Our readers are currently reviewing and evaluating the most recent submissions, and will be announcing our longlist shortly. Be sure to follow us on this blog for all updates and information.
We would like to congratulate the inaugural winner of The Panther Creek Book Award in Nonfiction, Tuan Phan, of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, for his memoir Remembering Water. Tuan received the monetary award of $1,000, and his work will be published by autumn 2022 by Hidden River Press, an imprint of Hidden River Publishing. Please see our News and Announcements for a full list of the semi-finalists and finalists of the award.
The next deadline for the Panther Creek Award is April 30, 2023. Submissions are accepted beginning January 1, 2023.
Hidden River Arts offers a yearly award of $1,000 and publication by Hidden River Press, an imprint of Hidden River Publishing, for an original, unpublished book-length work of non-fiction. (This includes creative non-fiction, memoir, biography — all forms of non-fiction are welcome!)
Please be aware that we consider ALL forms of publication as disqualification. Self-publishing is publication; if your manuscript has an isbn number, or if it is available for sale online and/or in brick and mortar stores, your book is “published”.
Panther Creek is named after a species of panthers in Pennsylvania which, once plentiful, are now extinct. (The name “panther” in the Northeastern part of the United States was used interchangeably with the word “cougar”.) In searching for the history of this magnificent creature in the Northeastern part of the continent, and wondering why so MANY references to panthers were made throughout the PA Commonwealth, we found it was necessary to go all the way back to a book, published originally in 1959, called The Ghost of North America: The Story of the Eastern Panther, by Bruce S. Wright. The book and Wright’s research are a loving offering to a regal animal that, within a generation of his book’s publication, was extinct.
The Panther Creek Award is named after this ghost. Its wild spirit still permeates what is left of our forests and mountains. Pennsylvania was once an endless woodland forest, it is said — one that stretched from the woods of New Jersey, throughout the Pennsylvania Commonwealth, and endlessly west. Tribal elders claimed that a squirrel could climb a tree near the Atlantic Ocean’s shore, and never have to touch ground until it reached the Mississippi River bank.
The Panther Creek Award is looking for writing that explores the richness created by many layers of reality, many facets of time. We want writing that will stand the test of centuries. Echoes of forever…and nevermore. Henry Thoreau is credited with the saying, “Read not the times, read the eternities.” What we say here, with Panther Creek, is “Write not only the times, but the eternities.” We are looking for powerful writing that awakens our spirit. We are looking for non-fiction which calls forth great powers.
The deadline for all manuscript submissions is April 30, 2023. Entry fee: $20 US.
This competition is open to international submissions for all writers in English. We also are open to English translations of works in all other languages. The submission of the manuscript MUST be made by the author, with the translator and the original language noted in the submission materials. This is a writing award, not a translation award.
We accept simultaneous submissions, and ask only that you notify us immediately if your book has been accepted for publication elsewhere. We also accept multiple submissions.
All submissions must include name, address, telephone number, email, website (if you have one), a brief biography, outline, full synopsis and full manuscript, in that order. Online submissions through Submittable are required. Please note that, when submitting online, all materials must be combined into ONE document before uploading. Failure to include the required information will result in disqualification of the manuscript.
All awards are decided by Hidden River staff, and decisions are final. The semi-finalists, finalists and winner will be announced on this blog, so please be sure to bookmark us to keep up-to-date on our progress.
Submit your work here.
Hidden River Arts 