Here at ELLE we have always been committed to finding new voices and supporting emerging talent. And never has this been more vital than in 2017, when the next generation of women's voices needs to be heard.
As our writing competition enters its ninth year, we want to hear from you.
Don't procrastinate - just start typing. Make this the year you realise that dream of being a writer.
This time we'd like you to write a memoir.
Strong life stories get the ELLE team motivated every time, from Gloria Steinem's My Life on the Road, which inspired the activist in all of us, to Patti Smith's Just Kids, in which the relationship with artist Robert Mapplethorpe taught us how to love and celebrate our friends.
And let us not forget Ariel Levy's The Rules Do Not Apply, which investigates the things that could make or break a woman in 2017, or Lauren Collins' When in French, a love story with the power to make us question our own identity.
So, it's your Turn...
Write a 500-word memoir called The Outfit I Will Never Wear Again. Treat the title as a springboard; your memoir doesn't have to be fashion focused.
Perhaps there was a situation that led you to lend your coat to a stranger, a disastrous interview that you still blame on inappropriate shoes, or a much-loved dress that last fitted you aged five-years-old.
Where you take it is up to you - make the judges laugh, cry or cringe.
The panel will be made up of Lauren Collins, award-winning journalist and writer, Emma Paterson, literary agent for Rogers, Coleridge & White, Sharmaine Lovegrove, ELLE's Literary Editor, and Acting Editor-In-Chief and PPA Writer of The Year 2016, Lotte Jeffs.
Please send your entry to talentcompetition2017@elleuk.com.
The winning memoir will be printed in ELLE's July issue, and the five finalists will be mentioned in the magazine.
Deadline for entries is midnight, 17 April 2017.
