Editorial Focus
Appalachia welcomes narrative, historical, and science essays on the following topics: mountain, wilderness, and backcountry adventure; technical climbing; canoeing and kayaking; nature and climate change; and land ethics. The magazine works far ahead and publishes twice a year. The editors accept submissions all year, but response time can be fairly quick in the following months: April to June and October to December. They sometimes will take many months to respond but welcome a check-in if you haven't heard from them in two months.
Tips From the Editor
We publish short pieces about adventure in our Skyline Sketches department. We sometimes assign newsier pieces about mountains, rescue, and science. We do not publish fiction yet but are working on an open call for fiction in the near future. Email the editor to ask.
Enter our Waterman Fund Essay Contest, for emerging writers on wilderness topics, by mid-winter each year. Appalachia cosponsors this with the Waterman Fund. See watermanfund.org. Those who have not published major work nationally may submit 2,000- to 3,000-word essays on the role and place of wilderness in the modern world. First prize is $1,500. Second prize is $500. Both will be published online and in Appalachia.