Roselyn Schneider Eisner Prizes in Poetry and Prose
Established in 1963
Description. The Eisner Prizes in Poetry and Prose contests are open to all UC Berkeley graduates and undergraduates in any department. For Eisner Prose Contest: manuscripts should be "a substantial body of work"; prose submissions may include novels, plays, or a collection of short stories. For the Eisner Poetry Contest: poetry should be collections, and like prose, in publishable quality and volume. For complete information read the Eisner Prizes in Prose and Poetry Rules.
Prize Amounts. Individual awards are at least $2,000. Federal financial aid regulations require that all awards received by a student can not exceed their financial aid need as determined by a congressional formula. It is possible, therefore, that the cash award for a prize could reduce some component of a needy student’s package of financial aid awards. In these cases, the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office attempts first to reduce loan or work aid; fellowships, grants, or scholarships are only reduced as a last resort.
Deadline. Submissions must be hand-delivered by the author to the Undergraduate Scholarships, Prizes, and Honors Office, 220 Sproul Hall, no later than 4 p.m on December 1. The author's name must not appear on the entry.
History of the Prize. In l963, Samuel Marks established an endowment of $250,000 for the advancement of the arts on the Berkeley campus, in memory of his stepdaughter, Roselyn Schneider Eisner, an artist and sculptor. The Chancellor's Advisory Committee on the Arts recommended the money be used to establish prizes in each of the Creative Arts.
Rules for Eisner Prizes in Poetry and Prose Contests
- Eisner prose manuscripts should be a "substantial body of work." Prose submissions may include novels, plays, or a collection of short stories. For prose entries, please submit the entire manuscript but earmark an excerpt of 20 to 30 representative pages. Poetry submissions should be a collection of poems. A minimum of 25 pages, a maximum of 40 pages, entries must be paginated, stapled, and include a table of contents and a title page. Entries should be in a publishable form. Entries of more than 40 pages or of unnumbered pages will be disqualified. This contest may contain submissions that have won in other contests in previous years. However, entries to these contests must consist of a majority of new work not having previously won in any campus contest or simultaneously submitted elsewhere. Award amounts currently stand at a minimum of $2,000 per prize. Prize awards are coordinated with the winner's financial aid package for those winners receiving financial aid.
- Entries must be anonymous. Submissions may be typed or printed but may not be handwritten.
- A Cal photo ID card must be shown when entries are submitted. Students must be enrolled full-time in at least one regular semester of the academic year (not including Summer Sessions). Filing for a degree does not constitute enrollment for that academic year.
- Entries must have the following information written in the top right hand corner:
- Name of the contest
- The last four digits of the entrant's student ID number
- The number of pages of your submission
- Please download and complete the UC Berkeley Prizes and Honors Office Form and submit it in-person along with your entry to 220 Sproul Hall.
- Submission to a University prize contest in no way limits the subsequent sale and publication of the material. Previously published materials, with the exception of materials that have appeared in campus publications, are not eligible. The University does not hold itself responsible for possible loss or damage.
- Since submissions will not be returned, a copy should be retained. Winning submissions will be filed in the University Archives, Bancroft Library.
- Any prize may be withheld if, in the opinion of the judges, no candidate or submission merits the award.
2010-11: Poetry: 19 entries; Rachel Beck, Jane Gregory, S Christopher Miller, and Swati Rana ($2,500 each)
Prose: 3 entries; No winners selected.
2009-10: Poetry: 17 entries; Steven Lance, Gillian Osborne, and Lynn Xu ($2,000 each);
Prose: 9 entries; Nina Estreich and Danica Li ($2,000 each)
2008-09: Eisner Poetry: 15 entries; Gillian Osborne and Lijia Xie ($3,000 each);
Prose: 11 entries; Joe Cadora ($4,000)
2007-08: Poetry: 11 entries, Hillary Gravendyk and Chad Vogler ($5,000 each);
Prose: 4 entries; The judge decided that no entry was worthy of a prize.
2006-07: Poetry: 17 entries; Elizabeth Marie Young and Margaret Ronda ($2,500 each);
Prose: 8 entries; Melissa Fall ($5,000)
2005-06: Poetry: 17 entries; Hilary Gravendyk Burrill ($6,000);
Prose: 13 entries; Elaine Castillo and Mark Massoud ($2,000 each)
2004-05: Poetry: 15 entries; Margaret Ronda and Tung-Hui Hu ($2,500 each);
Prose: 14 entries; first prize: Neil Colin Satterlund ($3,000); second prize, Katherine Ann Willett ($2,000); honorable mention: Dorothy Couchman
2003-04: Poetry: 24 entries; first prize Jennifer Scappetone ($3,000); second prize Lynn Ziyu Xu ($2,000)
Prose: 14 entries; first prize Elaine Castillo ($2,500); second prize Ellen Samuels ($2,500)
2002-03: Poetry: 22 entries; Timothy Wood, Julie Carr, and Warren Liu ($2,000 each)
Prose: 14 entries; Elaine Castillo and Frank B. Wildersn III ($2,000 each)
2001-02: Poetry: 7 entries; Jessica Fisher ($3,000) and Anne Walker ($2,000)
Prose: 17 entries; Yekaterina Kosova ($3,000) and Lucia Facone ($2,000)
2000-01: Poetry: first prize: Brian Glaser ($3,000); second prize: Jennifer Scappettone ($2,000); honorable mention: Ellen Samuels
Prose: first prize: Ann Simon ($3,000); second prize: Yuval Sharon ($2,000); honorable mention: Jose Alaniz
1999-00: Poetry: 17 entries; Jessica Fisher, Nadia Nurhussein, and Anne F. Walker ($1,400 each);
Prose: 9 entries; Jose Alaniz and Karen A. Lee ($1,400 each)
1998-99: Poetry: 21 entries; Kim Johnson and Roxana Popescu ($2,333 each)
Prose: 22 entries; Damion Searls ($2,333)
1997-98: Poetry: 18 entries; Ola Metwally, Mathew Struthers, and Karen An-Hwei Lee ($2,333 each)
Prose: 15 entries; Chris Minter ($2,333)