The 2022 Nature Writing Prize is now *CLOSED*.

MAX PORTER TO JUDGE THE MOTH NATURE WRITING PRIZE 2022

‘If you are engaged with being alive on this planet just now … and you are not terrified about the future half the time, you are not paying attention.’ Max Porter

‘I wish that we would not fight for landscapes that remind us of who we think we are. I wish we would fight, instead, for landscapes buzzing and glowing with life in all its variousness.’ Helen Macdonald (2021 judge)

 

‘The answer to the still present threat of a silent spring is for us to sing against the storm.’ Richard Mabey (2020 judge)

‘What a great competition to be running.’ Robert Macfarlane

‘It gives me so much confidence and it is wonderful to have my writing out there and enjoyed by others.’ Sammy Weaver (2020 winner) 

‘I am eternally grateful, however much of eternity I have left in me.’ Arne Weingart (2021 winner)


ABOUT THE PRIZE

The Moth Nature Writing Prize aims to encourage and celebrate the art of nature writing. It is awarded annually to an unpublished piece of prose or poetry which best combines exceptional literary merit with an exploration of the writer’s relationship with the natural world. 

 

The prize is open to anyone over the age of sixteen, as long as the work is original and previously unpublished. 

 

Each year a single judge is asked to choose one winner from entries worldwide, to feature in the winter issue of The Moth. The winner receives €1,000 and a week at Circle of Misse in France. The inaugural judge in 2020 was Richard Mabey.   

THE JUDGE

Max Porter’s Sunday Times bestseller Lanny was longlisted for the Booker Prize and the Wainwright Prize and shortlisted for the Waterstones and Foyles Book of the Year. His first novel, Grief is the Thing with Feathers, won the Sunday Times/Peter, Fraser + Dunlop Young Writer of the Year and the Dylan Thomas Prize, and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Goldsmiths Prize. A theatre production, directed by Enda Walsh and starring Cillian Murphy was performed in Dublin, London and New York.

HOW TO ENTER

The Moth Nature Writing Prize is open to anyone over 16, as long as the work is original and previously unpublished. There is a 4,000 maximum word limit. The entry fee is €15 per entry and you can enter as many pieces as you like.

You can enter online or send your entry along with a cheque or postal order made payable to ‘The Moth Magazine Ltd.’ with an entry form or a cover letter with your name and contact details and the title of your piece attached to: The Moth, Ardan Grange, Milltown, Belturbet, Co. Cavan, Ireland H14 K768. 

Please read the rules before you enter. 

The Prize closes 15 September 2022.

The winning entry will appear in the winter issue of The Moth. 

Call 00 353 87 2657251 or email enquiries@themothmagazine.com for more details