Roselyn Schneider Eisner Prizes in Poetry and Prose

Established in 1963

Previous Winners

  • 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 Prose and Poetry Rules.
  • Prize Amount. 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 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, 229 Sproul Hall, no later than 4:00 p.m on Monday, December 1, 2009. 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.
Previous Winners

2008-2009: Eisner Poetry: 15 entries, Gillian Osborne and Lijia Xie ($3000 each)
Eisner Prose 11 entries, Joe Cadora ($4000)

2007-2008: Eisner Poetry:11 entries, Hillary Gravendyk and Chad Vogler ($5000 each)
Eisner Prose :  4 entries, The judge decided that no entry was worthy of a prize.

2006-2007: Eisner Poetry:17 entries, Elizabeth Marie Young and Margaret Ronda ($2,500 each)
Eisner Prose: 8 entries, Melissa Fall ($5,000)

2005-2006: Eisner Poetry:17 entries, Hilary Gravendyk Burrill ($6,000)
Eisner Prose: 13 entries, Elaine Castillo and Mark Massoud ($2,000 each)

2004-2005: Eisner Poetry:15 entries, Margaret Ronda and Tung-Hui Hu ($2500 each)
Eisner Prose: 14 entries, first prize: Neil Colin Satterlund ($3,000); second prize, Katherine Ann Willett ($2,000); Honorable Mention: Dorothy Couchman

Prose 2003-2004: 14 entries, first prize Elaine Castillo ($2500); second prize Ellen Samuels ($2500)
Poetry: 24 entries, first prize Jennifer Scappetone ($3,000); second prize Lynn Ziyu Xu ($2,000)

Prose: 2002-03: 14 entries, Elaine Castillo and Frank B. Wildersn III ($2000 each)
Poetry: 22 entries, Timothy Wood, Julie Carr, and Warren Liu ($2000 each)
Prose: 2001-02: 17 entries, Yekaterina Kosova ($3,000) & Lucia Facone ($2000)
Poetry: 7 entries, Jessica Fisher ($3000) & Anne Walker ($2000)
Prose: 2000-01: Ann Simon- 1st place ($3,000), 2nd place Yuval Sharon ($2,000), Jose Alaniz (honorable mention)
Poetry: Brian Glaser 1st place ($3,000), 2nd place Jennifer Scappettone ($2,000), Ellen Samuels (honorable mention)
1999-00: 17 poetry entries, 9 prose, Jose Alaniz, prose; Jessica Fisher, poetry; Karen A. Lee, prose; Nadia Nurhussein, poetry; Anne F. Walker, poetry ($1,400 each)
1998-99: 21 poetry entries, 22 prose, Kim Johnson, poetry, Roxana Popescu, poetry; Damion Searls, prose ($2,333 each)
1997-98: 18 poetry entries, 15 prose; Ola Metwally, poetry; Mathew Struthers, poetry; Karen An-Hwei Lee, prose; Chris Minter, prose ($1,750 each)

    Rules for Eisner Prose &Poetry 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 ear-mark 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 SID number
    The number of pages of your submission
  • Each submission must be accompanied by an index card with the following information:
  • Name of the contest
    Entrant's name
    Address
    Phone
    Email
    Complete SID number
    Major
    Graduate or undergraduate
    Title of submission
    Number of pages
  • 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.

 

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