2015 Essay Contest Announced

Guy and Laura Waterman spent a lifetime reflecting and writing on the Northeast’s mountains. The Waterman Fund seeks to further their legacy of stewardship through essays that celebrate and explore issues of wilderness, wildness, and humans through the Fund’s annual essay contest.

In conjunction with the Museum of the White Mountains’ exhibit on Woman and the Mountains, the 2015 essay contest invites emerging writers to explore the question of who the stewards of wilderness are. Statistically, more men than women explore professional careers in the stewardship of wilderness and public land management. What, if any, bearing does the gender of stewards have on our shared and individual perceptions of, and relationship to, wilderness?

Do you find a difference in how men and women experience and steward wilderness, personally or professionally? Alternately, does the spirit of wilderness transcend anything so human as gender? Is there a relationship between gender, wilderness exploration, and the management of these invaluable public lands?

Emerging writers are encouraged to explore the interplay between men, women, and wilderness, with particular regard to how this shapes our individual and cultural perceptions and stewardship of wild places.

The deadline for submissions is April 15th, 2015. We will announce the winners at the end of June. The winning essayist will be awarded $1500 and published in Appalachia Journal. The Honorable Mention essay will receive $500. Both essays will be published on our website as well. Submissions should include contact information and a few lines about why the writers feel their essay is appropriate for the contest. Online submissions are appreciated, but not required. If submitting online, double-spaced manuscripts in a 12-point font, Word doc compatible file, are preferred. If submitting by mail, please include a SAS postcard or an email address. The receipt of all submissions will be acknowledged.

The Waterman Fund’s objective is to strengthen the human stewardship of the open summits, exposed ridgelines and alpine areas of the Northeast. We welcome personal, scientific, adventure, or memoir essays; fiction, poetry or songs are not eligible for this contest. More information about the Waterman Fund and on the essay contest is available at www.watermanfund.org, Facebook, and via [email protected].