Founded by Sharon Rab and launched in 2006, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize is recognized as one of the world’s most prestigious literary honors and is the only international literary peace prize awarded in the United States. Inspired by the Dayton Peace Accords, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize awards a $10,000 cash prize each year to one fiction and one nonfiction author whose work advances peace as a solution to conflict and leads readers to a better understanding of other cultures, peoples, religions, and political points of view.
Eligibility requirements include:
- All books must be written in the English language or must have been translated into the English language.
- English-language books must have a printed first U.S. copyright date of 2022. There may be some exceptions for English-language books published outside the U.S. Contact Nicholas Raines with questions at nick@daytonliterarypeaceprize.org.
- Foreign-language books must have a printed first U.S. copyright date of 2022 for the English language translation.
- The book should focus on a central message of peace, broadly defined as increasing understanding between and among people. Peace may be addressed on any of several levels including family, communities, nations, ethnic groups, cultures, and religions.
- Nominations might include issues of human rights – universal rights that should apply to everyone – but must focus on peace. The prize is designed for works that characterize peace as ending or seeking to end conflict – personal, national or international – establishing concord between and among people showing the consequences of persons, nations or institutions that recklessly disrupt personal harmony or universal accord.
- The book must have significant and enduring literary value.
- The book must appeal to a variety of audiences.
Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Wil Haygood, author of multiple nonfiction books chronicling the lives of 20th-century Black Americans, including “The Butler,” was awarded the 2022 Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award, named in honor of the noted U.S. diplomat who helped negotiate the Dayton Peace Accords.
For submission requirements or more information including the nomination form, visit website.
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