The Academy of Arts and Philosophical Sciences of Bari, an international academic center for the free creation of thought, for the study and training of philosophical and artistic language and for the teaching of Sciences, Letters and Contemporary Arts, promotes the tenth edition of the
LUCIUS ANNAEUS SENECA INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC PRIZE FOR CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE
unpublished poetry and fiction (short story) – journalistic article – published book of poetry, fiction and non-fiction – poetry and published book of poetry and fiction for residents abroad
aimed at the significance and enhancement of the creative expressions of the human, which opens up to the participation of works in prose and poetry, published or unpublished, by authors of all ages, backgrounds and nationalities.
The Prize was awarded in 2023 with the Medal of the Chamber of Deputies and in 2025 with the Medal of the Senate of the Republic.
In previous editions, the initiative has been sponsored by the European Parliament, the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the Senate of the Republic, the Chamber of Deputies, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Ministry of Defence, the Dicastery for Culture and Education Vatican City, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Culture, and the Ministry of Culture.Ministry of University and Research, the “Aldo Moro” University of Bari, the University of Foggia, the Presidency of the Regional Council of Puglia, the Department of Culture, Tourism, Participation and Implementation of the Program of the Municipality of Bari, the Municipality of Sannicandro di Bari and numerous International Academies.
ART. 1 – SECTIONS OF THE AWARD
The tenth edition of the Prize includes the following sections:
Adult categories
Section A: single
poem Section B: collection of poems (mini sylloges)
Section C: fiction (short story)
Section F: journalistic
article Section G: published book of poems
Section H: published book of fiction
Section L: published book of non-fiction
Section Em: Special Prize Epistulae morales: Essay on the theme: (philosophical reflection on Seneca’s quote: Be a servant of knowledge, if you want to be truly free)
Youth categories (university students and secondary schools)
Section Sp: single
poem Section Sn: narrative (short story)
Category reserved for residents abroad
Section S: single
poem Section Sep: published book of poems
Section Sen: published book of fiction
ART. 2 – ADMITTED COMPOSITIONS
Participation is extended to all candidates of any nationality who intend to compete with poems, short stories, journalistic articles and publications. The prizes will be awarded to compositions that stand out for their linguistic quality, literary style and content.
Members of the Academic Senate, members of the Commission and anyone who is part of the organization of the Prize, including their first-degree relatives, are not allowed to participate.
Section A: maximum 3 (three) poems of no more than 36 lines each
Section B: maximum 10 (ten) poems of no more than 36 lines each, to be sent in a single file. The collection must be given a title
Section C: a short story with a length of no more than 3 editorial
pages Section F: a free-track article not exceeding 4000 characters
Section G: a published book of poetry, with an ISBN code, published from 2016
onwards Section H: a published book of fiction, with an ISBN code, published since 2016
Section L: a published non-fiction book, with an ISBN code, published since 2016
Section Em: Special Prize Epistulae morales: an essay on the subject of no more than 3 pages in length
Section Sp: maximum 2 (two) poems with a length not exceeding 36 verses Section Sn: a story with a length not exceeding 3 editorial
pages
Section S: maximum 3 (three) poems of no more than 36 lines each. Candidates must send the poems in the official language of their country of residence with an attached translation into Italian or English
Section Sep: a published book of poetry in Italian or English
Section Sen: a published book of fiction in Italian or English
All compositions may be PUBLISHED or UNPUBLISHED, even awarded and winners in other competitions, prepared anonymously (with the exception of sections G, H, L, Sep, Sen), under penalty of exclusion, and accompanied by a title.
Declaration of authorship of the compositions
Each candidate assumes full responsibility for the content of the submitted compositions and declares their authorship and intellectual and creative property. To this end, it is necessary to fill in and sign this declaration of responsibility in the participation form attached to these regulations. The organization also declines any responsibility in case of plagiarism or forgery by candidates, and reminds that this offense is punishable under the special law of 22 April 1941, n° 633 on “Copyright”.
Sending Essays
Candidates must send their essays exclusively in electronic format (word or pdf format – Times New Roman font, font 12, single line spacing) to the e-mail address
accademia.asf.seneca@gmail.com
attaching, in separate files
a) participation form, duly completed, with a declaration of authorship of the compositions and authorization to process personal data (form attached at the bottom);
b) compositions with which you intend to participate, without signature and any other sign of recognition.
c) copy of the receipt of payment proving payment of the participation fee referred to in Article 4 below;
d) short artistic biography (not exceeding 15 lines, otherwise it will not be taken into consideration);
e) photograph in jpg format, in colour, of good quality.
Each candidate will receive from the secretariat, within 3 days of receipt of the material, an e-mail confirming admission to the Prize and correct registration. Registrations that do not comply with the provisions of these regulations and are not regularized within the deadline indicated, will not be taken into consideration and will not give the right to a refund of the participation fee. We kindly ask you to send the compositions as early as possible, with respect to the deadline, to facilitate the organization in cataloguing them.
The works will not be returned in any way.
The organization reserves the right to exclude from the Prize, without any notice and without the obligation to return the participation fee, all compositions deemed offensive to public morality and civic sense, towards persons and institutions, or present racist, xenophobic, blasphemous, pornographic elements or incitement to hatred, violence, discrimination or that serve as ideological proclamations, political parties. Participation in more than one section is allowed by paying the relevant contributions cumulatively, in the manner indicated in Art. 4.
Furthermore, all registrations received without the personal data sheet, illegible or incomplete, without a copy of the certificate of payment of the participation fee or of the compositions with which you intend to participate, in a manner that does not comply with the provisions of these regulations or after the deadline, are grounds for exclusion.
ART. 3 – DEADLINES FOR SUBMISSION
The compositions must be sent by 24:00 on 31 May 2026 (the date of sending the e-mail will be valid).
ART. 4 – PARTICIPATION FEE
For participation in each section, an amount of € 20.00 must be paid as a contribution and support to cover organization, secretarial and promotion costs.
It is possible to participate in more than one section by paying, for the following ones, the additional fee of € 10.00.
No contribution is provided for the young categories.
For candidates of any nationality RESIDING ABROAD:
Section Sp: single poem – no contribution
is provided Section Sep: published book of poetry there is a contribution of € 10.00
Section Sen: published book of fiction there is a contribution of € 10.00
The payment can be made by bank transfer to:
Academy of Arts and Philosophical Sciences
IBAN: IT14Q 07601 04000 001057617977
Reason: registration fee for the SENECA Prize X edition – Name of the Candidate – section
In very exceptional cases, for any method other than Bank Transfer, ask for information by sending an email to accademia.asf.seneca@gmail.com
ART. 5 – COMMISSION (committee for the evaluation of the compositions)
All the compositions (with the exception of sections G, H, L, Sep, Sen) will be submitted anonymously to the evaluation of the members of a Technical Commission appointed by the organization of the Prize, composed of authoritative personalities and exponents of the cultural scene, information and university teaching, poets and literary critics whose judgment is unquestionable and unappealable. The work of the Commission will be carried out in full compliance with the guidelines of the Academy.
The minutes drawn up by the Commission, with the ranking and the special prizes for each section, will be published by July 2026 on the Academy’s website www.accademia-asf.it.
All candidates will also be promptly informed of the results of the Prize by e-mail, with subsequent telephone communication only to the winners. The Commission has the right not to assign certain qualifications, if the compositions are not deemed worthy. Requests regarding placements and scores obtained, aesthetic-evaluative analyses or critical comments on the works presented will not be followed.
The Commission, chaired by Pasquale Panella, Rector-Dean of the State Colleges, former Subject Expert at the Chair of Linguistics and Linguistics of the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, University of Bari.
ART. 6 – PRIZES
For each section, in addition to the first three classified, the following Special Prizes will be awarded:
Award for Excellence from the University “Aldo Moro” of Bari
Prize of the Academic Senate
Award of the President of the Commission
City of Bari Award, Excellence of the territory (best composition among the authors residing in the province of Bari)
and Special Prizes relating to particular themes
– What Cain doesn’t know (gender violence)
– Historiae
Award – Contemporary
Philosophy Award – Domus Award (affections, family)
– Daphne Award (love)
– Pegasus Award (childhood)
– Centuria Award (conflicts)
All awardees will receive a personalized trophy and the academic parchment signed by the President of the Prize and the President of the Commission, with relative critical significance.
The organization also reserves the right to award any further special prizes to candidates who have distinguished themselves for the value of their works and to whom trophies and parchments will be awarded.
ART. 7 – AWARD CEREMONY
The Award Ceremony will take place on Saturday 24 October 2026 at the Sala delle Scuderie del Norman Swabian Castle of Sannicandro di Bari, in the presence of well-known personalities from the world of culture, entertainment and municipal administration. The artistic direction is entrusted to the writer Maria Teresa Infante La Marca, Director of the Department of Solidarity and Social Promotion of the Academy of Arts and Philosophical Sciences of Bari.
The winners will be notified of the outcome of the Award in due time and will have to confirm their presence at the event. Maximum dissemination will be given about the event through the press, web and local TV. The organization does not provide any reimbursement for travel expenses. The program will continue, compatibly with what has been specified above, with a convivial dinner in the company of the members of the Commission, the Committee of Honor and the representatives of the Academy.
The prizes must be collected personally by the interested party. In the event of proven inability to participate in the Ceremonial, it is possible to delegate a trusted person by communication to the Organization at the e-mail address below.
Prizes not collected can be sent on request with charges to the recipient.
In the event of technical or organizational reasons or in the event of restrictions that prevent the Ceremonial from being held in the manner and within the terms provided for in these regulations, participants will be promptly notified by e-mail or telephone. In this case, the organization will undertake to carry out the event via video conference in the presence of the members of the Commission and the entire organization. In this case, the prizes will be sent at a cost to the recipient.
ART. 8 – AUTHORIZATION TO PUBLISH THE POEMS
Participation in the Prize implies tacit authorization for any publication of the compositions, without further formalities, on the Academy’s website, on the Prize’s advertising and information material, together with any photos of the award ceremony in newspapers, cultural magazines, social networks. The mention of the author’s name is provided in compliance with Art. 20 of Presidential Decree no. 19 of 8/01/1979.
ART. 9 – ACCEPTANCE OF THESE REGULATIONS
Participation in the Prize implies the tacit and unconditional acceptance of all the articles of these regulations that compose it, binding for all candidates, who renounce any and all future recourse against the Academy. For anything not provided, the resolutions of the Academic Senate are valid.
ART. 10 – PRIVACY
By signing the participation form, each candidate expressly authorizes the Prize Organization to process and protect the personal data transmitted pursuant to Law 675/96 (Privacy Law) and subsequent amendments to Legislative Decree 196/2003 (Privacy Code), information update pursuant to Art. 13 of EU Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR) in force since 25/05/2018.
The organization guarantees that such data will be used exclusively for the performance of the obligations inherent to the X Edition of the Lucius Annaeus Seneca International Academic Prize for Contemporary Literature and processed according to the aforementioned European Union regulation on the processing of personal data, therefore they will not be communicated or disseminated to third parties for any reason.
ART. 11 – INFORMATION ON THE PRIZE
These regulations are available electronically on the website www.accademia-asf.it on which all official communications will be published (names of the members of the Commission, names of the guests who will intervene during the Award Ceremony, rankings and any other information relating to the Award).
Any information and clarifications can be requested from the e-mail address accademia.asf.seneca@gmail.com or from the Secretary of the Award, available at the addresses 348 4097289 (from 19.30 to 21.00) and 328 9674612 (from 10.00 to 12.00) every weekday.
The organization, if necessary, reserves the right to make changes to these regulations and to the prize plan. It is also not responsible for any consequence due to false information about the personal details communicated. Failure to comply with any of the rules prescribed therein constitutes grounds for exclusion from the Prize. For all matters not provided for in this regulation, the regulations in force shall apply.
