Summer Creative Nonfiction Contest
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.
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“