The Wallace Prize is the most prestigious independently awarded undergraduate writing prize for fiction and nonfiction at Yale. Winners will receive a substantial cash prize, and winning submissions in each category will be published in the Yale Daily News Magazine.
Submissions Procedure:
Applications are available in the foyer of the Yale Daily News building (202 York St.), across the street from Jonathan Edwards College. Forms will also be available in the English Department office. Entrants must submit four copies of each piece to the Wallace Prize box in the foyer of the Yale Daily News building by Thursday, Feb. 28 at 5 p.m. No late entries will be accepted. Please do not put your name anywhere on the submissions except on the cover sheet.
Judges are professionals drawn from the fields of academia and journalism, and have no connection to the News. The specific division of funds will be distributed to the top winners according to the discretion of the judges.
The Fine Print:
- Each submission must be between six and 20 double-spaced pages in length.
- Each entrant may submit up to three previously unpublished pieces of fiction or nonfiction.
- By unpublished, we mean that pieces may not have been printed in any campus or professional publication. Winning submissions have been disqualified in past years for failure to comply with this rule.
- Special to nonfiction: The Magazine reserves the right to revoke the prize from a recipient who has not made reasonable attempts to uphold professional standards of accuracy. After winners have been selected, the Magazine may request to see notes on sources and research for the piece.
- All undergraduates currently enrolled as full-time students in Yale College are eligible to enter except: 1) Previous winners, 2) Members of the Yale Daily News staff who actively recruited this year’s judges.
- The Yale Daily News Magazine will print winning pieces as written. All submissions will be considered to be in their final, finished form. The Magazine reserves the right to disqualify pieces with numerous grammatical and spelling errors.
- All work will be published under the writer’s real name. No awards will be given to writers who wish to publish under pseudonyms.
The Wallace Prize is awarded annually in memory of Peter J. Wallace ’64, a former member of the Yale Daily News editorial board. It is endowed by the Peter Wallace Memorial Fund and is presented in conjunction with the Yale Daily News Magazine.
Questions? Email ydnmag@gmail.com