The Cleveland Arts Prize acknowledges, honors, and celebrates creative excellence among us through the awarding of prizes to persons who are the creators of original works of art, rather than to persons who are performers or interpreters of other artists’ work. Arts Prizes are awarded in the fields of architecture, dance, literature, music, and the visual arts for work that has, through its consistent high quality, brought distinction to its creator and to the Greater Cleveland area, as well as to the organizations, if any, with which the artist has been associated. Prize winners are individuals who have made Greater Cleveland their artistic home, although they need not be natives or current residents of the area. However, preference is given to actively contributing members of the Greater Cleveland arts community. The Cleveland Arts Prize Committee generally defines the Greater Cleveland area as Cuyahoga County and the counties contiguous to it (Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, and Summit counties). Cleveland Arts Prize juries generally find corroboration of creative excellence in the fact that the work under consideration has received national recognition as well as local and regional attention. In addition to these general criteria, the Cleveland Arts Prize juries rely on criteria specific to the character of their disciplines. These are enumerated here. In seeking nominations from the public, the Cleveland Arts Prize Committee desires to expand its base of knowledge of meritorious artists and arts patrons. Nominations that are accompanied by a nominee’s resumé and representations of his/her work are thus very helpful to the Arts Prize juries. However, we ask that you provide these backup materials ONLY if it is possible to secure them without divulging their purpose to the nominee. As Greater Cleveland is blessed with many more creative individuals than we can honor each year, we wish to maintain the confidentiality of our decision-making process.

1. The prize shall be awarded for a particular work, with due consideration given to the place of the work in question in the corpus of the author’s work.

2. The prize shall be awarded for a major work rather than parts of a work in progress: thus a novel or a book-length study rather than chapters, a collection of stories rather than a single story, a collection of poems or a book-length poem rather than a single (short) poem.

3. The prize shall be awarded for published work rather than unpublished work or work in progress.

4. The prize shall be awarded for work that has received national as well as local and regional attention. Among the marks of national attention are: publication by a nationally known publisher; reviews in national newspapers, journals, or magazines; appearances of the author on national television or radio shows; contracts for the book or poem to be made into a movie.

5. Literary works in all genres shall be eligible for consideration. Literature shall be broadly defined to include works that are narrative, expository, analytical, or critical, including fiction and non-fiction, prose and poetry.

6. In any year, the Literature Jury may recommend that NO prize be awarded.

7. The prize shall be awarded in as timely a manner as possible, normally in the year of publication of the work to be honored, or as soon thereafter as possible.

8. A nomination will, if possible, be accompanied by the nominee’s résumé and a copy of the book for which the author is being nominated. In addition, copies of reviews, feature articles, and any other documentation that supports the nomination will be helpful to the jury. Because nominations are considered confidential, please make every effort to secure these materials without the knowledge of the nominee.

9. Background materials, which will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope, should be sent under separate cover to: Literature Jury Chair
Cleveland Arts Prize
P.O. Box 21126
South Euclid, Ohio 44121-0126

The Cleveland Arts Prize Nominations

Architecture

Dance

Literature

Music

Visual Arts

Special Citation for Distinguished Service to the Arts

The Robert P. Bergman Prize

Literature Criteria > Nominations