Category Archives: Contests

YA Discovery Contest

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Serendipity Literary Agency in conjunction with Sourcebooks Inc. is hosting their seventh annual Young Adult Novel Discovery Competition. If you’ve had trouble pitching your ideas in the past, no worries with this contest. You won’t even need a query!

YA literary agent Regina Brooks and her team will read all of the entries and determine the top 20 submissions.  (There are supposed to be great prizes for the top winners!) These submissions will then be read by editors from many of the major publishing houses. Past judges include editors from Scholastic, Random House/Penguin, Little, Brown, Candlewick, Bloomsbury, Simon and Schuster, and Abram Books.  Judges will whittle the top 20 down to five winners, including a Grand Prize Winner.

Submissions open on November 1, 2016 at 12:01am (ET) and close on November 30, 2016 at 12:59pm (ET). Only one entry per person with a $15 entry fee. The contest is open to U.S. and Canada residents only.

For complete guidelines and submission rules, or to watch for their upcoming post about prizes, go here.

As always, good luck!

Pitch To Publication Is Coming

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Pitch to Publication

Hard to believe it’s almost time for another Pitch To Publication, aka #P2P16, created by agency intern Samantha Fountain. Writers can follow along on twitter for announcements at the above hashtag (or Samantha’s account), but submissions for the contest will be on the P2P website via a form on October 22, 2016.

This contest is for finished and polished manuscripts only. Writers need to submit a query letter and five pages of their manuscript. The submission window will open at noon EST and last for 24 hours. Authors should peruse the participating freelance editors to know which one to submit their story to because only 3 can be chosen (plus a 4th as backup incase their selections “cap out”). Editors can only receive 100 queries. So authors, do the research necessary to prevent getting deleted because an editor isn’t interested in the genre or age category you submitted.

If chosen, the editor will work with the author for five weeks to hone the story before the agent round begins on December 5, 2016. Requests for fulls will be announced on twitter on December 9, 2016.

As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

The Manuscript Academy Scholarship Giveaway

Contests, Literary, Writing Conferences & Getaways, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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The Pitch Wars community, founded by Brenda Drake, has joined forces with The Manuscript Academy to give away scholarships for upcoming conferences:

Writing Picture Books, Middle Grade, and Young Adult, begins November 5, 2016

How to Get Your Adult Fiction (or Memoir) Published, begins November 26, 2016

THREE writers will be selected based on a brief description of why they want/need this opportunity. Authors should check out The Manuscript Academy and then fill out the form on Brenda’s blog to let the community know why they would like to win. The scholarship giveaway will be open until October 18th!

As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

#PitDark Is Coming!

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Another twitter pitch party is around the corner and I’m excited! Author Jason Huebinger is the host of #PitDark. This is one of my favorite contests because it’s strictly for manuscripts with darker elements, which is soooo appropriate for the month of Halloween. The event begins on October 20, 2016 from 8am-8pm EST. Authors may pitch once an hour per manuscript. Please do not clog the feed by over pitching so agents don’t get frustrated and quit reading.

For complete rules and appropriate hashtags to use, go here. (Note: If your curious, there is a link on this page to see what agents participated in the last #PitDark.)

As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

Dear Lucky Agent Contest

Contests, Critiques, Literary, , , , , , , , , , ,

DearLuckyAgent24

Chuck Sambuchino announced Writer’s Digest is hosting the 24nd “Dear Lucky Agent Contest”. The agent judge is Annie Hwang from Folio Literary Management.

annie_hwang_folio_literary_agency

Originally from Los Angeles, Annie first worked in journalism before moving to New York to pursue her love of book publishing. Since joining Folio Literary Management she has had the pleasure of working with both debut and seasoned authors alike. Find her on Twitter: @AnnieAHwang. She specializes in all categories of literary and upmarket fiction. In addition, she loves working with debut authors who have a gift for storytelling and are able immerse her deep within a well-built world in the space of a few sentences. Braided narratives, layered plots, and characters with deep emotional resonance all occupy a strong place in her heart . Annie is also open to nonfiction in the categories of pop science, diet/health/fitness, food, lifestyle, humor, pop culture, and select narrative nonfiction.

The contest is now live and runs through the end of October 10, 2016 (PST). There will be three winners! First place wins a critique of the first 10 double-spaced pages of your work by your agent judge (and she reserves the right to request the full manuscript). Second place gets a free one-year subscription to WritersMarket.com ($50 value)! And third place gets their choice of any of Chuck’s two new books coming out in September 2017 (the Guide to Literary Agents 2017 or the Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market 2017).

Be sure to check out the submission guidelines and pay close attention to a few things you need to do in order to be eligible. And as always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

Nightmare On Query Street 2016

Contests, Literary, , , , , , , , , , ,

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It’s getting close to Halloween, which means Nightmare On Query Street is soon! But don’t let the title fool you into thinking you’re manuscript won’t qualify. The title is more about when the contest takes place. You can enter any age category or genre, excluding picture books and erotica.

The submission window opens at 4:00 pm (EST) on October 14th. All entries sent before this time will be deleted. For this years contest, there are 25 agents lined up! TWENTY FIVE! How awesome is that? But you’d better be on your toes if you want to submit. They will close submissions when they reach 250 entries or in two hours, whichever is first.

Michelle, Mike, and Laura will make 13 picks each. Then a few mentors they’ve selected will help the authors hone their entries before the agent round. On October 29 through October 30, the entries will go live for the agents to select.

Some rules to take note of:

  • You are not eligible if you’ve been in an agent round in the last six months. (This does not include open twitter pitches.)
  • You can enter if you have a different manuscript to enter than previous agent round you were in.
  •  Only ONE entry per person. (No using multiple emails or pen names!)

You’ll need to send you query and first 250 words, along with a short paragraph (no more than 100 words) answering this question: What is your main character’s most stressful relationship? Who really makes them sweat?

For complete details and submission formatting, go here. Also, be on the look out on each of their blogs for FREE PASSES!

As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

Books By The Banks Contest (Cincinnati)

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The 2nd-annual Books By The Banks Writing Contest includes almost $2,600 in cash prizes. It is generously underwritten by the McLane Foundation to recognize excellent work by the region’s writers. The contest is open to current residents of Cincinnati’s Tri-State Area. (Note: College students whose homes are in Cincinnati but who currently attend school elsewhere are also eligible.) This years theme is the river with a maximum word count per entry of 2,000 words. In the Adult category, prizes of $1,000, $750, and $250 will be awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place awards.  In the Teen category, prizes of $500, $250, and $100 will be awarded. All entries must be emailed or postmarked by Oct. 1, 2016. Be sure to read the entire eligibility and submission guidelines before submitting!

As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction

The Sunday Times Short Story Award

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The Sunday Time Logo

The Sunday Times is sponsoring an international award worth £30,000 to the winner. It’s open to any story of up to 6,000 words written in English. Stories need to have been either previously unpublished or only published after December 31, 2015. Five authors shortlisted for the award will each receive £1,000. The prize is administered by the Society of Authors.

To be eligible, the author must simply have a record of prior publication in creative writing in the United Kingdom or Ireland.

The deadline for entries is 6pm (GMT) on Thursday, 29 September 2016.

Make sure you read the entire instructions and terms and conditions (available as a download) before you submit your entry form! Go here for all the details.

As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

New Voices Award Ending Soon

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Lee & Low Books

LEE & LOW BOOKS, award-winning publisher of children’s books, has been sponsoring the seventeenth annual NEW VOICES AWARD. The Award will be given for a children’s picture book manuscript by a writer of color. Woo-hoo! Another contest just for PB’s!

Eligibility:

  1. The contest is open to writers of color who are residents of the United States, 18 years or older at the time of entry, and who have not previously had a children’s picture book published.
  2. Writers who have published work in other venues and genres, including children’s magazines, young adult, and adult fiction or nonfiction, are eligible.
  3. Only unagented submissions will be accepted.
  4. Work that has been published in any format, including online and self published, is not eligible.
  5. Manuscripts previously submitted for this award or to LEE & LOW BOOKS will not be considered.

Submissions may be Fiction, NonFiction, or Poetry for children ages 5 to 12. (Note: Stories with Anthropomorphic animal characters will not be considered.) Manuscripts shouldn’t be any more than 1500 words.The Award winner will receive a cash prize of $1000 and their standard publication contract, including their basic advance and royalties for a first time author. An Honor Award winner will receive a cash prize of $500. But you need to hurry because submissions have to be postmarked by September 30, 2016. (That’s right, no digital entries!) For complete submission guidelines, go here.

As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

“DEAR LUCKY AGENT” CONTEST

Contests, Literary, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

DearLuckyAgent24

Chuck Sambuchino announced Writer’s Digest is hosting the 23nd “Dear Lucky Agent” Contest. The agent judge is Marisa A. Corvisiero of Corvisiero Literary Agency.

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Marisa A. Corvisiero is the founder of the Corvisiero Literary Agency and their Senior Literary Agent. Before starting her own agency, Marisa worked at the L. Perkins Agency, where she learned invaluable lessons and made a name for herself in the industry. Marisa is seeking creative stories with well developed plots and rich characters with unique voices. She will consider  Contemporary Romance, Thrillers, Adventure, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Science Fiction, or any combination thereof, unique concepts in Fantasy, Adventure and Science Fiction for middle-grade and Picture Books with special stories to deliver a subtle non didactic message. In non-fiction, she enjoys out of the box and high concept spiritual, self-improvement, science, and business books for all ages. You can visit her on Twitter at @mcorvisiero.

Even though you can query Marisa with different age groups that interest her, THIS contest is for completed MIDDLE GRADE novels across all genres — from realistic to contemporary to speculative sci-fi and fantasy. The contest is now live and runs through the end of September 19, 2016 (PST). There will be three winners! First place wins a critique of the first 10 double-spaced pages of your work by your agent judge (and she reserves the right to request the full manuscript). Second place gets a free one-year subscription to WritersMarket.com ($50 value)! And third place gets their choice of any of Chuck’s two new books coming out in September 2017 (the Guide to Literary Agents 2017 or the Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market 2017).

Be sure to check out the submission guidelines and pay close attention to a few things you need to do in order to be eligible. And as always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.