Autumn House Nonfiction Prize Autumn House Press

Guidelines for the Autumn House Nonfiction Prize

• The winner will receive book publication, a $1,000 honorarium, and a $1,500 travel/publicity grant to promote their book
• All finalists will be considered for publication
• Nonfiction submissions should be approximately 150-300 double-spaced pages (37,500-75,000 words)
• The reading fee is $35 (We will waive the submission fee for those undergoing financial hardship or living with limited means. Before you reach out to request a waived fee, please read our full statement and instructions here. If the guidelines are not followed, we will not be able to offer a waived fee.)
• Autumn House is looking for personal essay collections and memoirs; we do not accept self-help books
• The book must be previously unpublished as a whole. However, individual pieces may have been published in journals, magazines, or anthologies.
• We only accept original manuscripts; AI-generated or AI-supported works are not accepted
• Do not include your name anywhere on the actual manuscript; if your name appears within the body of the text, please omit it or black it out (first name is fine, but last name must be omitted)
• Do not include a bio or an acknowledgments page in the manuscript
• Feel free to include a table of contents (This does not count as part of your final page count)
• Simultaneous submissions permitted
• Friends, family members, and former students of judges or Autumn House editors may not submit to the contest. Students do not include interactions at short-term residencies or fellowships.
• Former employees of Autumn House, including interns, may not submit to the contest.