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Provost Prizes for Prose & Poetry

The Provost Prizes for Prose & Poetry are granted in acknowledgement of the best prose or poetry submission from an undergraduate student. Each award is a cash prize of $2500. 

Submission Guidelines

Eligibility Requirements:

Open to all undergraduate students currently enrolled in any department or program, full or part time, at the University of Houston. One entry allowed per student. Enrollment must be current at the time of the submission and the notification of award. Enrollment verification will be made by the Registrar’s Office.

Submission Requirements:

Work submitted for the Provost Prizes must be the original creative work of the person submitting the entry.

Submissions that do not follow the formatting guidelines will be disqualified.

To submit an entry, submit a single PDF attachment. Name your document using your PeopleSoft ID number, with no other additions. (Example: 1234567.pdf)

No Longer Accepting Entries

All entries should have the following:

  • One submission per registered undergraduate student
  • A manuscript (12-point font, 1” margins, single spaced) of no more than five pages, containing no more than one poetry entry along with the submission’s title and the PeopleSoft ID number of the writer
  • The writer’s name must not appear anywhere on the manuscript.
  • Within 48 hours after being notified of the award, winners must be able to submit an electronic copy of the manuscript as a Word Document along with a 100-word bio and photo.
  • Any work submitted and found at any point of the process to be plagiarized will be immediately disqualified and the entry submitted to the Dean of Students for appropriate action (see Student Handbook on plagiarism).  

Eligibility Requirements:

Open to all undergraduate students currently enrolled in any department or program, full or part time, at the University of Houston enrolled in spring 2021. One entry allowed per student. Enrollment verification will be made by the Registrar’s Office.

Submission Requirements:

Work submitted for the Provost Prizes must be the original creative work of the person submitting the entry.

Submissions that do not follow the formatting guidelines will be disqualified.

To submit an entry, submit a single PDF attachment. Name your document using your PeopleSoft ID number, with no other additions. (Example: 1234567.pdf)

No Longer Accepting Entries

Please follow these guidelines:

  • Fiction or Nonfiction (prose) only
  • One submission per registered undergraduate student
  • A manuscript (12-point font, 1” margins, double-spaced) of no more than ten pages, containing no more than one prose entry along with the submission’s title and the PeopleSoft ID number of the writer; the writer’s name must not appear anywhere on the manuscript.
  • Within 48 hours after being notified of the award, winners must be able to submit an electronic copy of the manuscript as a Word Document along with a 100-word bio and a photo in jpg or png format
  • Any work submitted and found at any point of the process to be plagiarized will be immediately disqualified and the entry submitted to the Dean of Students for appropriate action (see Student Handbook on plagiarism).  

Award Committee Judging Process:

The Provost Prizes submissions, manuscripts only, will be read by a panel of graduate students from the University’s Creative Writing Program. Each submission will be read by two readers, and the scores will decide the finalists. Finalists will be forwarded to a panel of no fewer than three Creative Writing Faculty for final selection. 

Notification of Winning Entries:

Only the winning entries will be notified via email. The winner and five honorable mentions will be announced via an email and added to the Provost Prizes website before the end of the fall semester. Please check this website periodically for an announcement. Due to the number of submissions, we cannot answer individual inquiries.

Winners will be notified using their official University of Houston email address.

Winning entries will be published through the Office of the Provost website as well as through the University of Houston magazine.