Fellowships and Awards

Images of Steinbeck Awardees, the award bust of Steinbeck, and a cover from Reed Magazine.

Fellowships and Awards Sponsored by the Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies

Graduate Student Fellowship

Graduate Steinbeck Fellowships are offered to exceptional incoming students in the two graduate programs of the Department of English & Comparative Literature, the MFA in Creative Writing and the MA in English.

John Steinbeck "In the Souls of the People" Award

The "In the Souls of the People" Steinbeck Award is given annually to honor an artist, thinker, activist who has made a significant contribution to causes that matter to the common person.

Louis Owens Essay Prize

The Louis Owens Essay Prize is given annually to recognize the best undergraduate or graduate student essay on Steinbeck's works. Carries a prize of $250 and the possibility of publication in .

John Steinbeck Award for Fiction Reed Magazine

The John Steinbeck Award for the Short Story is co-sponsored with Reed, San José State's literary journal. Writers submit original, unpublished stories up to 6,000 words. The first place winner receives a $1,000 cash prize and publication of his or her work in Reed.

Steinbeck Fellowship

The Steinbeck Fellowship is a monetary award given annually to two or three emerging writers to help them complete a book project. Fellows are required to spend their fellowship year in the San José area and to give regular public readings from their work in progress.