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.
Deep Wild Journal Annual Student Writing Contest
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. Thanks to all who sent us work! We wish we could have honored more. Check back in the fall for information and guidelines for our 2025 Student Contest.
Student and Faculty Discounts
Special Educational Discount for Deep Wild 2024: $12 for Students and Teachers, domestic postage included. That’s 50% off our usual price, for 160 pages of writing by 51 authors, including the top two graduate student essay winners. To read the forward and contents of the current issue, visit our home page.
To get your individual copy of Deep Wild at the Special Educational Discount of $12.00, 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 $12.00 to Deep Wild Journal, c/o Rick Kempa, 2309 Broadway, Grand Junction, CO 81507
Special Educational Discount for Deep Wild 2021: $5 for Students and Teachers!
For a limited time only, we are able to offer a Special Educational Discount of $5.00 for Deep Wild 2021, a price that covers postage and handling. A shipping problem from the printer resulted in imperfections in many copies—typically, a smudge or crease or bent corner that makes them unsuitable for sale—and All-American Printing has made these copies available for educational use. Anyone who teaches or studies at a high school or college is welcome to claim one of these copies.
To get your individual copy of Deep Wild 2021 at the Special Educational Discount of $5.00, click on the following link to be taken to our secure PayPal site (which accepts credit cards).
These discounts are for current students and faculty only. If possible, please verify your status as a student or teacher by placing your order using your school email address. If your PayPal is linked to a different email account, simply send a short, separate email to deepwildorders@gmail.com in which you give the name of your school and your status, and that will work for us. Thanks!
Previous Winners of the Student Contest
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.
The winners of our 2022 Deep Wild Graduate Student Essay Contest were First Place, Kelsey Wellington, Lindenwood University, for “An Ordinary Day” (To read Kalle’s essay, click here!); Second Place, Chelsey Waters, Eastern Oregon University, for “Betweenness”; Third Place, Kalle Fox, University of Montana, for “How to Botch a Funding Award.” Honorable Mentions were Meghan Harrison, Western Carolina University, for “The Cradle,” Maddie Melton, University of Utah, for “Go West, Young Man: Reimagining Gender on the Pacific Crest Trail,” Hannah L. Coble, University of Minnesota, for “Swimming among Mountain Tops,” and Mikaela Osler, University of New Mexico, for “Land of Many Uses.”
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 