You know what there’s not enough of? Money for writers. Especially women writers.
So we’ve got a little something to help counter that. We’re excited to announce our first-ever Vela contest, with the very excellent Michelle Orange as judge. The Grand Prize is five hundred big ones and the entry is free, so you really have no excuse. Check out the full guidelines on our contest page.
We’re looking for creative nonfiction written by women, with a strong voice, a compelling narrative, and/or a powerful driving question. As you all know by now, we’re not interested in work written exclusively for a female audience (whatever that means). That being said, we’re not so fussed as to whether you send us journalism, memoir, essay, what-have-you. As long as it’s a story you’re burning to tell, it’s probably what we’re after. Take a cruise through the site to get a feel for our style.
And since we know every penny counts, our submission fee is donation-based. If you are in the position to give, awesome; we recommend a $10 donation and we’ll thank you with a snazzy downloadable gift. If not, we’re gratified to have you share your stories with us.
More than a contest, this is about championing women’s voices–all women’s voices. So help us out by promo-ing the hell out of this.


