The Anne C. Barnhill Prize for Creative Nonfiction

“Though the surroundings were lovely, there was an underside to all that beauty.”

Anne Barnhill

Submissions open June 11 – August 12, 2023.

The Barnhill Prize honors Anne’s generous spirit of support for all who love to read and write; her lifelong empathy with those who mine their childhood experience to understand themselves now; the natural vulnerability in her compelling prose and poetry; and her boundless generosity in sharing her writing passions with the world.

Selection process: Editors determine the pool of up to 10 finalist essays. Finalist essays will be read by an outside judge who selects one winning essay. The author of the winning essay receives a cash award of $250. The winner has ten days to accept the award. More information about this year’s judge, Neema Avashia, can be found here: #BarnhillPrize judge 2023.

Eligibility: The competition is open to writers in English, whether published or unpublished; the essay itself must be previously unpublished. Previous winners of this award are not eligible to win again. Writers must be residents of North America.

Essay Guidelines:

1. Current or former students of the contest judge should NOT submit their work to this contest; the same goes for anyone who personally knows the judge in any regard.
2. Essays should be double-spaced and no more than 3,500 words in length.
3. The award recognizes outstanding creative nonfiction that reflects our mission: (See About)
4. Essays are only accepted via our Submittable online platform. No paper, please.
5. Please be sure essay pages are numbered and that your name is NOT on the document that is your essay.
6. Please use a standard, easy-to-read font such as Times New Roman in twelve-point size.
7. Previously published essays are not eligible and should not be submitted.
8. Authors may submit more than one essay to the competition for consideration as long as no material is duplicated between submissions. Each submission will require a separate entry fee.
9. Essays under consideration for this competition may be submitted elsewhere at the same time. Please withdraw your essay if it is accepted by another publisher and should no longer be considered for the Barnhill Prize for Creative Nonfiction competition. Withdrawal can be completed via the submissions manager website. Entry fees ($10 per submission) are not refundable.
10. The final judge will not be aware of the names or publication records of the authors. If he/she/they recognizes the work or identity of the writer, the judge will disclose that to our editors.
11. Please forward any questions to edg (at) longridgereview (dot) com. We are most quickly accessed on Twitter. Thank you!