More Than $3,500 Available in Terrain.org 12th Annual Contests in Poetry, Nonfiction, and Fiction

Terrain.org Contest Deadline: September 6, 2021

Terrain.org’s 12th Annual Contests in Poetry, Nonfiction, and Fiction are now open, and this year we’ve doubled the grand prize in each genre: $1,000 each, plus $100 for each finalist. All submissions are considered for publication. $20 per submission.

Our award-winning judges this year are Ellen Bass (poetry), Aimee Nezhukumatathil (nonfiction), and Maurice Carlos Ruffin (fiction).

View our full contest submission guidelines and submit and pay on Submittable.

About Our Judges

Poetry: Ellen Bass
Ellen Bass is the award-winning author of Indigo, Like a Beggar, The Human Line, Mules of Love, and others. A Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, she founded poetry workshops at Salinas Valley State Prison and the Santa Cruz, California jails, and teaches in the MFA writing program at Pacific University.

Nonfiction: Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s newest book is a collection of illustrated nature essays, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments. She is also the author of four books of poetry, most recently, Oceanic. She is a professor of English and creative writing in the University of Mississippi’s MFA program.

Fiction: Maurice Carlos Ruffin
Maurice Carlos Ruffin is the author of The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You and We Cast a Shadow, which was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the PEN America Open Book Prize.