2025 Waterman Fund Essay Contest for Emerging Writers [Free; Online; Open to All; Prizes Worth Rs. 3L+]: Submit by March 1!

Participate in the 2025 Waterman Fund Essay Contest for Emerging Writers. The deadline for submission is March 1, 2025!

The 2025 Waterman Fund Essay Contest, in partnership with Appalachia, the prestigious journal of mountaineering and conservation, invites you to embark on a literary journey that celebrates the spirit of wilderness and wildness.

Since its inception in 2008, this annual essay contest has encouraged thoughtful exploration of themes surrounding wilderness, wildness, and environmental ethics. Writers who have not yet published major works in fiction or narrative nonfiction are eligible to participate. This is your opportunity to make your voice heard in the ongoing conversation about our relationship with the natural world.

This year’s prompt dives into the heart of a complex and nuanced debate:

“The clash of wilderness preservation versus use and enjoyment by thousands is inherently unresolvable. But that does not absolve any of us from striving to resolve it, from doing the best our generation can to preserve the spirit of wildness.”

— Wilderness Ethics by Laura and Guy Waterman

The prompt challenges writers to reflect on the intricate dynamics between wilderness (as protected spaces) and wildness (as untamed human experience). It asks: What is the wild in wild(er)ness? How does the act of moving through wild landscapes awaken our primal, non-commercial, and uncultivated spirit?

The Waterman Fund offers generous rewards for standout essays:

This contest is more than a writing competition, it’s a call to engage deeply with the wilderness, both as a tangible space and a profound idea. Winning essays are not only awarded generous prizes but also gain recognition in the literary and environmental communities.

Submit your essay via email to both:

If submitting by post, include your email address for correspondence.

The deadline for submission is March 1, 2025.

For inquiries, email essays@watermanfund.org.

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