Writing Competition: The River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Book Prize

 

Deadline for Submissions: October 31

Final Judge: Ander Monson

Complete Guidelines:

• Entries must be submitted online through Submittable. Manuscripts must be in English, double-spaced, and between 35K-85K words long (approximately 150-350 pages).

• The winner will receive book publication with The University of New Mexico Press and a $1,000 honorarium.

• The reading fee is $27 (which includes a one-year subscription to River Teeth to begin in the spring). While our contest is open to entries outside of the U.S., we cannot offer free subscriptions to international submissions because of high mailing rates.

• The deadline for submissions is October 31. The contest winner and finalists will be announced by April.

• Submissions should be previously unpublished as a complete book; if excerpts or individual essays have appeared in literary journals or magazines, that is acceptable. Any literary nonfiction (including memoir, personal essays, investigative reporting, et cetera) is eligible.

• Simultaneous submissions are fine, but as ever, be sure to withdraw your manuscript immediately if it is accepted elsewhere for publication before the conclusion of the contest.

• The editors make every effort to screen manuscripts without bias of identifying author details; however, because the contest is nonfiction, it is not always possible to eliminate identifying characteristics about the author from the manuscript. Do not include your name on the title page or in the header or footer of the manuscript, but otherwise do not fret too much over anonymity. Please include a brief bio in the cover letter section of Submittable.

• River Teeth encourages underrepresented voices to submit their work for consideration, including but not limited to: BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and disabled writers.

• Close friends, family members, and former students of the judge may not submit during the year of the judge’s service. (Writers who have had short-term interactions with the judge at residencies, conferences, or fellowships do not count as students.) Current Ball State University faculty and students (including interns) are ineligible.

Please direct all questions to:

riverteeth@bsu.edu