The PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction was established by author Barbara Kingsolver in 2000, and is awarded every other year to a debut literary novel by an author living in the United States. It's meant to support and promote fiction that engages with important social issues and their impacts. For more information, see the award's page on the PEN America site: 

https://pen.org/pen-bellwether-prize/#

From 2000-2010, the award was administered independently from PEN literary awards.