Literary Awards
The distinguished Joseph Henry Jackson, James D. Phelan, and Mary Tanenbaum Literary Awards offer $2,000 to each qualifying literary artist for their outstanding work based on the submission of an un-published manuscript in-progress. Submissions may be in any one of the following literary forms: fiction (novel or short stories), nonfictional prose, poetry, and spoken word. The Awards are intended to encourage emerging artists who are either California-born or currently residing in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, or San Mateo County. In addition to the cash award, winning manuscripts are permanently housed at The Bancroft Library at the University of California at Berkeley.
DONORS
Joseph Henry Jackson (1894-1955) moved to California after WWI and was editor of Sunset Magazine from 1926-28. From 1924-1943 he hosted the radio program “Bookman’s Guide,” and from 1930 through the remainder of his career, he served as the literary editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, where he gained national prominence. Jackson also wrote and edited over a dozen books, many concerning California history. He served on several literary boards, including the O. Henry Memorial Award, the Harper Prize Novel, and the Pulitzer Prize. Jackson was always interested in discovering and encouraging new writers. In his honor, his friends established the Jackson Award for emerging writers. The San Francisco Foundation began administering the award in 1957.
James Duval Phelan (1861-1930) was born, raised, and educated in San Francisco before entering the family banking business. In 1897, he was elected as mayor of San Francisco and subsequently re-elected twice. He earned a great reputation for drafting a new city charter and beautifying the city through new parks and playgrounds. He was later elected to the U.S. Senate where he served from 1915 to 1921. During his lifetime he encouraged and financially aided writers, artists, and musicians, for whom he provided continued support through his will. The San Francisco Foundation began administering the award in 1935.
Mary Tanenbaum (1914-1997) began her career as a journalist after graduating from Stanford in 1936. Her first job was reviewing books with Joseph Henry Jackson for the San Francisco Chronicle. Tanenbaum’s articles on literature, travel, fashion, and personalities appeared in the Chronicle, The New York Times, and The Christian Science Monitor. The one-time award was made permanent in 2000 by her husband Charles, in memory of Tanenbaum’s legacy as an author. The San Francisco Foundation began administering the award in 1987.
ELIGIBILITY
There are no applications for the Literary Awards. These awards are by nomination only. The Foundation identifies nominators who are established Bay Area literary artists and who possess extensive knowledge in the various genres that the Awards seek to recognize. Because these awards are designed to support emerging writers, the jurors are asked to give equal value to the excellence of the submission and to the potential of the writer to contribute to the literary field in the future. Winning manuscripts are selected by a jury of distinguished writers, poets, or publishers who review submissions devoid of the authors’ names.
2012 AWARDEES
(Pictured clockwise top left to bottom right: William Main, Chinaka Aziza Hodge, Carolyn Ho, Gerardo Pacheco Matus, Will Boast and Lena Reyna)
Will Boast
Awarded the Mary Tanenbaum Nonfiction Award
For the manuscript, Archaeology
Carolyn Ho
Awarded the James D. Phelan Award
For the manuscript, Wake
Chinaka Aziza Hodge
Awarded the James D. Phelan Award
For the manuscript, Second Lines
William Main
Awarded the Joseph Henry Jackson Award
For the manuscript, Last, Last, and Last
Gerardo Pacheco Matus
Awarded the Joseph Henry Jackson Award
For the manuscript, The Child of the Grasses
Lena Reyna
Awarded the James D. Phelan Award
For the manuscript, The Animal Game
2012 JURY
Lorna Dee Cervantes‘ poetry has appeared in hundreds of literary magazines, anthologies, and textbooks, including The Norton Anthology of American Literature and The Heath Anthology of American Literature. She received the American Book Award for Emplumada. Cervantes has received two National Endowment for the Arts poetry fellowships, the prestigious Lila Wallace Readers Digest Fellowship, two Pushcart Prizes, the Patterson Poetry prize, and numerous other grants and awards.
Ishmael Reed has published twenty-eight books to date, including the novels Japanese by Spring, Flight to Canada, and The Last Days of Louisiana Red. He founded the Before Columbus Foundation and There City Cinema, and co-founded Yardbird Publishing Co. He has taught at Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth, and for over 35 years has been a lecturer at the UC, Berkeley. Among Reed’s honors and awards are the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award, a Guggenheim Foundation Award, the Lewis Michaux Award, and the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.
Elaine Katzenberger is an editor with City Lights Books, Inc. of San Francisco. Her edited works include fiction, non-fiction and poetry, for which she has received numerous awards and prizes including the American Book Award and a PEN West Award for Excellence in Publishing. She has contributed to numerous works including The Indian Queen, Califas 2000, and is currently working on Monk at the Met, funded by the Guggenheim Foundation. Katzenberger serves on the Board of Directors for the City Lights Foundation as well as La Pocha Nostra, and is on the Advisory Board of Circuit Network.
Learn more about our previous awardees, and for more information about the Art Awards Program at The San Francisco Foundation, please contact us at 415.733.8500 or email us.