The OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature is now accepting submissions for original, English-language work, first published between January 1 and December 31, 2024, by Caribbean-born or Caribbean citizen authors.
*Submission form will be opened in a new window
About The Prize
The OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature is an annual award for literary books by Caribbean writers, first presented in 2011. Books are judged in three categories: poetry; fiction — both novels and collections of short stories; and literary nonfiction — including books of essays, biography and autobiography, history, current affairs, travel, and other genres, which demonstrate literary qualities and use literary techniques, regardless of subject matter.
There is a panel of three judges for each genre category, who determine category shortlists and winners.
The three category winners are then judged by a panel of four judges — consisting of the chairs of the category panels and the prize chair — who determine the overall winner.
The author of the book judged the overall winner will receive an award of US$10,000. The other category winners will receive US$3,000
Past Winners
2024
2023
Overall and fiction winner: When We Were Birds, by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo
Poetry winner: Sonnets for Albert, by Anthony Joseph
Nonfiction winner: Love the Dark Days, by Ira Mathur
2022
Overall and fiction winner: Pleasantview, by Celeste Mohammed
Poetry winner: Talking With Trees, by Jason Allen-Paisant
Nonfiction winner: Things I Have Withheld, by Kei Miller
2021
Overall and poetry winner: The Dyzgraphxst, by Canisia Lubrin
Fiction winner: These Ghosts Are Family, by Maisy Card
Nonfiction winner: The Undiscovered Country, by Andre Bagoo
2020
Overall and poetry winner: Epiphaneia, by Richard Georges
Fiction winner: Everything Inside, by Edwidge Danticat
Nonfiction winner: Shame on Me: An Anatomy of Race and Belonging, by Tessa McWatt
2019
Overall and nonfiction winner: High Mas: Carnival and the Poetics of Caribbean Culture, by Kevin Adonis Browne
Poetry winner: Doe Songs, by Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné
Fiction winner: Theory, by Dionne Brand
2018
Overall and fiction winner: Curfew Chronicles, by Jennifer Rahim
Poetry winner: Madwoman, by Shara McCallum
There was no nonfiction winner for 2018, as the judges did not believe any of the eligible books “could be held to represent the best of regional writing”
2017
Overall and fiction winner: Augustown, by Kei Miller
Poetry winner: Cannibal, by Safiya Sinclair
Nonfiction winner: Virtual Glimpses into the Past/A Walk Back in Time: Snapshots of the History of Trinidad and Tobago, by Angelo Bissessarsingh
2016
Overall and fiction winner: The Pain Tree, by Olive Senior
Poetry winner: Wife, by Tiphanie Yanique
Nonfiction winner: The Gymnast and Other Positions, by Jacqueline Bishop
2015
Overall and poetry winner: Sounding Ground, by Vladimir Lucien
Fiction winner: A Brief History of Seven Killings, by Marlon James
Nonfiction winner: Dying to Better Themselves: West Indians and the Building of the Panama Canal, by Olive Senior
2014
Overall and fiction winner: As Flies to Whatless Boys, by Robert Antoni
Poetry winner: Oracabessa, by Lorna Goodison
Nonfiction winner: Writing Down the Vision: Essays and Prophecies, by Kei Miller
2013
Overall and fiction winner: Archipelago, by Monique Roffey
Poetry winner: Fault Lines, by Kendel Hippolyte
Nonfiction winner: The Sky’s Wild Noise: Selected Essays, by Rupert Roopnaraine
2012
Overall and fiction winner: Is Just a Movie, by Earl Lovelace
Poetry winner: The Twelve-Foot Neon Woman, by Loretta Collins Klobah
Nonfiction winner: George Price: A Life Revealed, by Godfrey P. Smith