The Carolyn Bush Award aims to support innovative, hybrid, and cross-genre work that contributes to expanding the discourses and practices of poetry. The award honors the life and work of Wendy’s Subway Co-Founder Carolyn Bush by providing in-depth support to an early-career and emerging female-identifying writer.
The winner will author a publication with Wendy’s Subway, receive an honorarium of $1,000, a standard royalty contract, and 25 author copies. Crucial to the award is the editorial support provided to complete the manuscript for publication. The winner will receive two consultations at key stages in the manuscript’s progress with established writers who will offer rigorous feedback and suggestions for revisions or further development. The winner will also receive two advisory meetings for professional development to learn strategies for residency and fellowship applications, crafting personal statements, submitting to journals and magazines, and self-publishing. Additionally, free enrollment in two workshops at Wendy’s Subway and a one-year key-holding “Contributor” membership to the Wendy’s Subway reading room in Brooklyn, which includes a library collection of over 3,000 titles, will be made available to the winner.
Wendy’s Subway is committed to a publishing practice that amplifies marginalized and underrepresented writers. The Carolyn Bush Award aims to encourage an emerging writer to follow and develop their work and envision a future in the field with confidence and an abundance of support.