Any woman, anywhere, can enter the weHeroines Heroine's Journey Writing Contest.
Prizes up to $500, plus global recognition. Submit today.
Wherever you are, your story matters.
No matter where you live or what your schedule allows, the weHeroines Writing Contest gives every woman a page to tell her Heroine's Journey story.
What the contest is.
Using the same framework we share at the Conference and in our Gatherings, you put your story into your own words — the Call, the doubts that tried to talk you out of it, the Leap you took anyway, and who you became on the other side.
This is the most accessible of everything weHeroines does. No travel, no schedule to clear — just your story, in your own words, whenever you're ready to write it.
Prize Tiers
1st Prize
$500
2nd Prize
$300
3rd Prize
$200
Honorable Mention
$100
Past Finalists
Over the years, women have submitted stories from around the world. Last year, one of our finalists wrote hers from Italy.
Visit The School For Real-Life Heroines' blog to read these stories. Click below to read last year's winner, Ellen Webster.
How To Enter Our 2026 Contest
Step 1: Sign up for the contest. (link below)
Step 2: Review the criteria (see below) to make sure you know the requirements, then start writing!
Step 3: Submit your entry to eghale9@gmail.com by December 1, 2026, at 11:59 pm.
Step 4: We'll announce the winners on February 13th, 2027!
Requirements
Eligibility
The Heroine’s Writing Contest is open to women, whether published or not, with no experience required. Previously published stories in other contests, books, magazines, etc. are not accepted. Submissions are welcome if they are original to the contest entrant and meet the following guidelines. Past winners can not apply. (One submission per contest entry.)
Format
Entries will be identified by the author’s name, which should appear in the upper right-hand corner of each page.
- All multi-page entries must be titled and paginated.
- All entries must have one-inch margins and page numbers.
- Your story must be double-spaced.
- Poems are accepted and may be spaced and arranged according to the poet’s intent.
- All entries must be submitted in a Microsoft Word file (.doc or .docx) or a .PDF file (.pdf). When format is an integral part of the work’s aesthetic effect, a scanned image converted to a PDF document is acceptable.
*** Most importantly, Heroine’s Writing Contest entries must use the common structural elements of the Heroine’s/Hero’s Journey, which appear universally in myths, fairy tales, stories, and movies. Joseph Campbell brought the term “Hero’s Journey” into popular use. He used it to represent either men or women. My work is about empowering women to accept that they are true Heroines on a transformational journey. I use the term “Heroine’s Journey”. The contest entries will be your personal stories written within the general structure of the Hero/Heroine's Journey framework.
Click here to read more about this framework.
Contestants will email their stories with double line spacing, within a maximum of (3) pages (750 words). All entries must be original works. All stories must be about the author submitting, not someone else.
How will the contest be judged?
Our four judges will read your work according to the following – criteria are weighted accordingly:
- The story effectively relates to the theme of the contest (it should touch on at least three Heroine’s Journey milestones): 40%
- Character development is clear: 30% (the goal of the journey is to transform the heroine)
- Creativity: 30%
Stipulations:
- All entrants retain the copyright to their submissions; however, we would like to share your stories with our online community. We ask contest participants to grant weHeroines the right to reproduce any submission on its website or blog.
The Heroine’s Writing Contest
Have you ever felt a story brewing inside you, waiting to be shared? This is your moment to shine! Our writing contest is back, inviting you to embrace your inner Heroine and pen your unique story. It's time to celebrate the everyday triumphs, the quiet acts of courage, and the unwavering spirit of women everywhere.
Enter today and let your voice be heard! You might even win $500.00!
Sign up now and receive writing guidance, inspiration, and deadline alerts.
Register anytime. Get prompts and reminders as the deadline approaches.
All entries must be in by December 1st at 11:59 pm.
Read More About The Writing Contest
The Heroine’s Writing Contest is open to everyone whether published or not, regardless of experience. Previously published stories in other contests, books, magazines, etc. are accepted and welcome as long as they are original to the contest entrant and meet these guidelines.
Meet Our Judges
Kim Kalicky
Kimberley Kalicky is the author of Eventide (fiction) - murder with a twist as three middle-aged couples cruise to Monhegan Island, Maine.
She is also the author of Mothers Fulfilled (self-help), which has been featured on the Huffington Post, mariashriver.com, the television show 207, and the Dr. Lisa radio show produced by the Maine Media Collective.
She is also the author of Away at a Camp in Maine (travel memoir), first-place winner for nonfiction in the 2011 national Beach Book Festival writing contest. This book has sold at L.L. Bean.
Kalicky is a thirty-year veteran in the finance field and was the assistant vice president for operations and marketing at R. M. Davis Wealth Management in Portland, Maine.
Her articles have been featured on mariashriver.com, The Huffington Post, TheCommonerMagazine.com and The Simple Things, U.K. magazine.
She shares her travel writing and photography at Living Maine Seasons and blogs at KimKalicky.com.
Kim is a past Secretary on the board of The Telling Room, a writing center in Portland for children ages 6–18.
Her personal essay, "The Beach to Beacon Roadrace and My Godvoice," placed in the Writers Digest national writing contest and "Heroine’s Journey" placed second in Maine.
Her books are available on Amazon.
I'm young enough to still believe in magic.
I'm old enough to value every single day.
Every single encounter.
Every gorgeous sunset that gives way to full moons.
I will forever feel blessed to have lived in New England,
in Maine,
with our oceans and mountains and seasons.
Quiet. Colors. Ebbs. Flows.
Escape with me amidst the beauty that is Maine.
Margaret Jones
Margaret Jones
Margaret Jones, M.Ed has a background in social work and education with a certificate in therapeutic storytelling. For over thirty years she worked in nonprofits as a counselor, public speaker and grant writer.
With funding from the State of Maine, she developed Storytelling with Heart, a curriculum for professionals to create and use stories in their work with clients and/or communities. She traveled nationally with her curriculum, developed a CD and published several articles on storytelling.
In 2003, she received an award from the National Storytelling Association for her contribution to the field of therapeutic storytelling.
Margaret’s love for the Tarot grew out of her love for stories and undeniable curiosity in all things mystical. In 1982, she began her studies with Rachel Pollock, Mary Greer and Caitlin and John Matthews. She continues to be part of a peer support group of Tarot readers and offers readings to those who wish to be guided by the intuitive power of the cards.
At the age of nineteen, Margaret began her travels abroad in search of her Welsh grandmother’s birthplace. That journey ignited her desire to visit sacred sites and encouraged her to search for stories that lay in the landscape. She now leads small groups on guided tours to sacred sites and shares the stories of the region.
In her spare time, Margaret performs, writes travel essays, and continues her research on mythic stories.
Walking Sacred Sites: Listening to their Stories
by Margaret W. Jones; Published by Maine Authors Publishing
As a travel guide and storyteller, Margaret invites us into her world. She transports us to places she has visited, from her search for ancestral sites in Wales and Scotland to sacred sites in England, Ireland, and Jordan. She walks the land, listens deeply and hears the story as well as feels the ancestors’ presence. With compelling detail, Margaret narrates a lesser- known history of these sacred places by touching stones, kneeling before holy wells, and sensing the more invisible forces around her. She hears the whispers of the ancestors who once lived there and weaves magic into their deeper stories.
Kathy Swaar
Kathy Swaar
A writer, blogger, quilter, retired pastor and adjunct professor, Kathy is the author of the non-fiction grief memoir.
Fine Lines: Walking the Labyrinth of Grief and Loss and the historical fiction novel Sophie. Her current work-in-progress is a contemporary mystery novel. CEO of her family's Midwestern US farm corporation, Kathy makes her home in Central Illinois.
When not writing or tending farm business, she can be found reading, watching sports and cooking shows, digging up dead relatives - indulging her genealogy hobby - sewing, and collecting cookbooks and antique glassware.
Kathy writes in multiple genres. To find out more about her latest projects, visit her website www.kathyswaar.com, or her substack Putting Life into Words https://kathyswaar.substack.com. You can also connect with her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/KathySwaarAuthor and on Instagram at @kathy_swaar.
Lisa Barstow
Lisa Barstow
New York City native Lisa Barstow earned her BA in Creative Writing from Vermont College. Trained as a writing workshop facilitator in the AMA Method at Amherst Writers and Artists in Amherst, Massachusetts, she has led AMA workshops and retreats in Maine for over two decades. Her own essays and poems have been featured in numerous publications from New England to Hawaii, where she lived for several years.
Lisa has written two memoir, Don’t Go Back to Sleep and its sequel Where the Two World’s Touch. She is working on her next book There is a Field, I’ll Meet you There, to create a trilogy- available January 2027.
Unpublished books, In the Company of Women: Women’s Musings on Elderhood and Poems from the Heart can be ordered from her website.
Lisa lives in Maine with her husband Bill Stepchew.
