Like the French, American literary book- (as opposed to author-)prizes tend to be about prestige rather than cash: the biggest pay out relatively/very little by international standards (the Pulitzer and National Book Award winners get $10,000, the National Book Critics Circle winners no cash at all).
There are, however, quite a few more specialized big payday literary prizes in the US -- and among the oddest are a slew of cash-rich university prizes awarded to students -- some (most ?) of whom will never receive as big a payday for any of their literary efforts.
The grand-daddy (grand-ma?) of them all is the Sophie Kerr Prize at Washington College, "the nation's largest literary prize awarded solely to undergraduate students"; they've announced that the winner will be announced on 13 May -- and that this year the prize is: "valued at $62,900".
It's far from the only one, however, and, for example, the University of Texas at Austin has just announced the winner of their $50,000 Keene Prize for Literature. Interestingly, they highlight not that the prize recognizes great writerly talent or anything like that; no:
The grand-daddy (grand-ma?) of them all is the Sophie Kerr Prize at Washington College, "the nation's largest literary prize awarded solely to undergraduate students"; they've announced that the winner will be announced on 13 May -- and that this year the prize is: "valued at $62,900".
It's far from the only one, however, and, for example, the University of Texas at Austin has just announced the winner of their $50,000 Keene Prize for Literature. Interestingly, they highlight not that the prize recognizes great writerly talent or anything like that; no:
One of the world's largest student literary prizes, the award helps maintain the university's status as a premier location for emerging writerSigh.