A short-story contest organized by France Loisirs (a mail-order bookseller) for "non-professional" writers is just one example of the upsurge of new processes of literary consecration. This case study describes and analyses a literary offering intended for laypersons, as well as the exhibition and implementation of the right to discover and consecrate "new talent" that a firm outside the literary field has assumed. It furthermore considers the effects that these "literary awards" have on candidates for the status of author. The article draws on a field survey to show that, far from being universal, the question of defining an author is always a stake in power struggles, related to the delimitation of those who are in a position to participate. Findings suggest that for the winners of this award it is usually no more than an "artificial" consecration that only exceptionally affords access to the literary field. Most of those who aspire to the status of author but lack the required resources (academic, cultural and/or social) are destined to obscurity.