Memoir (and), a biannual journal dedicated to creative nonfiction that challenges the boundaries of the form, is winding down its summer contest for memoir in poetry and prose. Writers working in any genre can submit their true stories until August 15 for an opportunity to win a prize of five hundred dollars and publication in the magazine.
A second-place prize of two hundred and fifty dollars and a third-place award of a hundred dollars will also be given. There’s no entry fee, and all submissions will be considered for publication.
So what does the journal consider memoir? According to the Frequently Asked Questions page on the Memoir (and) Web site, it's “any creative work that is not fictional and that observes or describes, in one way or another, the author’s personal experience. In form, it can be prose, epistolary, experimental, poetry, narrative photography, graphic, and so on.”
“When we first considered publishing a journal focused on memoir," founding editor Candida Lawrence says, "we were confident that we knew one when we read one, heard one, wrote one,” but adds that set parameters seemed elusive.
For those storytellers with visual arts inclinations, the journal is also offering a hundred-dollar prize for a graphic memoir. The deadline for that prize is also August 15.