THE MOTH NATURE
WRITING PRIZE 2024 IS NOW CLOSED. WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED IN EARLY DECEMBER
The Moth Nature
Writing Prize aims to encourage and celebrate the art of nature writing. It is
awarded annually to unpublished pieces of prose or poetry which best
combine exceptional literary merit with an exploration of the writers’
relationship with the natural world.
Each year a single
judge is asked to choose winners from entries worldwide. Previous judges
include Richard Mabey, Helen Macdonald, Max Porter and Kathleen Jamie.
The prize is open to
anyone over the age of sixteen, as long as the work is original and previously
unpublished.
THE
PRIZES
2nd prize
€500
3rd prize
€250
THE JUDGE
Cal
Flyn’s first book,
Thicker Than
Water, was a
Times book of the year. Her second
book,
Islands of
Abandonment ‒ about the ecology and
psychology of abandoned places ‒ has been shortlisted for the
Wainwright Prize,
the British Academy Book Prize, the Ondaatje Prize
and the Baillie Gifford Prize, among others. Her journalistic
writing has been published in
Granta,
National Geographic,
The
Wall Street Journal,
The Sunday Times,
The Economist and elsewhere.
She is deputy editor of
Five Books, and a regular contributor to
The Guardian.
She was made a
MacDowell fellow in 2019,
and in 2022 received a John Burroughs Medal for the most distinguished book of
nature writing and was the
Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year.
‘Extraordinary … Just when you thought there was
nowhere left to explore, along comes an author with a new category of terrain …
Dazzling.’ The Spectator
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original and previously unpublished.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 (for prose and poetry).
The entry
fee is €15 per entry (a single poem or piece of prose). You you can enter as many times as you like, along with €15 entry fee.
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 30 September 2024.
The winning entries will appear in the
Irish Times online.
You will need to subscribe to our mailing list if you wish to be notified of the results
Call 00
353 87 2657251 or email enquiries@themothmagazine.com for more details
TESTIMONIALS
‘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, former judge
‘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, former judge
‘The
answer to the still present threat of a silent spring is for us to sing against
the storm.’ Richard Mabey, former 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, former winner
With this prize, I am grateful and honoured to
be part of an international literary community and I cannot wait to continue
the conversations with you.’ Libby B Bushell, former winner
‘I am
eternally grateful, however much of eternity I have left in me.’ Arne Weingart,
former winner