Anne Brown Essay Prize Terms and Conditions

The Anne Brown Essay Prize awards £1500 for the best literary essay by a writer in or from Scotland.

The Anne Brown Essay Prize will launch on 16 February 2026.

Terms and Conditions

• Entries open on 16 February 2026
  
  
• Entries close on 15 June 2026 
  
  
• 4000-word limit
  
  
• Essays may be on any subject
  
  
• There is no limit to the number of essays that entrants can submit
  
  
• Each essay should be submitted as a separate Word or PDF document
  
  
• Alterations cannot be made once an essay has been submitted
  
  
• The judging panel has sole interpretation of what constitutes an essay
  
  
• The organisers especially welcome unpublished essays. Published authors and their publishers are also invited to submit work published no earlier than 1 July 2025
  
  
• Entries should be emailed to annebrownessayprize@wigtownbookfestival.com. Please include your name, address, email address and telephone number in the body of the email. If you do not currently live in Scotland, please also state your association with Scotland per the eligibility details below
  
  
• Names of entrants must not appear on the entry or file name

• There is no entry fee
  
  
• A shortlist will be announced with writers' names published on the Wigtown Book Festival website by 1 September 2026.  Please check our website for this announcement as notifications may not be sent out

Eligibility

• Entrants must be aged over 16
  

• Entrants must be resident in Scotland, born in Scotland or have a longstanding association with Scotland. The judges’ decision in interpreting these conditions is final. Entrants are invited to seek advice if in doubt over eligibility
  
  
• Salaried staff and current Trustees of Wigtown Festival Company may not enter the competition. Freelancers who have received payment from Wigtown Festival Company are eligible to enter

Additional Terms

• Entrants are expected to ensure that entries conform to the laws on copyright and defamation. The organisers admit no liability for any losses or damages arising from participation in this competition
  
  
• Winning entrants will be expected to give reasonable assistance in any promotion associated with the prize, including press interviews
  
  
• In addition to the winning essay, commendations may be given at the discretion of the judges, though no monetary prize will be awarded

• As a creative organisation, WFC is committed to supporting human creativity, authentic voice and the craft of writing. Our writing competitions prohibit submissions using artificial intelligence or large language models at any stage of the creative process. As part of the submission process, all competitors must declare that their entries are their own original work and that AI / LLM systems have not been used in generating, creating, drafting or editing their work. Systems for detecting AI content are imperfect, so our approach is based on trust, the standards creative communities typically expect, and clear communication of our rules. We expect entrants to the Anne Brown Essay Prize to have the integrity to observe these rules; but if we discover that a winning or shortlisted entry contains AI-generated content: the entry will be disqualified; any prizes will be forfeited; and the entrant will be barred from future competitions.