Nomination Guidelines

The Best American Essays (updated January 1, 2025)

The Best American Essays features a selection of essays published in North American periodicals (or by North American writers in foreign English-language publications) each calendar year.

These essays are works of literary achievement that show a keen awareness of craft and originality and forcefulness of thought. Many hundreds of essays are gathered annually from a wide assortment of print and digital publications. These essays are then screened, and approximately one hundred are turned over to a distinguished guest editor, who may add a few personal discoveries and who makes the final selections. The list of notable essays appearing in the back of the book includes essays selected by the series editor.

The qualifications for essays nominated to the series are:

• Original publication as an unabridged, stand-alone essay in a nationally distributed North American periodical or by a North American writer in a foreign, English-language publication and

• Publication in English (originally written in English or translated into English by the essay’s author) and

• Publication during the calendar year for the volume (e.g., The Best American Essays 2025 features essays published January 1-December 31, 2024).

Other considerations:

• Print periodical editors are encouraged to send a complimentary subscription to the series editor (see the address below). No further action is required as all eligible essays will be considered and all issues received by December 31, 2025, will be reviewed. If you are the editor of a print periodical whose last issue will not be mailed or received before the end of the year, you can send a PDF—as soon as it is available—to bestamericanessayseditor@gmail.com.

• Former guest editors of the series and writers whose essays have been published—i.e., reprinted—in a previous volume of the series are encouraged to nominate up to five of their own eligible essays, or up to five essays by other writers. These nominations must be received as hard-copy tear sheets by December 15. You need not nominate your work or that of others if the series is subscribed to the print publication in which your work appears. You are encouraged to nominate work appearing in digital publications as reading the hundred of online periodicals is impossible.

• Editors of digital periodicals are encouraged to nominate up to five essays per calendar year. Please send hard copy (including author contact information) of the majority (four of five) by November 15, 2025. You may send a final, fifth nomination, to arrive by December 29, 2025, 5:00 pm, via email.

• All eligible self- and print-journal nominations (with exception of publications sending complimentary subscriptions) must be submitted as hard-copy tear sheets before or on December 15, 2025, for the 2026 volume. Allowances will be made for those periodicals whose final issue of the calendar year is published between December 15-31 to submit up to one of the five nominations via email.

Before you self-nominate your work, please note:

Writers whose work has not been published in the series (including those whose work is cited as Notable) are invited to email bestamericanessayseditor@gmail.com to determine if a print journal or magazine in which their work appears is a periodical to which the series is subscribed. If the series is not subscribed to a particular print publication, authors are invited to send a copy in which their work appears to the above address. All nonfiction is reviewed, and all eligible essays are read.

For writers whose work is published in digital periodicals, please forward nomination guidelines to your editors or to fellow writers whose work has been included (i.e., reprinted) in a previous volume of the series.

Please address all nominations or subscriptions to:

Kim Dana Kupperman, Series Editor

The Best American Essays

P.O. Box 569, Hartland VT 05048

The Best American Essays will not consider:

• Abridgments, adaptations, or excerpts from longer works (published in a periodical).

• Essays included in collections or anthologies which have not appeared in a periodical.

• Works of specialized scholarship.

• Unpublished work or work appearing in personal online publications such as blogs or self-published digital newsletters.

• Nominations that do not include a full citation (name of publication, date, author contact information, etcetera).

• More than five nominations from a single eligible author or editor.

• Nominations that arrive after the deadline.

• Nominations sent via email except when discussed with the series editor.

Please note:

• Editors of print periodicals: Please make sure that your publication is being sent directly to the series editor at the correct address (above).

• All nominations from print publications to which the series is not subscribed must be submitted as tear sheets, or copies from the publication (i.e., not in manuscript or printout format).

• All nominations from online publications must be: printed from the digital source, readable in print, and contain all relevant citation (publication name, date of publication, byline) and author contact information.

• Unfortunately, we are unable to reply to individuals who are nominating their own work or that of others.

Updated 1 January 2025