The prizes below are open to Barnard students of all majors. The Burns Prize is also open to Columbia students.

For information about Columbia's writing prizes (some of which are open to Barnard students), visit their website.

Please note that prize recipients for all but the Quindlen Prize will be notified by the Dean of Studies Office.

Questions about prizes should be directed to english@barnard.edu.

General Rules

• Entries must be submitted electronically via the Barnard English Department Student Prizes Submission Form. Submissions should be files .pdf, .docx, or .rtf form and must be named in the following form: FirstName_LastName_GraduationDate_PrizeName. 
• Each page of your submission must be numbered and include your name.
• Read the descriptions of each prize for further specific instructions.

Funded through a generous donation from the Joan F. and Donald E. Axinn Foundation in honor of author and Barnard alumna Anna Quindlen ’74, her oeuvre, and her enthusiastic support for women’s education and creative youth. The prize is judged by a committee of faculty members, and will be awarded to a graduating Barnard senior of any major to support their creative writing.  

This prize was not awarded in 2025.

Rules

• Applicants must submit 20-25 double-spaced pages of their work electronically through the Barnard English Department Student Prizes Submission Form.
• Submissions of fiction are preferred, but creative non-fiction will also be considered.
• Submissions may consist of a single piece, a collection of stories or creative non-fiction essays, or a chapter or two of a longer prose form.
• Submissions must include a cover page listing the applicant's name, year of expected graduation, major, telephone number, and email address.
• The submission deadline is 11:59 pm ET on Friday, March 8, 2024. The 2026 submission deadline will be announced shortly.

This award is sponsored by Barnard alumna and playwright Penny Brandt Jackson, whose long-standing support of the Creative Writing Program has been vital to our functioning. The Brandt Playwriting Award is chosen by a committee of creative writing faculty members and is given to a Barnard student of any year or major who writes the most promising one-act play. In 2025, the Brandt Prize was awarded via nominations by creative writing faculty members.

2025 Winners

• Ella Britton, Sage Friedman, Natalie Buttner

Rules

• Entries must be submitted electronically via the Barnard English Department Student Prizes Submission Form. 
• Submissions should be roughly 30 pages in length and can consist of an entire one-act play or excerpts, either from a larger work or from separate works.
• In addition to the 30 pages of playwriting, do include whatever explanatory text is necessary for readers to understand the material submitted.
• Each entry must include a cover sheet with the student’s name, email address, expected year of graduation, the name of the Prize and the title of the play.
• In 2025, the prize was awarded via nominations by creative writing faculty members. The 2026 deadline will be announced shortly.

• Ellen McLaughlin
• Kathleen Tolan

This prize was established on a permanent basis by the New Hope Foundation in memory of Lenore Marshall, the writer and peace activist who had given the prize annually for many years before her death. The Marshall Prize is chosen by a committee of outside judges and is given to a Barnard student of any year or major.

2025 Winners:

• First Place: Saachi Sethii
• Second Place: Charlie Coleman, Anoushka Sharma
• Honorable Mentions: Stephanie Fuentes, Lúcia Towne

Rules

• This competition is open to all Barnard undergraduates. Past winners of cash awards in the poetry competitions may enter again; their entries, however, should be composed of new material.
• Entries must be submitted electronically via the Barnard English Department Student Prizes Submission Form.
• It is suggested that each competitor submit more than one poem, but no more than five. There is no fixed number of lines required; contestants may find it helpful to think of approximately 100 lines, but they should not hesitate to submit shorter or longer selections. 
• Each entry must include a table of contents.
• Every page of the entry must be labeled with the page number and the student's name.
• The 2026 deadline will be announced shortly.

• Melinda Gonzalez
• Alicia Jo Rabins

This prize is offered annually by the family of the distinguished writer and critic, the late Peter S. Prescott, author of Child Savers and former book critic at Newsweek. The Prescott Prize is chosen by a committee of outside judges and is given to a Barnard student of any year or major. The prize will be awarded for a work in prose, fiction or creative non-fiction, which gives the greatest evidence of creative imagination and sustained ability.

2025 Winners

• First Place: Tanya Chatterjee
• Second Place: Cody Cragun
• Third Place: Clara Goldberg
• Honorable Mentions: Mia Palli, Francesca Lloyd

Rules

• This competition is open to all Barnard undergraduates. Past winners of cash awards in the writing competition may enter again; their entries, however, should be composed of new material.
• Entries must be submitted electronically via the Barnard English Department Student Prizes Submission Form.
• You may submit one short story or piece of creative non-fiction, or several shorter such pieces, totaling no more than 10-15 pages.
• Entries must include a table of contents.
• Every page of the entry must be labeled with the page number and the student's name.
• The 2026 submission deadline will be announced shortly.

• Nellie Hermann
• Idra Novey

This prize, sponsored by the Burns Society of the City of New York, is chosen by a committee of faculty members and will be awarded to three Barnard or Columbia students who write the best papers on topics related to the poetry of the eighteenth-century Scottish poet Robert Burns.

FIRST PRIZE: $500
SECOND PRIZE: $300
THIRD PRIZE: $200

The Burns Society Prize was not awarded in 2025.

Rules

• Entries must be submitted electronically via the Barnard English Department Student Prizes Submission Form.
• Entries should be 5-10 pages in length.
• The entry must be labeled with the student's name, email, phone number, mailing address, and expected year of graduation.
• Every page of the entry must be labeled with the page number and the student's name.
• The submission deadline is 11:59 pm ET on Wednesday, March 1, 2023.