It’s time again for Notre Dame Magazine’s Young Alumni Essay Contest. The 2016 competition is open to those who received a University of Notre Dame bachelor’s degree in the years 2007 through 2016.
The fourth annual contest will be judged by this magazine’s editors. Entries must be original, previously unpublished, creative nonfiction essays. A submission should range in length from 800 to 1,500 words, and it must be the work of a sole author.
The editors are seeking evocative first-person works that would appeal to a college-educated audience.
The first-place winner will receive a cash prize of $500; second-place winners will receive $250. The first- and second-place winning essays will be published in Notre Dame Magazine in 2017. Should the judges decide to award one or more honorable mentions, the winner(s) will receive $50 and publication at magazine.nd.edu.
Email entries will be accepted from now through Sept. 19, 2016. See official contest rules and instructions on how and where to submit an essay.
The magazine has issued a total of $4,850 in prize money to the 34 winners of the previous three essay contests. First-place honors have been awarded to writers Rachel Roseberry ’11 for her 2013 essay “Fear itself”; John Corgan ’11 for his 2014 essay “Grace is a hobble-wheeled bicycle”; and Michael Augsberger ’10 for his 2015 essay “Home marathon.”