Board Rejects Plea to Drop $20 Pulitzer Entry Fee for Books

The Pulitzer Prize board has rejected a writers union request to drop its $20 fee for each book submitted for the annual writing awards, the board’s secretary said Thursday.

In a letter to the board, the National Writers Union said that the fee could prevent a small or struggling publisher from submitting a book for consideration. The $20 fee for submissions was first imposed in 1982 in journalism categories and the following year for book and music entries.

Robert C. Christopher, secretary of the 18-member board, said the fee was needed to cover the cost of administering the prizes. The Pulitzer operation at Columbia University had been operating in debt before 1983 but now is solvent, he said.