American Book Awards of the 1980s
The original American Book Awards of the 1980s were designed to replace the National Book Awards but became a cautionary tale about the dangers of changing established literary institutions. The awards aimed to be more commercially oriented and media-friendly than the National Book Awards, but they created massive confusion in the literary world. Many writers and publishers couldn’t understand why the change was necessary, leading to widespread backlash.
The failure of the original American Book Awards showed how deeply embedded literary institutions become in American culture. The awards were eventually abandoned, and the National Book Awards were restored, but the damage had been done. The episode demonstrated that literary prizes aren’t just about recognition – they’re about cultural continuity and institutional trust that can’t be easily transferred to new systems.
Friends of American Writers Awards
Though technically still ongoing, the Friends of American Writers Awards once had much greater prominence in discovering Midwestern and Western voices in American literature. During the mid-20th century, these awards helped balance the East Coast bias of American literary culture by spotlighting writers from the country’s interior. The awards were particularly valuable for writers who didn’t have access to New York literary networks.
The decline in the awards’ prominence reflects the broader centralization of American literary culture and the diminishing influence of regional literary organizations. Today, most Americans have never heard of the Friends of American Writers Awards, even though they continue to recognize important literary work. The awards’ fade from public consciousness shows how difficult it is for regional literary organizations to maintain national relevance.
Rinehart Award in Fiction
Associated with Rinehart & Company, the Rinehart Award in Fiction was notable during the 1940s–60s for its ability to identify significant literary talent. The award disappeared with the publishing mergers that consolidated American publishing in the latter half of the 20th century. Rinehart & Company was eventually absorbed into other publishing houses, and with it went their literary prize program.
The Rinehart Award’s disappearance exemplifies how publishing consolidation has reduced the diversity of literary prizes available to American writers. When small and mid-sized publishers maintained their own award programs, writers had more opportunities for recognition and support. The loss of publisher-specific awards like the Rinehart Prize represents a significant reduction in the ecosystem that supports American literary talent.
Kenyon Review Fellowship Awards
The Kenyon Review Fellowship Awards once represented a major nod to poetic and prose talent, carrying significant weight in American literary circles. The awards lost prominence when the magazine faced temporary suspension in the 1970s, disrupting the continuity that literary prizes require to maintain their cultural authority. The Kenyon Review has since resumed publication, but the fellowship awards never regained their former prominence.
The story of the Kenyon Review Fellowship Awards shows how literary prizes are tied to the health and continuity of their sponsoring institutions. When literary magazines face financial difficulties or editorial changes, their associated prizes often suffer permanent damage to their reputations. The awards’ decline reflects the broader challenges facing American literary magazines in maintaining consistent operations over decades.
American Academy Rome Prize in Literature
Every year the academy selects and partly subsidizes two young writers for a one-year residence at the American Academy in Rome. While this prize still exists, its influence on American literary careers was far more pronounced in the mid-20th century than today. During the 1950s and 1960s, winning a Rome Prize was almost a guarantee of literary success, providing both the time and prestige needed to launch major careers.
The prize’s declining visibility reflects the general proliferation of literary awards and residencies that have diluted the impact of any single honor. Alumni of the American Academy in Rome are well represented among the 2022 winners of various literary prizes, showing that the Rome Prize continues to identify talent, but it no longer carries the cultural weight it once did. The award’s evolution demonstrates how even prestigious prizes can lose their cultural prominence without actually disappearing.
Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Prizes
While the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference continues to be one of America’s most prestigious literary gatherings, the associated awards once had much greater public literary significance. Her awards include fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, showing how the conference’s prizes were once considered significant career milestones. The conference’s awards were particularly valuable because they combined recognition with networking opportunities and mentorship.
The decline in the awards’ prominence reflects the broader changes in how American literary careers are built and sustained. With the rise of MFA programs and other institutional pathways, conference awards have become less crucial for writers’ development. The Bread Loaf prizes’ reduced visibility shows how the American literary landscape has become more institutionalized and less dependent on individual conferences or workshops.
Columbia Prize for First Novels
Offered by Columbia University Press in the early 20th century, the Columbia Prize for First Novels aimed to launch promising fiction debuts during a crucial period in American literary development. University presses once played a much more significant role in American literary culture, and their prizes carried academic prestige that could launch literary careers. The prize fell into obscurity as university presses shifted their focus toward academic publishing and away from literary fiction.
The Columbia Prize’s disappearance reflects the broader retreat of academic institutions from popular literary culture. University presses that once published significant literary fiction have largely abandoned that market, taking their literary prizes with them. The loss of academically-sponsored literary prizes has created a gap in the ecosystem that supports emerging American writers, particularly those whose work might not appeal to commercial publishers.
National League of American Pen Women Awards
Founded to honor women writers, the National League of American Pen Women Awards were prominent in the mid-20th century but have faded from public view despite continuing in limited form. These awards played a crucial role in supporting women writers during an era when they faced significant barriers in the literary world. The awards provided both recognition and networking opportunities that were essential for women’s literary careers.
The decline in the awards’ prominence reflects the changing landscape of women’s opportunities in American literature. As barriers to women writers have decreased in some areas, the specific need for women-only literary prizes has seemed less urgent to many. However, the awards’ fade from public consciousness also represents a loss of institutional memory about the specific challenges women writers have faced and continue to face in American literary culture.
The Vanished Gatekeepers
These twenty forgotten literary awards represent more than just missing prizes – they embody a fundamental shift in how American literary culture operates. When these awards were active, they created a more diverse ecosystem of recognition that allowed different types of writers to find support and audiences. Publishers, magazines, universities, and organizations all maintained their own prize systems, creating multiple pathways to literary success.
The consolidation of American publishing and the decline of magazine culture have created a winner-take-all system where only the biggest prizes matter. Writers today compete for a much smaller number of highly visible awards, making literary success more difficult to achieve and sustain. The disappearance of these awards represents a significant reduction in the infrastructure that once supported American literary talent.
What strikes me most about these forgotten awards is how they reveal the richness of American literary culture in the mid-20th century. Every region, every community, every institution seemed to have its own way of recognizing and supporting writers. That diversity of support systems created a more democratic literary culture where different voices could find recognition through different channels.
Today’s literary landscape, for all its apparent opportunities, is actually much more centralized and harder to navigate. The loss of these awards represents not just missing prizes, but missing communities, missing institutions, and missing pathways to literary success. Maybe it’s time to ask ourselves: what would American literature look like if we still had this diversity of recognition? Did we lose something essential when these awards disappeared?
Christian Wiedeck, all the way from Germany, loves music festivals, especially in the USA. His articles bring the excitement of these events to readers worldwide.
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