The deadline for Oregon Quarterly’s annual Northwest Perspectives essay contest is fast approaching.

The contest showcases outstanding nonfiction writing and offers $2,000 in cash prizes. The first-place essay will be published in the magazine and all winners are invited to participate in a reading on campus.

Essays, due Jan. 20, must have some connection to the Pacific Northwest, but the interpretation of a “Northwest Perspective” is intentionally left open. Essays may be set in the region or perhaps invoke local sensibilities.

The judge for this year’s contest is Lidia Yuknavitch, author of the anti-memoir “The Chronology of Water,” the novel “Dora: A Headcase” and two forthcoming novels from Harper Collins. She received her doctorate in modern and postmodern literature from the UO and is the recipient of an Oregon Book Award and a Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award. 

For more information on the contest, visit www.oregonquarterly.com/essay.