2010 Contests
The Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction
1st Prize: $1,000
Final Judge: Rebecca McClanahan
First place winners will be published in the Bellingham Review. Second and third place winners and finalists may be considered for publication.
Submission Guidelines
1. Entry Fees:
- $18 for the first entry (one essay).
- Each additional entry is $10.
- Please make checks payable to: Bellingham Review.
- Everyone entering the competition will receive the "winners issue" of the Bellingham Review.
- International Submissions: The Bellingham Review is only able to process international money orders made out in US dollars. Please include an extra $10 to cover the cost of mailing a copy of the Bellingham Review overseas. If you would like to enter the contest without receiving an international subscription, let us know, and you will owe only the $18 entry fee.
2. Deadline:
- Submissions must be postmarked between December 1st, and March 15th.
3. For each entry, submit the following:
- 3" x 5" index card stating the title of the work, the category (nonfiction), the author's name, phone number, address and email. Please make sure the writing is legible on this card. The author's name must not appear anywhere on the manuscript; the index card will serve as the only record of your entry.
- A check made out to the Bellingham Review.
- A self-addressed stamped envelope for announcement of winners. The author's name must not appear anywhere on the manuscript.
4. Maximum length:
- Prose up to 8,000 words.
5. Restrictions:
- No previously published works, or works accepted for publication, are eligible.
- Work may be under consideration elsewhere, but must be withdrawn from the competition if accepted for publication.
- Current students, faculty, or staff of WWU are not eligible to enter the contest.
6. Send entries to:
Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction
Bellingham Review
Mail Stop 9053
Western Washington University
Bellingham, WA 98225
7. Manuscripts will not be returned. Winners will be announced by July.
8. Download a printer-friendly, Microsoft Word version of the Contest Submission Guidelines.
Contest Namesake
Born April 30, 1945, Annie Dillard is best known for her nature-themed writing. She has explored her past and present dealings with nature through poetry, essays and novels. Often compared to Thoreau and other transcendentalist writers, Dillard is unique in her defiance of any strict categorization. As she examines the natural world, her subjects move between wildlife, God and the human condition. Among the nine book-length publications Dillard has published over the past twenty years, her use of multiple genres allows her to seamlessly move from Virginia creeks, to the Puget Sound, to the Galapagos Islands.s