Nomination Guidelines

The Best American Essays (updated January 6, 2026)

The Best American Essays features a selection of essays published in North American periodicals (or by North American writers in English-language periodicals published abroad) 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.

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Qualifications for essays nominated to the series:

Original publication as an unabridged, stand-alone essay in a North American periodical or by a North American writer in English-language periodicals published abroad,

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 2027 will feature essays published January 1-December 31, 2026).

Nomination Guidelines (please read!):

Editors of print periodicals 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 21, 2026, will be reviewed. If you are the editor of a print periodical whose last issue will not be received by this date, please send hard-copy printouts of essays published in the periodical, to arrive by December 21, 2026 (this is a receipt deadline, not a postmark deadline).

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 November 15 (a receipt deadline). Please query the editor about whether the series is subscribed to a particular print publication as 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 hundreds 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 1, 2026 (a receipt date). You may send a final, fifth nomination, to arrive by December 15, 2026, 5:00 pm, via email. For work published between December 15-31, please email me in advance.

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 November 15, 2026, for the 2027 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.

PLEASE DO NOT staple or paper clip nominations; instead, please separate them with Post-It notes. Please include a cover letter that includes publication information for each nominated essay (date, volume/issue #, etc.).

Before self-nominating 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 address below. 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

80 Birch Lane, Irondequoit NY 14622

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 6 January 2026