Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest
Ends on
Our annual summer nonfiction contest opens May 15th to all types of creative nonfiction essays up to 5,000 words.
The winner will receive $1,000 and publication in our Spring 2027 issue.
This year's guest judge is Orenda Fink.
Orenda Fink is a musician, songwriter, performer, writer, and certified Jungian depth coach specializing in shadow work, dream interpretation and narcissistic abuse recovery. Her work has been profiled in NPR, Vanity Fair, and more. She has been writing, recording, and touring since 1997, most notably with the bands Azure Ray, O+S, and the Casket Girls. Her first book, The Witch’s Daughter, is a memoir detailing life as the child of a mother with an undiagnosed personality disorder. It was a finalist for the 2025 Southern Book Prize. Born and raised in the South, Orenda now resides in California’s Mojave Desert with her husband, Todd Fink of The Faint, and their dog, Grimm.
Entries will consist of three parts: a cover letter, the essay manuscript, and the entry fee.
Cover Letter: In the cover letter, include the submission's title and your contact information, including e-mail address, phone number, and mailing address. Your name and contact info must not appear anywhere within the manuscript itself (double-check headers and footers!).
Essay Manuscript: The contest is open to all types of creative nonfiction essays up to 5,000 words. We're interested in reading imaginative essays of general interest. (Scholarly articles requiring footnote references should be submitted to journals of literary scholarship.) Manuscripts should be double-spaced and use a standard font, and, again, the submitter's name and contact info should not appear within the manuscript itself.
Entry Fee: Each submission must be accompanied by the $20.00 fee, which includes a copy of the Spring 2027 issue of the Schooner in which the winning essay will appear.
Multiple submissions are welcome and encouraged, but a separate entry fee must accompany each submission. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, provided you withdraw your work promptly should it be accepted for publication elsewhere. We do not consider work that has been previously published anywhere, including online publications.
This contest is administered anonymously. Editorial Assistants, Assistant Nonfiction Editors, the Guest Judge, and the Editor in Chief of the Schooner are not privy to submitters' identifying information.
If you have a problem with your submission, please write to Managing Editor Jessica Poli at prairieschooner@unl.edu.