Call for Submissions
Sowell Emerging Writers Prize

Sowell Family Collection in Literature, Community, and the Natural World
Texas Tech University Libraries
Southwest Collection
2805 15th St

Submission Open: September 15th
Submission Deadline: November 15th

Apply: https://www.terrain.org/submit/sowell-prize/

$1,000 prize and publication by Texas Tech University Press
$25 entry fee per poetry book manuscript submission

The Sowell Collection at Texas Tech University, in partnership with Terrain.org and Texas Tech University Press, invites book-length manuscript submissions of poetry (at least 64 pages) in English on themes about and related to the natural world by writers who have published no more than one book in any genre.

We are especially interested in submissions that explore the relationship between human communities and nature and may be informed by scientific inquiry and/or personal experience.

The Sowell Emerging Writers Prize will accept submissions in nonfiction, poetry, and fiction on a rotational basis and in that order: poetry in 2026, fiction in 2027, nonfiction in 2028, and so on.

We are also partnering with the Spring Creek Project, an initiative of the Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts at Oregon State University, to offer a residency at the Lopez Cottage on the McKenzie to the winner of the Sowell Emerging Writers Prize to continue their manuscript or a related writing project. The cottage, which belonged to writers Barry Lopez and Debra Gwartney, is on a 37-acre property near Finn Rock, Oregon, and is managed by the McKenzie River Trust. The winner will receive $1,000 toward travel expenses (separate from and in addition to the prize honorarium) and up to two weeks in residence at the Lopez Cottage in 2026. If the winner cannot accept the residency, we will offer it to finalists.

The Sowell Family Collection in Literature, Community and the Natural World at Texas Tech University holds the personal and professional papers of prominent American writers on the natural world. The Sowell Collection was established in 2001 when it acquired the papers of National Book Award–winning writer Barry Lopez. Since then, the Collection has acquired the papers of some thirty American writers including Rick Bass, David James Duncan, Gretel Ehrlich, William Kittredge, J. Drew Lanham, Bill McKibben, Susan Brind Morrow, Gary Nabhan, Robert Michael Pyle, David Quammen, Pattiann Rogers, and others.

Submission Details
Manuscripts should be at least 64 pages (i.e., book length and not a chapbook)
Please include an Acknowledgements page if poems have been previously published elsewhere
We do not accept submissions created by or with the assistance of artificial intelligence.
The winner will receive book publication by Texas Tech University Press, a $1,000 honorarium by Texas Tech University Press, a residency of up to two weeks at the Lopez Cottage on the McKenzie, and $1,000 toward travel expenses for the residency by the Spring Creek Project
The reading fee is $25
Finalists will be announced by March 2027, and the winner will be announced shortly after
Manuscripts that do not win the prize may still receive consideration for publication at Texas Tech University Press
Simultaneous submissions are acceptable. Please withdraw your manuscript promptly if it is accepted elsewhere for publication.

Include a bio of fewer than 100 words in your cover letter.

The Sowell Emerging Writers Prize encourages underrepresented voices to submit their work for consideration.

Read the guidelines and submit at the Terrain.org

https://www.terrain.org/submit/sowell-prize/
https://terrainorg.submittable.com/submit
https://swco.ttu.edu/sowell/sowellcollectionswc.php