Competitive Prizes: General Rules

  • You must type your submission. We do not allow handwritten submissions.
  • Your submission must be anonymous. On the front of your manuscript, in the upper-right-hand corner, please write:
    1. Name of the contest
    2. The last four digits of your student identification number (SID), found on your Cal ID card
    3. 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. You must show a Cal photo ID card when you submit your entry.
  • Students must be enrolled full-time in a degree-granting program for 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.
  • Submitting your work to a University prize contest in no way limits your subsequent sale and publication of the work. However, work that you have previously published, with the exception of work that has appeared solely in campus publications, is not eligible.
  • We are not responsible for possible loss or damage of your manuscript. Your submission will not be returned; please retain a copy for your records. Winning submissions will be filed in the University Archives, Bancroft Library.
  • Any prize may be withheld if, in the opinion of the judges, no entrant or submission merits the award.
  • Students may enter more than one contest, but may not submit the same manuscript or portions of the same manuscript to more than one contest. If you submit the same manuscript or portions of the same manuscript to more than one contest, those entries will be disqualified.
  • Entries to the writing contests, with the exception of the Roselyn Schneider Eisner Prizes in Poetry and Prose, may not include work that has previously won prizes in these or other campus contests.
  • You may make only one entry to each contest.
  • In the event that two or more contributions of approximately the same merit are submitted for any prize, the Committee on Prizes reserves the right to apportion the award.
  • Any specific requirement expressed in connection with any of the prizes prevails over the general rules.