Graywolf Press is hosting a nonfiction book competition, which awards a book contract and a $12,000 advance to the winning author.  They do not want completed manuscripts. They want a “manuscript in progress.”

The deadline for submission is February 1st, 2020.

According to their website:

A $12,000 advance and publication by Graywolf Press will be awarded to the most promising and innovative literary nonfiction project by a writer not yet established in the genre. 

The 2020 prize will be awarded to a manuscript in progress. We request that authors send a long sample from their manuscript, as well as a description of the work, as detailed below. We expect that we will work with the winner of the prize and provide editorial guidance toward the completion of the project. 

The Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize emphasizes innovation in form and content, and we want to see projects that test the boundaries of literary nonfiction. We are less interested in straightforward memoirs, and we turn down a large number of them every year. Before submitting your manuscript for the prize, please look at the books previously published as winners of the prize for examples of the type of work that we are seeking. 

Writers must live in the United States and not be “already established in the genre.” This means they’re looking for new authors without significant publishing experience.

Unlike many other book contests, submission is completely free.

To learn more, read their contest guidelines.