Prairie Schooner Summer Creative Nonfiction Contest:
Deadline: May 15
#prarieschooner

Get your essays ready! Submissions to the 2026 Summer Creative Nonfiction Contest open next week. One winner will receive $1000 and publication in the Spring 2027 issue (our centennial issue!).

Contest submissions will open from May 15 to August 1. The contest is open to all types of creative nonfiction essays up to 5,000 words.

Prairie Schooner Summer Creative Nonfiction Contest, Submission Guidelines

Submissions to the 2026 Summer Creative Nonfiction Contest will open May 15. This year’s guest judge is Orenda Fink, author of The Witch’s Daughter.

Each year from May 15th to August 1st, the Schooner accepts submissions to the Summer Creative Nonfiction Contest, open to all types of creative nonfiction essays, up to 5,000 words.

The entry fee is $20. Winner receives $1,000 and publication in the following Spring issue.

Guidelines

Entries should include a cover letter with the submission’s title and your contact information. Your name and contact information shouldn’t appear anywhere on the manuscript. Multiple submissions are encouraged, but an entry fee must be paid for 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.

We prefer electronic submissions via Submittable, but we also accept hard copy submissions. Hard copy submissions should follow the above guidelines, and should be printed single-sided. A self-addressed, stamped envelope must accompany the submission, which may be sent to the attention of the editor at:

ATTN: CNF Editor(s)
Summer Essay Contest
Prairie Schooner
110 Andrews Hall
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, NE 68588-0334

Previous Winners
2025: Jamila Osman, “Dream Girl“
2024: Keya Mitra, “Bruised and Glorious“
2023: Jordan Walker, “Island of Misfits“
2022: Michael Metivier, “Hold On Magnolia”
2021: Cecilia Woloch, “Skin”
2020: Jonathan Callard, “Go Hard or Go Home”
2019: Jackie Connelly, “I Have Nothing to Say / and I Am Saying It”
2018: Christine G. Adams, “Terms of Venery”
2017: Heather Johnson, “Nowhere Place“
2016: E.M. Tran, “Miss Saigon“
2015: Laura Elizabeth Woollett, “Working Girl“
2014: Aurvi Sharma, “Eleven Stories of Water and Stone“
2013: Melissa Febos, “Call My Name“
2012: Natalie Vestin, “How to Own a Building“

This year’s guest judge is Orenda Fink, author of The Witch’s Daughter.

Orenda Fink, Guest Judge: 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. English Department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska Press. It is home to the best stories, poetry, essays, and reviews being published today by beginning, mid-career, and established writers.

Find out more about the Prairie Schooner Summer Creative Nonfiction Contest…

Prarie Schooner
110 Andrews Hall
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0334

Come check out these great indie publishers:

POST HILL Press     Skyhorse Publishing    Two Dollar Radio

Think maybe you’ve got the writing bug, too? REAL WRITER’S MARKET. Submissions now open. Check it out…

Thank you and Happy Publishing….

#prarieschooner