$1,000 Beautiful Pause Prize

A nonfiction manuscript prize with a May 1 deadline is one of the latest openings in a crowded spring submissions season for writers. (newpages.com) NewPages said on April 17 that the Beautiful Pause Prize will award $1,000 and publication of a full-length manuscript to one winner. The same listing said one runner-up will receive $500 and publication of an excerpt in one of Press Pause Press’s biannual print volumes. (newpages.com) The prize is open for nonfiction manuscripts and pitches, and Press Pause Press’s Submittable page says submissions opened November 15, 2025 and close Friday, May 1, 2026 at 9:00 p.m. Writers submit through the press’s online portal. (presspausepress.submittable.com) Press Pause Press describes the award as an annual prize for a “full-length manuscript,” which puts it in the book-length category rather than the single-essay contests that fill many literary calendars. The press’s website says the 2026 cycle is specifically for nonfiction manuscripts and pitches. (presspausepress.org) The timing matters because NewPages’ April 17 roundup counted more than 100 submission opportunities across contests and calls, underscoring how many deadlines are landing at once in late April and early May. That weekly roundup places the Beautiful Pause Prize in a larger rush of spring applications for poets, essayists, and book-length prose writers. (newpages.com) For writers trying to place longer nonfiction work, publication is part of the prize’s value. NewPages and Press Pause Press both say the winner gets print publication of the full manuscript, while the runner-up gets an excerpt in a biannual volume. (newpages.com, presspausepress.submittable.com) The press is also using the prize window as part of its annual reading schedule. Its Submittable page says regular print-volume reading periods are free from January 1 to April 30 and September 2 to December 31, while a $5 per-submission reading period runs from May 1 to September 1 “while we’re reading for our annual Beautiful Pause Prize.” (presspausepress.submittable.com) The immediate takeaway is simple: writers with nonfiction book projects have less than two weeks left before the May 1, 2026 deadline closes. In a week when NewPages surfaced more than 100 openings, this one offers both cash and a publication path in the same submission. (presspausepress.submittable.com, newpages.com)