Chicago Literary Hall of Fame

SILENT AUCTION IS WINDING DOWN--BIDDING ON SOME ITEMS ENDS DEC. 3 (Others Go Until Dec. 17)

The major component of the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame's year-end funraising push is our silent auction fundraiser. We need revenue to help us fund our signatature ceremonies like the Fuller Award. You need a Sedona vacation condo. We need money to built more literary tour apps. You need a manuscript consultation with heralded author Christine Sneed. We need a slush fund to pay our blog contributors. You need a holiday catering gift card from Buena Beef. We need a slush fund to build up our Chicago Literature Index. You need a day in the bleachers at Wrigley Field. Let's get together on some of this, people. Please bid early and often. In the great Chicago tradition, vote, or bid, twice. Lots of unique, wonderful items on offer. We appreciate your support, and will, as always, make the most of it.

Submissions for the Randall Albers
Young Writers Awards are OPEN!

Submissions for the Fourth Annual Randall Albers Young Writers Awards are now open to all Chicago area high school writers. We'll again welcome entries in either poetry or prose. We've increased, by nearly a third, the prize award amounts, a tradition we hope to continue as the years go on.

This awards, named after one of Chicago’s most dedicated writing teachers—Columbia College’s Professor and Chair Emeritus of Fiction Writing, Randall Albers—aim to support and encourage our city’s next great generation of writers. As Albers said when commenting on a past competition: “People beyond Chicago need to understand that this city is a hotbed of writing talent and that plenty of young people are focused on creativity. That represents a great hope for the future, one that we hope is contagious. All of this expansion would be another terrific movement toward building a powerhouse city of writers, as the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame always seeks to do.”

The contest is open to all Chicago area students currently enrolled in grades 9-12 and will remain open until Monday, February 17, 2026 at 5PM CT or until we reach our submissions cap of 400 entries—whichever comes first. This year's final judges will be Timothy David Rey (poetry) and Megan Stielstra (prose).

Winners in each of our two categories—prose and poetry—will receive awards in the following amounts:

1st place: $300
2nd place: $200
3rd place: $150
4th place: $100

Each winner will also receive publication in a commemorative program produced in conjunction with the awards ceremony. Winners will be listed on our website and will have the opportunity to read from their entries during the awards ceremony on April 18, 2026 at the Harold Washington Library's Reception Hall.

Learn How to Enter