⏳ Weekly Writing Contest | March 16: Family Secrets

Submit your entry by Friday, March 21, 5pm GMT / 1pm ET

Artwork by Emma Winterschladen

Welcome to the Weekly Writers' Hour Contest!

This week's challenge invites you to explore the power of secrets—how they shape relationships, unravel truths, and redefine what a family knows about itself.

*NEW* This week, our friends at

Narratively

are adding a one-year subscription to Narratively and a free seat to a Narratively Academy seminar to the first-place winner, and six-month subscriptions to Narratively for the second and third place winners.

Plus: Readers of Writers' Hour Magazine get 50% off an annual Narratively subscription, good through March 31, 2025.

Prompt: Family Secrets

Write about a secret—real or imagined—that upends a family.

Unpublished pieces of 500 words or less in any genre are eligible.

Submissions are due by Friday, March 21st, at 5pm GMT / 1pm ET.

Keep reading for more information on prizes and FAQs – plus an introduction to this week’s guest judge,

Jesse Sposato

, executive editor of

Narratively

.

Happy writing!
The Writers’ Hour Magazine Team

Meet Our Guest Judge:

Jesse Sposato

Jesse Sposato is a journalist, essayist, and editor living in the Catskills. Currently, she is the executive editor at Narratively, and her writing has appeared on Vanity Fair, InStyle, Shondaland, HuffPost, Healthline, Gloria, Business Insider, and many others. She particularly likes to write and edit stories about social issues, feminism, health and wellness, culture, and friendship, and she is working on a collection of essays about coming of age in the suburbs and being boy crazy.

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A Note from Jesse

You know when your friend is telling you a story about their family history as if it's the most run-of-the-mill thing in the world and you're sitting there listening with your jaw wide open, exclamation marks circling your head — because most families do not have secrets (and stories!) like that … We are looking for tales that elicit that kind of reaction, whether you're mining from real life or creating from scratch. We can't wait to see what you come up with! Happy writing.

Narratively

is devoted to original and untold human stories. Writing nonfiction for the contest and want to expand your piece? Pitch it to Narratively!

How to Submit:

• Submissions should be made through our online submission platform, Submittable, and formatted as a Word Doc.

• For more details, please read the full Contest Guidelines.

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The winning entries will receive:

First Prize:

• $65 USD (£50 GBP)

• Publication in Writers’ Hour Magazine

• 3-months of London Writers’ Salon Silver Membership (£79 value)

• 1-year subscription to

  Narratively

• A free Narratively Academy seminar of the winner’s choosing

• Commemorative Writers’ Hour trophy mug

Second Prize:

• Publication in Writers’ Hour Magazine

• 1-month of London Writers’ Salon Silver Membership (£29 value)

• 6-month subscription to

  Narratively

Third Prize:

• Publication in Writers’ Hour Magazine

• 6-month subscription to

  Narratively

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FAQs:

• What genres can I write in?
  All genres - fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc - are welcome.

• Is there a word limit?
  Your piece must be 500 words or less. Pieces that exceed this will not be considered. There is no minimum word limit.

• Do I need to submit in a specific format?
  Please follow the instructions outlined in the Contest Guidelines.

• When is the deadline to submit?
  Submissions are due by Friday, March 21 at 5pm GMT / 1pm ET / 10am PT. Submissions received outside this window will not be considered.

• When will the winner be announced?
  The winner will be contacted via Submittable, and the winning entries will be published in Writers’ Hour Magazine by Saturday, April 4th.

• Can I submit a piece I’ve already published?
  Only previously unpublished pieces are eligible for this contest. (Published means anything that has already been made publicly available in print or online.)

• Is there a fee to submit?
  No, there is no fee to submit. However you must be subscribed to Writers’ Hour Magazine in order for your submission to be considered.

Congratulations to the winners of The Uncanny!

We are thrilled to share the contest results for the week of February 23. Writers were invited to step into the unsettling space between the familiar and the strange. Special thanks once again to our guest judge, Emma Stephenson, Director of Communications and Events at Gotham Writers.

• First Place: His Old School by Jimmy Kavanagh

• Second Place: Heaven’s Gate by Grace Kinsey

• Third Place: Taking Flight by Rory Perkins

Congratulations to the winners, and thank you to everyone who participated. It’s a pleasure to share these pieces with you, and we can’t wait to see what you create this week.

PS - Write with us at Writers’ Hour

Come work on your submission at Writers' Hour—our daily silent writing sprints—where writers from around the world come together to work on their projects. It’s the perfect environment to focus, share space with other writers, and make progress on your contest entry.