
Our Awards
Celebrating great literary achievements has lived at the heart of our organization since its founding in 1980, when Mary Lee Settle established the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: the only major literary award given BY fiction writers TO fiction writers. In more than four decades since, we have expanded our effort to call the world’s attention to noteworthy literary artistry and advocacy, adding the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story and the PEN/Faulkner Literary Champion to our roster of annual recognitions.
The PEN/Faulkner Award
National Prize for Fiction
The most prestigious annual peer-juried literary prize in America, honoring the best published works of fiction by American permanent residents in a calendar year.
The PEN/Hemingway Award
for Debut Novel
The PEN/Malamud Award
for Excellence in the Short Story
Established by Bernard Malamud’s family, the award is presented to writers who have demonstrated exceptional achievement in the short story form.
The PEN/Faulkner Literary Champion
A commendation presented in recognition of devoted literary advocacy and a commitment to inspiring new generations of readers and writers.
David Means Wins the 2025 PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story
The PEN/Faulkner Foundation announces that David Means has been selected as the winner of the 2025 PEN/Bernard and Ann Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story. Given since 1988 in honor of...
The PEN/Faulkner Foundation is the New Administrator of the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel
The PEN/Faulkner Foundation is proud to announce that it has assumed the responsibility for administering the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel. Since 1976, the PEN/Hemingway Award has honored a...
Announcing the Winner of the 2025 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
Garth Greenwell’s Small Rain (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) has been selected as the winner of the 2025 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. "We are deeply indebted to our panel of judges for dedicating...
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