$1000 and publication with Mad Creek Books (an imprint of The Ohio State University Press) will be awarded to one book length collection of essays each year.
Submission window: March 1-April 30. Please note that all manuscripts submitted to the prize will also be considered for the 21st Century Essays series.

• The award is open to all writers for first books of essays. (Writers may have published books previously in other genres.)
• The award is open to all writers regardless of citizenship.
• Prior publication of your manuscript as a whole in any format (including electronic or self-published) makes it ineligible. Individual essays that have been previously published may be included in the manuscript.
• Simultaneous submission should be noted, and prompt withdrawal if accepted for publication elsewhere is required.
• Authors may submit more than one manuscript to the competition as long as an entry fee is paid for each submission.
• Previously submitted manuscripts are eligible.

Please include as much of the following information as you can when you submit your manuscript materials:

• Title of your manuscript
• General description (1-2 pages) of your project as well as target audience.
• Word count of the project (we publish manuscripts that range from 40,000-85,000 words), along with information about any images you plan to include.
• Bio, resume, or CV
•  List of acknowledgments of previously published work (title and magazine/journal/anthology) included in the manuscript.

Previous prize winners include Agata Brewer (The Hunger Book), Christine Imperial (Don't Mistake Me for an Empire: A Memoir in Tongues, forthcoming 2023), Hasanthika Sirisena (Dark Tourist and Other Essays), M.I. Devine (Warhol's Mother's Pantry: Art, America, and the Mom in Pop), Sonya Bilocerkowycz (On Our War Home From the Revolution), and Kisha Schlegel (Fear Icons).

We make every effort to review submissions within 8 weeks of the close of the submission period.  Please send questions to Kristen Elias Rowley at madcreekbooks@osu.edu. Thank you!