The mission of Deep Wild: Writing from the Backcountry is to publish the best work we can find in celebration of and in defense of places where there are no roads. The editors of Deep Wild are committed to supporting education and encouraging student writers to find their own words for the wild. Thus, we are pleased to offer educational discounts, to sponsor an annual student writing contest, and to invite adoption of Deep Wild Journal as a classroom text. Scroll down the page for more details on each.
Student and Faculty Discounts
Special Educational Discount for Deep Wild 2025: $14 for Students and Teachers, domestic postage included. That’s 40% off our usual price for 160+ pages of writing by 52 authors, including the winners of the 2025 “Waking to the Wild” Student Contest.
To get your individual copy of Deep Wild at the Special Educational Discount of $14.00, click on the following link to be taken to our secure PayPal site (which accepts credit cards). 
Alternatively, you may send an order request with a check for $14.00 to Deep Wild Journal, 2309 Broadway, Grand Junction, CO 81507
This discount is for current students and faculty only. If possible, please place your order using your school email address. If your PayPal is linked to a different email account, please let us know which school you are affiliated with by emailing us at deepwildorders@gmail.com
Deep Wild Journal Annual Student Writing Contest
The results are in for our 2025 “Waking to the Wild,” Student Contest.
Click on this link to see the results of the 2025 “Waking to the Wild” Student Writing Contest. Thanks to all the good students who sent us work from throughout the United States and beyond and best wishes for your future success.
Previous Winners of the Student Contest
Our 2024 Graduate Student Prose Contest Winners. The results of the 2024 Deep Wild Journal Graduate Student Prose Contest are in! Click on this link to learn which writers our judges favored.
Close to one hundred student poets from throughout the United States and beyond sent in their work to the 2023 Deep Wild Graduate Student Poetry Contest. Click here for the 2023 contest winners and honorable mentions.
Click here to read about the winners of our 2022 Deep Wild Graduate Student Essay Contest.
Our 2021 Undergraduate Student Poetry Contest was won by Lauren Young, a freshman at the University of Connecticut, for her poem “Tonight, in the Northeast.” Sam Sharp, a senior at Kent State University, earned second place for his poem “Blankets.”
The winner of our 2020 Undergraduate Student Essay Contest was Brandon Losier of Ball State University, for his essay “How to Run Away.”
Our thanks go out to the many student writers who have sent us their work over the years. We wish we could have honored more of them!
Using Deep Wild in the Classroom
With 168 pages of essays, poems, stories, and artwork on a wide range of wilderness themes, both personal and political, Deep Wild 2023 is a stimulating text for students in creative writing, environmental studies, and other classes. The issue is currently being used by students in Western Colorado University’s MFA in Nature Writing program and Penn State’s Undergraduate Wilderness Literature class. Feel free to Contact editor Rick Kempa to discuss possibilities for classroom use.
Multiple Copies for Classroom Use Available at Special Educational Discount!
Teachers, if you decide, after reviewing the journal,, that you would like to use Deep Wild in your classroom, please email us at deepwildorders@gmail.com with the exact amount you need. If copies are still available at the Special Educational Discount rate, we will send them all to you with a bill for postage. Please include your mailing address for USPS packages, the name of the institution where you teach, and the name of the class.
Once these Special Discount copies have all been claimed, copies for classroom use will revert to $8 each, plus shipping. Prices for single copies will revert to standard educational discount rates of $10 for students and $12 for faculty, a cost that includes postage.
For all Educational Discount orders, please place your order using your school email address. Alternatively, if your PayPal is linked to a different email account, send a short, separate email to deepwildorders@gmail.com in which you give the name of your school and your status, and we will believe you. Thanks!
Contest Support: We can always use additional financial support to provide cash awards for our contest winners. If you’re interested in helping us with this endeavor, please click here to donate or contact rickkempa.deepwildjournal@gmail.com
Deep Wild Journal 