Sarton Memoir Award: Guidelines

The Story Circle Network (SCN), an international nonprofit association of women interested in writing about their lives, sponsors this annual award. It is named in honor of May Sarton, who is remembered for her work as a memoirist, novelist, and poet.

The award is given annually to the author of the best woman's memoir published in the United States and Canada and selected from works submitted. Professional librarians not affiliated with SCN will select the winner. The 2012 winning author's name and the title of her book will be announced on the Story Circle Network website and at Stories from the Heart, the biannual SCN National Memoir Conference, Austin TX, April, 2014.

Guidelines for 2012

Entry Deadline: December 7, 2012
  • Memoirs by women authors published during 2012 in the United States and Canada are eligible.
    • A book originally published as a hardcover and released later as a trade or mass-market paperback is eligible only if the original copyright date is 2012.
    • Books released/published prior to Jan. 1, 2012, in any print format (hardcover, softcover, POD) are not eligible.

  • Memoirs by women authors written in collaboration are acceptable if both authors must have experienced the events described in the narrative (for example, a mother/daughter collaboration about their lives together).

  • Ghostwritten or collaborative works (memoirs written by or with anyone other than the person who experienced the events therein) are NOT eligible.

  • Anyone (author, publisher, SCN member, non-SCN member, other) may submit one or more eligible memoirs.

  • The memoir must be submitted in its final, reader-ready form. Advance Reading Copies (ARCs) are not acceptable.

  • E-book entries must be submitted in printed and bound form; spiral binding is acceptable.

  • Loose manuscript pages or three-ring binders are NOT acceptable and will neither be acknowledged nor returned.

  • The entry submission package consists of the application form, the entry fee, and three bound copies of the memoir.

  • Entries received with incomplete submission packages will not be acknowledged or returned. The entry fee for an incomplete submission will not be returned.

  • If you would like to check out our rubric (the scoring guide our jurors and judges will use to determine the winner), go here.

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