A new memoir award has been launched by internationally acclaimed creative writing competition, Bridport Prize.

We all have a story to tell about ourselves, the good, the bad and the how did I end up there? The Bridport Prize memoir award celebrates the life story, a fragment in time or rear-view mirror look at what was and now is.

Kate Wilson, programming manager for the Bridport Prize, said: "The pandemic has made us more aware of how fragile life is and how important friends, family and relationships are. A memoir weaves people and places into a story we can relate to, a snapshot of life that tells a truth we can benefit from discovering."

The memoir award will be judged by Cathy Rentzenbirk. Author of the best-selling memoir, The Last Act of Love, about the life and death of her brother. She has also written A Manual for Heartache, Dear Reader and Everyone is still Alive. Her latest book, Write It All Down: How to put your life on the page, was published in January 2022.

Cathy regularly chairs literary events, interviews authors, reviews books, runs creative writing courses and speaks and writes on life, death, love and literature.

The memoir award

The top prize is £1,500 plus a mentoring package from The Literary Consultancy, a consultation with leading London literary agency A.M. Heath, advice from an editor at John Murray, a chance to take part in an online seminar with professor Sam North from the University of Exeter's English department, and the opening chapter/s of the memoir will be published on the Bridport Prize website.

The runner up prize is £750 plus the mentoring package and highly commended is £150.

The deadline is September 30 and the memoir doesn't have to be finished, the competition initially asks for 5,000 to 8,000 words and a 300-word overview.

Find out more here.