Now in its 6th year, the Annual Memoir Prize awards Memoir and Creative Nonfiction book-length works of exceptional traditionally, self-published, and previously unpublished prose.
Categories: Traditionally published, Self-published works, and Unpublished Manuscripts
Submissions: opening September 30th, 2026
Total prizes: $5,000
Enter via: Submittable
Submit your full-length memoir for the Memoir Prize and a chance to win cash, a feature in Memoir Magazine, and a year’s worth of free advertising. The only contest of its kind dedicated exclusively to the Memoir genre. This is a real opportunity for outstanding traditional, independent, and self-published memoir authors to get the recognition they deserve. Unpublished manuscripts will have the remarkable chance to present a prize-winning manuscript for consideration by agents and publishers.
You may submit a full-length book of Memoir, Narrative, or Creative Nonfiction, an Essay Collection, or a Graphic Narrative as a single entry.
There are no restrictions on subject matter, page count, age of the author, type of publisher, year of publication, or number of authors.
Entries will be judged in three rounds: the first by experienced Memoir Magazine readers and staff, and the final two rounds by a select group of the previous year’s Memoir Prize Winners.
The MEMOIR MAG team truly loves discovering and promoting a variety of new books and authors throughout the year, and your entry fee supports all the good work we do at our literary magazine. This Contest allows us to offer free creative nonfiction content for the public. It guarantees authors’ works will always be discovered by new readers and students who rely on our archive of first-person narratives.
We can’t wait to read your story. Best of luck!
Getting excited!
How exciting! When will the contest close for 2026?