Contest Submissions



Memoir (and) Biannual Prize for Nonfiction
Grand Prize Winner receives $500 and publication

Memoir (and) is an up-and-coming journal for the exploration of memoir as “the” genre of the 21st century. We are based in Sausalito, California, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

We strive with each issue to include a selection of prose, poetry, graphic memoirs, epistolary memoirs, narrative photography, lies and more. The editors particularly invite submissions that push the traditional boundaries of both form and content in the exploration of the representation of self, and are especially looking for graphic memoirs. Memoir (and) is available in print in over 600 bookstores in the U.S. and Canada, including Borders, Barnes & Noble, Hastings and independent bookstores.

Contest Guidelines

The reading period for the contest is May 1, 2008 through August 15, 2008.


  1. Submit 10,000 words or fewer online using the Memoir (and) Submissions Manager, or by snail mail. Only one prose submission per person, or a maximum of five poems. If you are sending narrative photographic images, please limit yourself to a maximum of five. If you have a graphic memoir, send a low resolution jpg or tiff of some panels and a brief description.
  2. Submit $10 contest entry fee online, or by check or money order.
  3. Submissions marked “contest submissions” but without a $10 entry fee will be regarded as general submissions and considered for publication.
  4. We do not accept previously published submissions; WE DO ACCEPT SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS.
  5. We purchase one-time rights and pay with copies.
  6. Pages have a way of becoming separated from each other like lively children. Yet we don’t think the writer’s name should be evident to our judges while reading. Therefore please use the following format:
    7. - On the cover page: your name and contact information, and the entry’s title.
    - On every page: the entry’s title.
    - All pages numbered and double-spaced.
  7. Be sure to include a self-addressed, stamped envelope if you want us to write back to you via snail mail about your submission.
  8. Manuscripts will not be returned.
  9. Entries must be postmarked between May 1, 2008 and August 15, 2008.
  10. Send snail mail entries and entries fees to: Memoir Journal, P.O. Box 1398, Sausalito CA 94966-1398.
  11. Questions? Visit our Online Submissions page, or read our Submissions FAQ.