The 5 Best Stories From Narratively’s First 5 Years

On our anniversary, our editors pick the very best pieces from each year of Narratively’s existence.

Five years ago this week, a ragtag group of die-hard journalists and storytellers launched Narratively, needing to fill a void we saw in the modern media landscape. We were sick of MacGyvering our stories to meet the increasingly pesky constraints of mainstream media, tired of watching our peers chase the same news and clickbait. Our concept: just one carefully crafted piece a day, celebrating ordinary people with extraordinary stories.

Since then we've grown a global community of 3,000+ contributors who work for some of the top outlets on earth, and an audience of ultra-engaged, loyal readers who turn to Narratively for a refreshing take on our world.

For us editors, picking our favorite stories is a bit like picking a favorite child, but we nonetheless challenged ourselves to choose one piece from each year of our existence. These five stories impacted Narratively in a major way, and they continue to represent the storytelling philosophy we aim to impart on you. Thank you for an inspi…