Memoir stories offer intimate takes on one-of-a-kind personal experiences. We want an honest glimpse into your life, and through that, into a world we’d never have access to otherwise.

As with all Narratively stories, first-person pitches should detail the compelling, vivid, active scenes your story will have. These scenes should be dramatic, exciting moments of you interacting with others. If most of your story is internal — thinking, feeling, reflecting — instead of moments where you are actively doing things and interacting with others, then it's not the right fit for us.

Some examples of first-person pieces we love:
Welcome to America’s Most Elite Girls Boarding School. Let the Hazing Begin.
I’m Married. I’m a Woman. I’m Addicted to Porn.
How I Wrote Myself into a Real-life Romantic Comedy – That Turned into a Survivalist Thriller

From Monday, October 28, 2024, through Thursday, December 19, 2024, Narratively is accepting entries for our 2024 Memoir Prize. We’re on the hunt for revealing and emotional first-person nonfiction narratives from unique and overlooked points of view. Entries will be judged on a rolling basis in four rounds: the first three by experienced Narratively readers and staff, and the final by our incredible and generous guest judge, critically acclaimed writer Jami Attenberg!

Jami Attenberg is the New York Times bestselling author of 10 books, including The Middlesteins, All Grown Up, the recently published A Reason to See You Again and a memoir, I Came All This Way to Meet You: Writing Myself Home. She is also the creator of the annual online group writing accountability project #1000wordsofsummer, which inspired the USA Today bestseller 1000 Words: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round. Jami has also written for The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The Sunday Times, The Guardian and others. Her work has been published in 16 languages. She lives in New Orleans.

We’ll award the top three writers the following cash prizes, as well as publication on Narratively.com and inclusion in a special Narratively 2024 Memoir Prize Digital Collection:

• Grand Prize: US$3,000
• Finalist: US$1,000
• Finalist: US$1,000

Further, Narratively editors will work with the finalists to potentially adapt their stories into larger projects in different mediums (TV, film, podcasts, etc.).

Competition Info:

• Prize period opens: 9 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on October 28, 2024. 
• Prize period closes: 9 p.m. EDT on December 19, 2024. We will not accept entries once the prize period closes.
• Final decision announced: On or around February 27, 2025. Entrants will be notified via Submittable and/or email.
• Entry fee: US$20, nonrefundable and due at time of entry; free entry for subscribers (become one here!) If you’re already a paid subscriber, first of all, thank you for supporting indie journalism! Second of all, just email us at prizes@narratively.com to request the subscriber-only free submission link.
• Eligibility: Open to folks 18 years of age or older on or before 9 a.m. EDT on October 28, 2024, and who are not employed by, related to or sharing living quarters with Narratively staff or our guest judges. This competition is open to anyone, including past and current Narratively contributors. Current and former Narratively editors are ineligible.

What should my entry look like?

As with all Narratively stories, submissions should be composed of vivid, active scenes, unique characters and an engaging narrative arc. We have a few rules to follow, but encourage maximum creativity within these guidelines. The best way to get a sense of what we’re looking for is to read the stories on the list of examples we love below. 

Here are a few examples of first-person Narratively pieces we love:

• Welcome to America’s Most Elite Girls Boarding School. Let the Hazing Begin.
• My Childhood in an Apocalyptic Cult
• The Adventures of a Pakistani in Texas
• My Bizarre Reign as New York’s King of “Virgin Russian Hair”
• I Was Taught to Hate My Lesbian Neighbors. They Took Me In Anyway.
• Diary of a Bachelor Who Suddenly Became a Solo Dad to a Teenage Girl
• My Secret Life Tracking Down Debtors
• How I Wrote Myself into a Real-life Romantic Comedy — That Turned into a Survivalist Thriller
• My Coming Out Story, Starring a Priest, an Animal Sacrifice and Ricky Martin

Why do we charge a fee? Your entry fee will allow us to compensate the people who are helping us effectively and fairly evaluate every single Prize submission — from our freelance readers to our Prize editors, copy editors, fact-checkers, visual editors and producers. 

Submission Guidelines:

• Ready-to-publish pieces only — no pitches accepted
• Word count: 2,000 to 7,000
• Nonfiction, written in the first person and in English (translations permitted)
• Original and previously unpublished as a written work
• Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but must notify Narratively if entry is accepted elsewhere.
• Multiple submissions from a single author are permitted, but each must be submitted and paid for individually.
• Adaptations from other media (podcasts, scripts, etc.) are permitted with disclosure.
• Any citations should be in endnote form and listed at the end of the Submission.
• Please remove your name and contact information from your Submission.
• Narratively prefers common fonts such as Times New Roman and Arial, at 10-12-point size, double spaced, for ease of reading. Please do not include images or graphics.

To answer your questions: 

• This competition is open to anyone, including past and current Narratively contributors. (Current and former Narratively editors, however, are ineligible.)
• The Grand Prize Winner and Finalists will be required to sign our standard Contributor Agreement.
• These are a few of the key points in our agreement:    
• You retain print publication rights, should you pursue a book version of your story now or in the future.
• Narratively has the right to pursue TV and film projects based on the work. These projects could be either unscripted/documentary or fictional (inspired by your story).
• Revenue from any TV or film projects is shared with contributors.
• We publish Narratively Out Loud, which features read-aloud audio versions of all Narratively stories, so the contract also gives us the rights to produce those.

Take a look at our FAQ page here. 

Please review our complete Official Rules & Submissions Guidelines here.

Still have questions? Email us at prizes@narratively.com.

Not yet ready to submit? Subscribe to Narratively here to receive helpful reminders about deadlines, prize updates and announcements and news about future prizes on a variety of topics.

Having trouble logging into Submittable? Click here for help.

Best of luck!

"Secret Lives" is one of Narratively’s most popular ongoing series, and one for which we’re always looking for new pitches. 

The series includes both reported profiles and first-person essays, and is defined by stories that bring readers into a slice of life they normally wouldn’t have access to.

Like all Narratively pieces, “Secret Lives” stories are narrative-driven, not topic-based. This means they go beyond “this is what it’s like to have this job” and take the reader through a *story* about the job or experience at hand. There needs to be a narrative arc with a clear beginning, middle and end. The writer or subject needs to be transformed in some meaningful way over the course of the story, and that transformation needs to be communicated through active, engaging, vivid scenes. 

There has to be something at stake, something universal and human that’s being unraveled and examined. The most successful “Secret Lives” stories draw the reader in thinking that they have nothing in common with the writer or subject, and by the end leaves them feeling connected to their experience in a way they never imagined possible. 

Some favorites:

Meet Ladybeard, the Crown Prince of Japan’s Strangest Music Scene

Porno Power: The Next Generation

The First Family of Human Cannonballing

The Deep South’s Dames of Dildos

Deep Dives are Narratively's signature longform pieces: big, exciting, cinematic stories. Each Deep Dive takes readers on an epic journey, following its subjects on a months- or years-long odyssey. They are deeply reported and chock-full of engrossing, dramatic scenes. Reading a Deep Dive should feel like watching a great movie.

Like all Narratively stories, we want Deep Dives to be human (focused on a compelling character or characters); narrative (full of vivid, active scenes); and untold (something that hasn't been covered much by other publications). What sets these articles apart is the particularly ambitious reporting, whether in the form of historical research, on-the-ground reporting or both.

Before pitching, please take the time to read some of our best and most successful Deep Dives:

The Curse of the Ship of Gold: How a brilliant scientist went from discovering a mother lode of treasure at the bottom of the sea to fleeing from authorities with suitcases full of cash.

Jannie Duncan: “Beautiful Human” or Fugitive Killer?: She was imprisoned for murdering her husband, then escaped and assumed a new identity. Her adoring friends and employers had no idea.

The Man with the Golden Airline Ticket: The author's dad was one of the only people with a good-for-life, go-anywhere American Airlines pass. Then they took it away. This is the true story of having — and losing — a superpower.

For more stories, check out our Deep Dives section here. 

Please note that Deep Dives are not defined by how long they are, but how ambitious the reporting and storytelling is. We're looking for robust pitches here, with some pre-reporting/research already complete, plus an outline of how you plan to finish the reporting.