Call for Submissions: Post45 Essay Prizes

Post45 Journal is pleased to announce that we are currently accepting submissions for two article prizes: the Mary Esteve Emerging Scholar Essay Prize and the Post45 Essay Prize for Contingent Scholars. The Emerging Scholar prize is named in honor of two-time Post45 Journal editor Mary Esteve to celebrate her commitment to the work of the journal and her generosity as an editor and reviewer. The two prize-winning essays will be awarded $500 each and—pending anonymous peer review—will be published in the journal. Strong submissions that are not selected for a prize will also be considered for publication (pending anonymous peer review). The prize committee will be made up of Post45 Collective board members as well as journal staff. Please submit entries via our submissions page (the site will prompt you to register for an account). The deadline for submissions is January 15th, 2024 and winners will be notified by the end of February.

Post45, a peer-reviewed journal edited by Annie McClanahan (UC Irvine) and Arthur Wang (UPenn), publishes field-shaping work on any aspect of American literature and culture since the mid-twentieth century. We are also one of a small but growing number of diamond open access humanities journals. We also are proud to say that our decision-making process—from desk review to peer review to editing and publication—is considerably faster than most traditional print journals. Articles in the journal are able to feature images, clips, sound, and other digital media. You can read more about our submissions process here: https://post45.org/contact-us/.

The inaugural Post45 essay prizes are generously supported by a 2023 Open Library of Humanities Open Access Award and donations from current and past Post45 Collective board members.

Rules and eligibility:

  • Because submissions for Post45 prizes are also submissions for publication in the journal, authors should not submit material that has already been published, is under consideration for publication elsewhere, or that they do not wish to publish.
  • For the Mary Esteve Emerging Scholar Essay Prize, we accept submissions from current graduate students and pre-tenure scholars no more than 5 years out from Ph.D. graduation (including those who currently hold a tenure-track position). 
  • For the Post45 Essay Prize for Contingent Scholars, we accept submissions from any scholar who has a Ph.D. in hand but does not currently hold a tenure-track position. Current graduate students are not eligible for this prize; independent scholars, postdocs, VAPs, and others who hold non-tenured positions are eligible.
  • Since some scholars may be eligible for both awards, we ask that you specify in a cover letter and on the first/title page of your essay which prize you are submitting for and, in 1-2 sentences, describe your current position. (If you are not sure about your eligibility, feel free to email submissions@post45.org to inquire.) 
  • Essays should be uploaded to submissions.post45.org as Word files and formatted according to the Chicago Manual of Style. Articles must not exceed 12K words (including notes/citations). We will not consider late prize submissions, but are happy to accept regular submissions for publication anytime.