Narratively x Emma Roberts: The True Romance Writing Prize 💋💔✍️🏆

We’re weak in the knees over our latest collab, with star actor Emma Roberts, acclaimed producer Karah Preiss, and their production company/book club, Belletrist.

We never need an excuse to lean into love, but this is something a little different than we’ve done before and it has us all aflutter. We’ve absolutely fallen in love with our latest project, a collab with actor Emma Roberts, acclaimed producer Karah Preiss, and their production company/book club, Belletrist. The Narratively x Belletrist True Romance Writing Prize will award remarkable memoir and reported stories— from first dates you’ll never forget to the breakup that rocked your world, love quadrangles to lost-and-found soulmates, unthinkable sacrifices to romantic connections that defy all odds. We’re excited for the big and bold as well as the sweet and simple, with bonus points for new perspectives that shift our understanding of romance and relationships and reignite our pride about being human in 2025. We’ll even be teaming up with Emma and the Belletrist crew to develop our favorite stories for the screen!

How it works:

• Submissions are open Friday, March 21, 2025, through Thursday, May 1, 2025.

• We’ll award winners in the following two categories:

  • Longform (1,000-5,000 words)

    • One grand prize: $3,000

    • Two finalists: $1,000 each

  • Shortread (up to 999 words)

    • One grand prize: $500

    • Two finalists: $250 each

Submissions are $20 per entry for longform (1,000-5,000 words); $10 per entry for shortreads (up to 999 words)

Who is Narratively?

We’re a storytelling platform and global creator community that supports independent journalists and storytellers and celebrates humanity through true, authentic and diverse character-driven content. We publish our original stories on Narratively.com and often with top publishing partners across the globe, and we adapt our favorites into TV, film and podcasts with leading partners from Amazon Studios to Warner Bros. Television. We’re immensely proud and excited to do the same with our Narratively x Belletrist True Romance Writing Prize winners! (You can learn more about Narratively’s mission and business model here.)

Who is Belletrist?

Since its founding in 2017, Belletrist has chosen over 80 books for its book club and dozens more for myriad content features across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and its newsletter, The Belletrist Brief. In 2019, Emma Roberts and Karah Preiss spun out Belletrist Book Club into a production company called Belletrist Productions.

To date, Belletrist Productions has produced two popular television series: First Kill (Netflix), and Tell Me Lies (Hulu), which just aired its second season and was picked up for a third. Belletrist also sold Second Wife to Hulu with the showrunner of Tell Me Lies, and sold Calabasas to Netflix with Kim Kardashian producing.

Belletrist Productions has many more film and TV projects in development with entertainment outlets, such as Hulu, Netflix and Amazon.

Karah Preiss and Emma Roberts. (image courtesy Belletrist)

Who’s judging my story?

Entries will be judged on a rolling basis in four rounds: the first three by veteran Narratively submissions readers and staff, and the final by our incredible and generous guest judges Emma Roberts and Karah Preiss of Belletrist.

What are we looking for, exactly?

Narratively’s stories offer intimate takes on unusual personal experiences, pursuits and passions. Across everything we do, our absolute focus is on supporting fresh and underrepresented voices. We want your stories to focus on love or romance — but above all, we want an honest, in-depth glimpse into your life or your subject’s and, through that, a world we and our readers might not have access to otherwise.

So, how does this work?

Our competition period opens at 2 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on March 21, 2025, and closes at 9 p.m. EDT on Thursday, May 1, 2025. (Winners will be announced on or around June 24, 2025.) Enter your eligible piece via our dedicated form on Submittable by uploading your submission and paying a US$20 or a US$10 entry fee (depending on which category you’re submitting to) within the prize submission period. Or, become a Narratively paid subscriber and get free entry to this (one in each category per person) and all Narratively prizes.

Why do we charge an entry fee?

Your fee will allow us to compensate the people who are enabling us to effectively and fairly evaluate every single prize submission — from our freelance readers to our prize editors, copy editors, fact-checkers, visual editors and producers.

How do I enter for free?

If you’re already a paid subscriber, first of all, thank you for supporting indie journalism! Second of all, just email us at prizes@narratively.com to request the subscriber-only free submission link.

What should my entry look like?

As with all Narratively stories, submissions should be composed of vivid, active scenes, unique characters and an engaging narrative arc. We have a few rules to follow, but encourage maximum creativity within these guidelines. The best way to get a sense of what we’re looking for is to read the stories on the list of examples we love below. (Full formatting info is available on the Submittable links above.)

Here are a few examples of Narratively pieces about love that we, well, love:

• How I Wrote Myself into a Real-life Romantic Comedy — That Turned into a Survivalist Thriller

• My High School Girlfriend Became America’s Most Wanted Drug Queenpin

• I Professed My Love at Mile 15...But Not to My Husband

• The Day My Therapist Dared Me to Have Sex With Her

• My Secret Life as The World's Worst Professional Matchmaker

• The Donkey Farmer’s Magical Matchmaking Book

• Dead Batteries

Your piece should be:

• Ready to publish — no pitches accepted

• Up to 999 words for the shortreads category OR in the 1,000 to 5,000-word range for longform

• Nonfiction

• Original and previously unpublished as a written work in a major publication

• Written in English, although translations are acceptable

You should be:

• Eighteen years of age or older on or before 2 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on March 21, 2025

• Not employed by, related to or sharing living quarters with Narratively or Belletrist staff or our guest judges

To answer your questions:

• We will accept simultaneous submissions (meaning you also can submit your entry to other outlets during our open prize window), but writers must notify us if their piece is accepted elsewhere.

• We will accept multiple submissions from a single author, but each story must be submitted and paid for individually.

• We will accept stories that have been previously published on personal blogs and websites.

• We will permit adaptations from other media (podcasts, scripts, etc.) with disclosure.

• This competition is open to anyone, including past and current Narratively contributors. (Current and former Narratively editors, however, are ineligible.)

• The grand prize winner and finalists will be required to sign our standard contributor agreement.

These are a few of the key points in our agreement:

• You retain print publication rights, should you pursue a book version of your story now or in the future.

• Narratively has the right to pursue TV and film projects based on the work. These projects could be either unscripted/documentary or fictional (inspired by your story).

• Revenue from any TV or film projects is shared with contributors.

• We publish Narratively Out Loud, which features read-aloud audio versions of all Narratively stories, so the contract also gives us the rights to produce those.

Also please take a look at our FAQ page here. For full Prize eligibility and rules, click here. Still have questions? Email us at prizes@narratively.com.

We can’t wait to be invited into your world. Best of luck!