Annual Prize Honors Nonfiction and Contribution to Desert Literacy

The Waterston Desert Writing Prize 2017 is now open for submissions. Applicants must submit online via Submittable through April 1, 2017. The Prize honors creative nonfiction that illustrates artistic excellence, sensitivity to place, and desert literacy, with the desert as both subject and setting.

Inspired by author and poet Ellen Waterston’s love of the High Desert of Central Oregon, a region that has been her muse for over 30 years, the Prize recognizes the vital role deserts play worldwide in the ecosystem and the human narrative.

Submission guidelines are available at www.waterstonprize.org. The Prize winner will receive a $2,000 cash award, a reading and reception at the High Desert Museum in Bend and a four-week residency at PLAYA at Summer Lake, Oregon.

The prize is funded from an endowment managed by the Oregon Community Foundation, with the impetus for the creation of the endowment provided by actor Sam Waterston, after whom the prize is named.