The 2026 Eunice Williams Nonfiction Prize
Ends on
HerStry is pleased to announce the 2026 Eunice Williams Nonfiction Prize with guest judge Mia Mercado. HerStry has long been a place for women and nonbinary folks to tell their stories. Now, we’d like to amplify your stories even more with our contest and prize.
There is no theme to adhere to for this contest, simply nonfiction written by you, about you. Give us your best work, the stuff of your heart. Our stories are what make us, tell yours.
THE IMPORTANT STUFF:
- All essays must be true and about you and previously unpublished.
- Essays must stay under 5,000 words.
- Essays must be submitted in a word document (please no PDFs). Must be in 12pt Times New Roman or Calibri font, double spaced.
- All essays are judged blind, please do not put any identifying information on your document. Essays with identifying information will be discarded without being read.
- Writers are asked to submit a third person bio. Cover letters are fine but, honestly, we don’t care. It’s the quality of the writing we are looking for, not the amount of times you’ve been published.
- While your work is under consideration we ask that you DO NOT submit it elsewhere. Winners will be announced no later than April 13, 2025.
HerStry centers the experiences of women identifying persons. We’re looking for work from bigender/polygender persons, cisgender women, intergender persons/intersex persons, non-binary persons/gender non-conforming persons, transgender women/transfeminine persons, two-spirit. In other words, if you are a cis man, please refrain from submitting. Prizes: First - $400 Second - $250 Third - $100
About Mia Mercado, Guest Judge
Mia Mercado is a humor writer based in Kansas City. She’s the author of WEIRD BUT NORMAL and SHE’S NICE THOUGH, which was named an NPR Book of the Day, a Nylon must-read, and a Publishers Weekly staff pick.
She’s previously worked as a contributor to the Cut, writing a weekly column called I Can’t Shut Up About. Mia’s work has also been featured in places like The New Yorker, the New York Times, Washington Posts’s The Lily, Cosmopolitan, McSweeney’s, Reductress, BUST, The American Bystander, and Hallmark Cards.
***Contest fees go toward contest prize and paying HerStry staff and guest judge***