Call for Submissions

The Saad Prize

2026 Cycle Theme: Verbs — Land / Language / Future
Presented in partnership with Navajo Technical University

Hootso and Navajo Technical University invite Diné poets and storytellers to submit work for the 2026 Saad Prize, a literary award and incubator recognizing poetry and storytelling that engage the relationship between language, land, and Diné life. Named for the Diné word saad, meaning “word” or “language,” the Prize honors artistic work that reflects the ways language helps shape memory, identity, and collective futures.

The 2026 theme, Verbs: Land / Language / Future, asks writers to imagine these elements as living actions. Land is not only a place, but a relationship. Language carries knowledge and responsibility across generations. The future emerges through the everyday practices of care, governance, creativity, and story.

We welcome poems and oral storytelling works that explore these ideas through craft, imagination, and cultural insight. Submissions may reflect personal experience, community history, Diné philosophy, or new visions of collective futures. Writers are encouraged, but not required, to incorporate Diné language within their work.

Along with a cash prize, winning works will be featured on the Hootso website. Selected poets and storytellers may also be invited to participate in public conversations and future programming related to the Prize.

Prize Overview and Eligibility

At the center of the Prize is the Saad Prize in Diné Poetics, the flagship award recognizing a poem of exceptional craft and civic resonance. This award honors writers whose work demonstrates how poetry illuminates Diné knowledge systems, cultural continuity, and the ongoing work of sovereignty.

Alongside the flagship prize, The Saad Prize recognizes writers and storytellers across multiple stages of life and artistic practice through incubator awards. These awards reflect the many ways language moves within Diné communities, from youth discovering their voices, to college writers developing craft, to storytellers carrying forward oral traditions.

The Saad Prize is open to Navajo Nation citizens writing at all levels of experience.

The 2026 Cycle awards include:

• The Saad Prize in Diné Poetics
  The flagship award recognizing a poem of exceptional craft and civic resonance by a Navajo Nation citizen age 21 or older.

• The Saad College Incubator Award
  Open to Diné students currently enrolled in an undergraduate degree program.

• The Saad Youth Incubator Awards
  Open to Navajo Nation citizens currently enrolled in high school.

• The Saad Storyteller Incubator Award
  Open to Navajo Nation citizens age 21 or older working in oral storytelling and spoken narrative traditions.

Poets may submit up to four poems for consideration. Storytellers may submit one audio storytelling piece. 

Work may be presented in English, Diné bizaad, or a combination of both.

For more information and the application, please visit: hootso.org/saadprize