Enter Essay Contest
2027 Emerging Writers Essay Contest with Waterman Fund
Since 2008, Appalachia, the mountaineering and conservation journal published by the Appalachian Mountain Club, and the Waterman Fund have collaborated to sponsor an annual essay contest for emerging writers. Writers who have not published a major work of fiction or narrative nonfiction on topics of wilderness, wildness, ecology, or environmental issues are eligible. The Waterman Fund provides generous prize money of $3,000 for the first-place essay selection and $1,000 for a runner-up. The submission window will remain open until March 15.
We welcome essays that span genres of memoir, scientific, and personal adventure; fiction, poetry, plays, and songs are not eligible for this contest. Submissions should be 2,000-3,000 words. Please include contact information, a few lines about why you feel your essay is appropriate for the contest, why you believe you are an emerging writer, and a list of all publications as a brief annotated bibliography (with links when possible). Send your online submissions as a Microsoft Word (or Word-compatible) document, double-spaced, in 12 point, Times New Roman. Do not insert photographs or other graphics in the document. If submitting by mail, please include an email address.
For inquiries or to mail your submission through the post, please contact: [email protected].
How to Enter
The submission window for 2027 will remain open until March 15. Please read the Waterman Fund Essay Contest "Conditions and Limits" below before submitting your piece. When ready, submit your essay by clicking the button here:
Waterman Fund Emerging Writers Essay Contest: Conditions and Limits
- Eligibility: Waterman Fund Emerging Writers Essay Contest (the “Contest”) is open to new and emerging writers who have not been published in a major national magazine or journal, or written a book, or self-published a book, on the topic of their submission. These writers must be residents of the fifty (50) United States, the District of Columbia, or Canada. The Contest is subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations and is void where prohibited by law. Waterman Fund board members are ineligible.
- Emerging Writers: For purposes of this contest, we consider an emerging writer a person of any age who has not previously published a major work of fiction or narrative nonfiction on topics of wilderness, wildness, ecology, or environmental issues. While we applaud the commitment of more mature and seasoned writers on these important topics, the Waterman Fund essay contest seeks to offer emerging writers significant support through the prize money and publication. In this way, we feel we best steward new generations of voices for the wilderness and thus sustain the evolving spirit of wildness that is crucial to the mission of the Waterman Fund.
- Agreement to Official Rules: By participating in the Contest, contestants warrant that they fully and unconditionally agree to and accept these official rules and the decisions of the Waterman Fund, which are final and binding in all matters related to the Contest. Winning the prize is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements set forth herein.
- Timing: The Contest ends at 11:59 p.m. on March 15. Mail-in entries must be postmarked no later than March 15.
- Length: Essays should be between 2,000 and 3,000 words. While winning essays may eventually be edited for publication and become longer or shorter, please bear this word limit in mind in your original submission.
- Genre: We welcome essays that span genres of memoir, scientific, and personal adventure; fiction, poetry, plays, and songs are not eligible for this contest.
- Submission Format: For ease of sharing amongst our essay review panel, please send your online submissions as a Microsoft Word (or Word-compatible) document, double-spaced, in 12 point, Times New Roman or Garamond. Please do not insert photographs or other graphics in the document. If submitting by mail, please include an email address so we may notify the results of the contest. For electronic submissions, please click the link provided (on this page) and fill out all sections of our submission form. For inquiries, please contact the Waterman Fund at [email protected].
- Conditions and Limits:
- No submissions will be acknowledged or returned. The Waterman Fund is not responsible for lost, late, incomplete, invalid, unintelligible, illegible, misdirected or postage-due requests, which are void.
- Each contestant may enter (1) one submission to the Contest.
- By entering, entrants represent and warrant that the entries they submit:
- Are their own original creations (ie. are not AI generated or plagiarized content)
- Do not infringe any other person’s or entity’s rights, including, without limitation, contractual rights, rights of publicity and privacy, trademark, copyright, and patent rights; and have not been previously published online or in print.
- The subject of the essay should not present a conflict of interest: i.e., if a writer works for a conservation organization, the subject of the essay should not represent what is a priority or mission for the organization.
- Notifying the Contest Winner: The winner(s) will be notified by email, phone, or registered mail by July 15.
- Prize: $3,000 will be awarded to the first-place selected essay and $1,000 for a runner-up. The winning essay will be printed in Appalachia Journal, of the The Appalachian Mountain Club. The winner must agree for their essay to be edited by the editor of Appalachia.
- In the unlikely event that no winning essay(s) are selected, the Waterman Fund will retain the prize monies and recognize essays and writers as is appropriate to the situation.
- General Conditions and Rights: The Waterman Fund reserves the right to cancel or modify the Contest if fraud, technical failure, or any other factor beyond the Waterman Fund’s reasonable control impairs the integrity of the Contest, as determined by the Waterman Fund in its sole discretion. In such event, the Waterman Fund reserves the right to award the prize at random from among the eligible entries received up to the time of the impairment. In addition, submission of an entry in this Contest constitutes an entrant's agreement to grant the Waterman Fund an irrevocable royalty-free worldwide license to reproduce and display the entry or any derivation thereof, credited with the entrant’s first and last name.
- Release: By entering the Contest, the contestant agrees to release and hold harmless the Waterman Fund, and each of its representative officers and directors, (collectively the “Released Parties”) from and against any losses, damages, rights, claims or causes of action of any kind arising, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, out of participation in the Contest, as well as claims based on defamation and infringement of any other person’s or entity’s rights, including, without limitation, contractual rights, rights of publicity and privacy, trademark, copyright, and patent rights.
- Limitations of Liability: The Released Parties are not responsible for: (1) any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by contestants, printing errors, or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Contest; (2) technical failures of any kind including, but not limited to malfunctions, interruptions, or disconnections in phone lines or network hardware or software; (3) unauthorized human intervention in any part of the process or the Contest; (4) technical or human error which may occur in the administration of the Contest or the processing of entries; (5) any injury or damage to persons or property which may be caused, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, from contestants’ participation in the Contest or receipt or use of any prize or while traveling to or from any prize-related activity; or (6) liability in connection with the Content. If for any reason a contestant’s entry is confirmed to have been erroneously deleted, lost, or otherwise destroyed or corrupted, contestant’s sole remedy is another entry in the Contest during the Contest period.