Creative Writing Program
Creative Writing Program

The Henfield Prize

The University of Virginia awards an annual Henfield Prize to one of our MFA students each year. The award is competitive and based on an annual competition amoug currently enrolled UVA MFA students. The current annual prize amount is $15,000. Joseph F. McCrindle, editor and publisher of The Transatlantic Review, instituted the original Henfield Prizes. After his death, his estate generously created Henfield endowments at several universities, ours among them, charging us to continue the tradition that Mr. McCrindle had begun.

Eligibility:

  • The author must be a currently enrolled graduate student in the UVA MFA in Creative Writing Program. This means third-year UVA MFA students may enter and that UVA MFA poetry students may also enter. MFA students on a leave of absence from the MFA Program may not enter because we cannot issue scholarships or awards to students who are not currently enrolled. Students who are in an affiliated status may not enter for the same reason. See UVA policy PROV-011 for details on LOAs and affiliated status.
  • The work must be fiction and unpublished (and unaccepted for publication) when submitted; unpublished work is ineligible if it has already won a publicized prize elsewhere. In short, the work needs to be new fiction that an outside judge will not have seen or heard about before.
  • The fiction must have been created or significantly revised while the writer was enrolled in our MFA program.
  • The work can be under consideration at one or more journals or publishers when submitted to the Henfield Prize. If the work is accepted for publication before the Henfield Prize is announced, we ask that the author make every attempt to delay all publication and promotional announcements until after the Henfield results are returned, which is usually in the first two weeks of May.
  • Prior winners of the Henfield Prize cannot enter. Just as with fellowships like the Guggenheim, we believe a single award per writer is best for all concerned.

Deadline:

Henfield Prize submissions are due by five p.m. on April 8 of each year (or the Monday after April 8th if that date falls on a weekend).

Format:

Submissions must be fiction—a short story; a stand-alone excerpt from a novel; or a group of shorter, linked stories—that is twenty-five (25) double-spaced pages or fewer. Put your submission's title at the top of the first page. Format the document with margins of at least one inch on all sides. We recommend using page numbers. Use a standard font and font size (usually twelve point), and standard double-spacing. Do not put your name or other identifying information on the manuscript. Please submit your work through the English Department Prizes system at uvacwp.org/prizes.

The judge will remain anonymous until the program announces results. We typically expect this announcement in the first weeks of May.

Tax Implications:

Much like MFA fellowship income, the Henfield Prize is taxable income but will not be reported by the university to the IRS or have automatic withholding. The prize recipient will be responsible for reporting this income and paying the appropriate taxes on it.

A list of our Henfield Prize winners: