ILLINOIS ARTS COUNCIL AGENCY LITERARY AWARDS APPLICATION AND GUIDELINES IS NOW AVAILABLE
Dear Colleague in Literary Arts

The Illinois Arts Council Agency is pleased to announce the availability of the IACA's Literary Awards Program for fiscal year 2019. The program guidelines and information about the application procedure are now posted on the agency's website . A PDF of the guidelines can be viewed and/or downloaded from this website page.

The purpose of the IACA's Literary Awards Program is to recognize the publication and distribution of new work by living Illinois writers, poets, and essayists in not-for-profit literary publications/presses with editorial offices in Illinois. The Literary Awards Program aims to promote greater awareness of non-commercial, literary publishing activity within the state. Companion awards of $1,000 each are given to the nominating publication and their nominated writer.

Literary Awards Program applicants will use an electronic system, called
SlideRoom to submit the application. Each nominated work will either be uploaded as separate PDFs to the SlideRoom application or provided as a link to the publication pages. Hard copies of the publications will not be accepted.

The application deadline is October 15, 2018.
A jury of peers will review the eligible nominations and convene via telephone conference call to discuss and evaluate the nominations.

To be eligible, all applicants must:
  • Be tax-exempt (501c3) organizations registered as not-for-profit corporations in good standing with the Illinois Secretary of State, or units of government(i.e. school, school district, park district, library district), or institutions of higher education. Refer to the Proof of Eligibility page on the IACA website for specific details and verification requirements.
  • Submit an application utilizing a SlideRoom* account registered to the applicant organization or publication.*
  • Submit all requested application materials by the deadline.
  *Note: If you submitted a Literary Awards application in fiscal years 2014 or 2015, then you already have a SlideRoom account. Most likely you will need to update your account's password. Applicants must use their publication's legal name, or the legal name of the parent company/entity when setting up/registering for a SlideRoom account. University/college publications should consult with their university's Office of Sponsored Research, Grants, etc., before submitting an application. Do not use an individual's name as the applicant (unless it is the publication's legal name).
 
The following magazines are not eligible to apply:
  • Magazines which are primarily a vehicle for the publication of work by K-12 students
  • Magazines associated with colleges or universities which are primarily a vehicle for the publication of faculty or students
Program Restrictions
  • Literary Awards are given to those publications whose primary mission is to publish contemporary poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction.
  • Applicant's editorial offices must be based in Illinois.
  • Applicant must have produced and distributed at least one literary publication in the eighteen months preceding the deadline date.
  • At the application deadline, nominated writers must:
    • Be living Illinois residents.
    • Have been a legal resident of the state of Illinois for the twelve month period prior to the application deadline.
 
More procedural information can be found in the FY19 Literary Awards Program guidelines "Nominations" section.

The IACA appreciates any help in publicizing this program's availability amongst peers in the publishing community and Susan Dickson is available to answer any additional questions about the IACA's Literary Awards program.

Susan Dickson
Program Director
(312) 814-6740
Susan.Dickson@illinois.gov
 

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