The 2008 Joseph Henry Jackson, James Duval Phelan, & Mary Tanenbaum Awards are offered annually to promising young California writers. The awards are sponsored by The San Francisco Foundation and administered by Intersection for the Arts. There is no entry fee to apply for these awards.

The postmark deadline for the 2008 Awards is
March 31, 2008.

To receive an official set of guidelines and application forms for the 2008 competition, please send a self addressed envelope after February 1, 2008 to the address listed below. You can also download the official guidelines and application form for the 2008 competition (2 pages total, PDF format) below.

2008 Guidelines & Application Form - Page 1
2008 Guidelines & Application Form - Page 2

Awards Coordinator
Intersection for the Arts
446 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

Manuscripts from eligible young authors are invited for two $2,000 literary awards and one $3,000 literary award.

Eligibility Criteria
Under the terms of the trusts, the awards are intended to encourage young writers of an unpublished manuscript that is completed or in-progress. All applicants must, therefore, be between 20 and 35 years of age on March 31, 2008.

Joseph Henry Jackson Award
Applicants for the 51st annual Joseph Henry Jackson Award must be residents of and currently living in northern California (anywhere in California north of the line dividing Monterery County from San Luis Obispo County) or the state of Nevada for three consecutive years immediately prior to the March 31 contest deadline. The unpublished work-in-progress submitted may be fiction (novel or short stories), nonfictional prose, graphic novel, or poetry.

James Duval Phelan Award
Applicants for the 71st annual James D. Phelan Award must have been born in the state of California but need not be current residents. The unpublished work-in-progress submitted may be fiction (novel or short stories), nonfictional prose, poetry, graphic novel, or drama. Plays may be submitted in standard script format.

Mary Tanenbaum Award for Nonfiction
Originally established in memory of Joseph Henry Jackson, the Mary Tanenbaum Award recognizes outstanding nonfictional prose. Applicants must be residents of and currently living in northern California (anywhere in California north of the line dividing Monterery County from San Luis Obispo County) for three consecutive years immediately prior to the March 31 contest deadline.

Application Procedure
Eligible writers may submit one application form and three copies of one manuscript to apply for one, two, or all three awards. We will only accept one application and three copies of a single manuscript per writer. There is no application fee. No candidate may win more than one award. Previous winners are ineligible to receive the same award again. Winners will be announced by September 30, 2008. Judges reserve the right to make no awards if, in their view, no manuscripts are worthy.

Contest Deadline
Applications and manuscripts for the 2008 awards will be accepted beginning February 1, 2008. Only submissions received via U.S. or International mail or courier services will be accepted. You may not hand-deliver your submission. Without exception, all submissions must bear an official U.S. or International mail or courier service postmark and be postmarked by March 31, 2008. Do not assume that submissions dropped in a mailbox will be stamped with a timely postmark.

Manuscript Requirements
Manuscripts must be completely unpublished in its entirety or any parts contained therein. The manuscript must be no longer than 40 (forty) numbered, double-spaced pages (poetry need not be double-spaced), typed or printed on white 8.5 x 11 inch paper.

For clarification: manuscripts cannot exceed 40 numbered pages maximum - not 40 double-sided pages, which would be 80 pages total.

Manuscripts which are handwritten or are otherwise illegible will not be considered. Please bind manuscripts only with paper or binder clips; please do not use folders.

The award judges will use a name-blind process. Manuscripts should be copied on the front and back of each page, and must include a separate cover page that gives the work's title and the length of the manuscript submitted for Award consideration. The applicant's name and address should not appear anywhere on the manuscripts submitted for consideration. Applicants may, however, use the manuscript's title and page numbers on the pages of the manuscript. Manuscripts with inappropriate identifying information will be deemed ineligible.

No application will be accepted without the applicant's signature, signifying agreement to the conditions of the competition and verifying the validity of all statements contained therein. Proof of birth, age, and residence may be required and must be furnished within ten days if requested; please do not send or include this information with your application.

Award-winning manuscripts become the property of The San Francisco Foundation and will become part of the Foundation's permanent archives located at the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley. Authors will retain full rights for the publication/distribution of their works.

Manuscripts submitted will not be returned. At the end of the competition, non-winning manuscripts will be recycled.

Final Checklist for Submissions
1) Three copies (double-sided) of manuscript (40 pages maximum - not 40 double-sided pages).
2) No name on manuscript.
3) Signature on application form.
4) Postmark on envelope (no later than March 31, 2008).
5) Self-addresses stamped postcard for confirmation of receiving manuscript (optional).

Joseph Henry Jackson was born in Madison, New Jersey. After attending college and serving in the armed forces during World War I he came to California. He joined the staff of Sunset Magazine, where he was editor from 1926 through 1928. In 1930 he became literary editor for the San Francisco Chronicle, continuing in that role for the rest of his career and gaining national prominence. He was also the author or editor of some dozen books; many of them, such as Anybody's Gold (1941), were concerned with California's history. Jackson served on many literary boards, including those for the O. Henry Memorial Award, the Harper Prize Novel, and the Pulitzer Prize. In his book columns and by personal contact, he was always interested in discovering and encouraging new writers. Appropriately, his friends established the Joseph Henry Jackson Award after his death in 1955.

James Duval Phelan was born in San Francisco, the son of a Forty-Niner. He graduated from St. Ignatius College in his native city and studied law for a year at the University of California before entering the family banking business. In 1897, Phelan ran for Mayor of San Francisco; he was elected and twice re-elected, gaining a great reputation for drafting a new city charter and beautifying the city through new parks and playgrounds. Later elected to the US Senate, he served from 1915 to 1921. During his lifetime, Phelan encouraged and financially aided writers, artists, and musicians, for whom he also provided very generously through his will after his death in 1930.

Mary Tanenbaum began her career as a journalist after her graduation from Stanford in 1936. Her first job was book reviewing with Joseph Henry Jackson for the San Francisco Chronicle; her article on books, travel, fashion, and personalities have appeared in the Chronicle, The New York Times, the New York Herald-Tribune, and The Christian Science Monitor. The Tanenbaum Award was made permanent in 2000 by her husband Charles in memory of Mrs. Tanenbaum's legacy as an author.The Joseph Henry Jackson, James Duval Phelan, and Mary Tanenbaum Awards are offered annually to promising young California Writers. The awards are sponsored by The San Francisco Foundation and administered by Intersection for the Arts.