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Is the $25K Bellwether Prize Calling Your Name?
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The Color Purple by Alice Walker.
If you have written a novel and not yet published it that could be classified as "literature of social change" then consider submitting it for the Bellwether Prize for Fiction. The winning submission will receive a $25,000 cash payment and publication of the winning novel manuscript. The deadline for submission is October 2.
Here are the eligibility requirements from the prize website:
In order to be eligible to win the Bellwether Prize, you must be a United States citizen, and you must not have previously published a book that sold more than 10,000 copies. Your submission must be an original, previously unpublished novel, written by one person, in English, at least 80,000 words in length. You must have some record of previously published short fiction or nonfiction. Publication requirements are explained more thoroughly on the application form. (Bellwether Prize site)
You may read the full requirements at the site and download an application.
If you are unsure how the organization would define a novel of social change, the organization clarifies it.
Defining a literature of social change
Socially responsible literature, for the purposes of this award, may describe categorical human transgressions in a way that compels readers to examine their own prejudices. It may invoke the necessity for economic and social justice for a particular ethnic or social group, or it may explicitly examine movements that have brought positive social change. Or, it may advocate the preservation of nature by describing and defining accountable relationships between people and their environment. The mere description of an injustice, or of the personal predicament of an exploited person, without any clear position of social analysis invoked by the writer, does not in itself constitute socially responsible literature. "Social responsibility" describes a moral obligation of individuals to engage with their communities in ways that promote a more respectful coexistence.
Clear, analytical and literary accounts of political and social injustice (either current or historical) include the following excellent examples: Beloved, by Toni Morrison; Snow Falling on Cedars, David Guterson; To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee; Crows Over a Wheatfield, Paula Sharp; Bastard Out of Carolina, Dorothy Allison; The Women’s Room, Marilyn French; Memoirs of An Ex-Prom Queen, Alix Kates Shulman; Mean Spirit, Linda Hogan; Cloudsplitter, Russell Banks; The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver; The Color Purple, Alice Walker. Other contemporary contributors to this tradition include Michael Dorris, Louise Erdrich, Ursula Hegi, Ursula K. LeGuin, Ruth Ozeki, Grace Paley, Marge Piercy, and John Edgar Wideman. (from the prize website)
The definition continues with commentary on the decline of social change literature.
... issues of social responsibility have in recent decades held a less commanding place in U.S. literature than in the wider world. Social commentary in our art is frequently viewed with suspicion. Its advocacy does not fall within the stated goals of any major North American publisher, endowment, or prize for the arts. The Bellwether Prize was conceived to address this deficiency. We would like to see the place of conscience in our nation’s artistic landscape restored to the same high position it holds elsewhere in the world. By means of this prize we hope to enlist North American writers, publishers, and readers to share in this crucial endeavor. (From Bellwether Prize website)
The African-American Books Examiner presented this information to readers because frequently people of color write books that reflect the need for social change and have difficulty getting publishers to buy the work. Indeed, as the Bellwether Prize website commentary suggests, books that have a "clear position of social analysis invoked by the writer" have fallen out of vogue. They are usually deemed too "preachy." However, given the examples of social change lit presented by Bellwether, it's obvious a talented writer can deliver a message of social responsibility without obviously preaching to readers.
It's probable the book Push by Sapphire, which is soon to be released as the film Precious, an Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry production, would fall into the category of social change literature. The movie's scheduled release date is Nov. 6 and is already winning awards.
Published in 1996, Push is the story of Claireece "Precious" Jones, an obese black teen who is not only beaten often by her mother, but also sexually and verbally abused by both her parents. Her own father is the father of Precious's two children. (from the AABE)
Read more about the book on which the movie is based here.
After reading a piece of social change literature that's been written well, readers often feel a need to take action to prevent further social injustice on the topic the book addresses or at least may change some narrow opinion they have had on the subject. If you've written such a novel, then the Bellwether Prize may be calling your name.
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