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Bazzanella Literary Awards
The Bazzanella Literary Awards is one of Sacramento State's longest and most popular scholarship since its inception in 1981. Named after the late Dr. Dominic J. Bazzanella, an English professor and Acting Dean of the College of Arts and Letters, the awards encourage undergraduate and graduate students in the English Department to submit their work to highlight excellence across multiple mediums, including:
- Poetry
- Short Fiction
- Creative Non-Fiction
- Critical Analysis
Each year, the Bazzanella Committee invites four judges to read and select winners in each category. The annual writing competition celebrates its recepients with a special reception at Sac State, offers a scholarship for first and second place winning entries in each category, and pubilshes student writing in its booklet.
Submissions to the Bazzanella Literary Awards are accepted in late February to early March of every Spring semester.
All questions regarding the Bazzanella Literary Awards can be directed to Dr. Rosa Martinez (rosa.martinez@csus.edu), Associate Professor in the English Department and Chair of the Bazzanella Literary Awards.
Make a Gift
Your generosity helps us to provide this opportunity for our students in the English Department at Sacramento State. Please consider making a gift to help us continue supporting student writing through this unique and exciting scholarship.
On behalf of our students, the English Department thanks the many gifts offered to our scholarship and we would like to offer a special thank you to the entire Bazzanella family for their continued generosity and the inspiration they have gifted our students since 1981.
Call for 2025 Submissions
Sacramento State's Department of English invites its students to participate in its annual writing competition.
- Submissions will be accepted February 3 through March 3 in the Spring 2025 semester.
- Submissions will be accepted online only and as soon as registration opens in February.
- To submit your manuscript(s), an email will be provided here in Spring 2025.
COMPETITION RULES
All students currently enrolled at CSU Sacramento and an English major or minor during the Spring 2025 semester are eligible to enter. There is no minimum unit requirement, however, students cannot be auditing courses. Students must have a matriculated classified status of either undergraduate or graduate. The competition will be separated between undergraduate and graduate students and determined by their Spring 2025 class standing. Manuscripts must be original work by the author and must not have been published or have won a prize in a previous literary contest.
CATEGORIES
There are four categories and students (in their particular class standing) may enter more than one category but may submit only one entry in a single category. Here are the categories:
- Poetry
- Short Fiction
- Creative Non-Fiction
- Critical Analysis
JUDGES
There is a separate judge for each of the four categories. The judges are not members of the current Staff or Faculty of Sacramento State. The judges' decisions are final. Winners will be notified by phone the first week of April.
PRIZES
- First-Place Prizes in Each Category will be $200.
- Second-Place Prizes in Each Category will be $100.
- Winning Entries in Each Category will be Published in the Bazzanella Booklet and at the Bazzanella Literary Awards website.
- There will be an Awards Ceremony and Reception for the Winners and their Guests at the Engrained Restaurant at Sacramento State in early May 2025.
MANUSCRIPT GUIDELINES
- Prose manuscripts must be typed, double-spaced with 1" margins, and must have a title on the top of the first page.
- Poetry may be single-spaced. Do not include a separate title page.
- Pages must be compiled in a single PDF and also in a separate Word document.
- The maximum number of words for the Short Fiction category is 6000 (approx. 20 pages typed doubled-spaced).
- For the Critical Analysis and Creative Nonfiction categories the maximum number is 5000 (approx. 16 pages typed double spaced), not counting bibliography and footnotes.
- Manuscripts which exceed the maximum length will not be forwarded to the judges.
- The category identified as Critical Analysis is restricted to essays that analyze a work of art such as novels, poetry, essays, film, music, or some other aesthetic medium.
- Essays not analyzing an art work should be submitted under the Creative Nonfiction category.
- Students may submit only one poem in the Poetry category.
- Submissions of Prose Poetry and/or Flash Fiction may be entered in one category only.
- The Bazzanella Committee reserves the right to change an entry to a different category, which, in their opinion, has been submitted incorrectly.
- The Committee also reserves the right to not award prizes in every category.
- Submit your entry in a single PDF and in a separate Word Document. Use 12 pt. Times New Roman font. (Submissions in other formats will not be considered).
- Submissions will only be accepted between February 3 through March 3 of the Spring 2025 semester. More information will be provided in late February 2025 for submission information.
2024 Bazzanella Recipients
2024 Award Ceremony
A special thank you to Anita Scharf who teaches English at Sacramento State and owns Scharf Photography. Please enjoy the gallery of photos from the 2024 Bazzanella Literary Awards Celebration at the Engrained Café at the campus.
2024 Bazzanella Literary Awards E-Book
The Bazzanella Literary Awards Booklet for Spring 2024 is printed and published by University Printing and the English Department at Sacramento State, in Sacramento, California.
- Editors: Brianna Renner and Dr. Rosa Martínez.
- Winners Selected for Editorial Input: Kelsey Morgan Scaife-Puckett and Daniel Alan Kemper.
