Writers are getting their pens and keyboards at the ready as the deadline is fast-approaching for a prestigious town writing competition. 

The Bridport Prize is an international creative writing competition which began more than 50 years ago.

It has a £20K prize fund across different literary forms including novel, short story, poetry and flash fiction. In 2023 the Bridport Prize added memoir to the competition's genres.

The deadline for this year's memoir writing contest is fast approaching on Monday, September 30.

The contest asks what stories we have to tell about ourselves, the good, bad, and how we ended up where we are. The award celebrates life stories, a look back into what was and is.

Entries must be between 5,000 to 8,000 words, including a 300 word overview. 

The top prize will be £1500 plus a mentoring package from The Literary Consultancy. The winner is also invited to attend an industry day with London literary agents and publishers and take part in a discussion with the University of Exeter’s Creative Writing Department.

The opening chapter/s of the memoir will also be published on the Bridport Prize website. 

Runners up will receive £750 plus a mentoring package. 

This year's Bridport Prize memoir award judge is author and broadcaster Lemn Sissay whose own memoir, My name is Why?, became a number one Sunday Times bestseller and won the Indie Book Awards non-fiction prize. 

Kate Wilson, programme manager at Bridport Prize said: "Discovering people’s personal stories that have universal meaning helps us all to navigate the twists and turns of life.

"Memoir is about being human."

Many writers have launched their careers with the Bridport Prize and ended up on the best sellers lists, with previous winners including Kate Atkinson MBE, Kit de Waal and Sean Lusk.

Kate Atkinson said: "I have enormously fond memories of the Bridport Prize. It gave me one of the first affirmations that I could write.

"The story I wrote for the competition was the first time I felt I found that elusive thing – my ‘voice’. Without the Bridport Prize I would probably not have found my agent and quite possibly wouldn’t have written Behind the Scenes at the Museum so I have a lot to be thankful to it for.’

You can find out more information and apply for the award by going to the Bridport Prize website: https://bridportprize.org.uk/the-competition/memoir-award/