The Literary Encyclopedia Scholarship Fund Supports

Book Prizes

for major scholarly contributions to the understanding of literature

In 2025 The Literary Encyclopedia will award two prizes, each worth £1500. The two prize categories are:

scholarly contributions to our understanding of literature originally in the English language
scholarly contributions to our understanding of literature originally in another language

Eligibility

Works eligible for these prizes must:

have been published in 2023 or 2024
originally written in English

The works will be either critical studies of literary writers, groups, works or periods, or biographies.

Works that are not eligible are:

scholarly editions of works
volumes of collected essays by various authors
translations of literary works into English

Authors of submitted works must be:

engaged in research at an institution which subscribes to The Literary Encyclopedia
contributors of articles to The Literary Encyclopedia
members of scholarly associations affiliated to our publication who currently have an active membership account with the publication.

Funding

These prizes are funded by contributors to and editors of The Literary Encyclopedia who donate their royalties to our Scholarship Fund which also provides Research Grants to early career researchers.

Process of Submission

Full details of the publication being submitted and up to three endorsements of the submitted work by reputed scholars in the relevant field should be sent to The Literary Encyclopedia by 1 July 2025.

These endorsements should be confidential (and sent directly to us by the reviewers) and should address the significance and originality of the work in less than 1500 words. Submissions may also include copies of published or forthcoming reviews of the book in reputable academic journals or national media. The judges will review the submissions and prepare a shortlist, which will be announced in August.

In the meantime, we also invite you to submit e-copies of the book you are submitting for review. This is not a requirement at this stage, but we encourage authors to make arrangements with their publishers in good time for an electronic copy of the book to be sent to us. If a book is longlisted, we need to have the full electronic copy to review by 1 August. Unfortunately, we cannot accept physical copies. Winners will be announced on 1 December 2025.