Category Archives: Contests

PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship ($5,000)

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Pen America

The PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship of $5,000 is offered annually to an author of children’s or young-adult fiction. It has been developed to help writers whose work is of high literary caliber and is designed to assist a writer at a crucial moment in his or her career to complete a book-length work-in-progress.

Who Is Eligible

  • A candidate is a writer of children’s or young adult fiction in financial need.
  • Candidates must have published one or more novels for children or young adults that have been warmly received by literary critics, but have not generated sufficient income to support the author.
  • The writer’s previously published book(s) must be published by a U.S. publisher (not self-published).
  • The submitted work must be fiction and a work-in-progress. Graphic novels and picture books are not accepted.
  • Judges will be looking for candidates whose work has not yet attracted a broad readership.

For submissions guidelines, go here. But if you want to participate, you need to hurry because the deadline is September 19, 2016.

As always, good luck!

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

#PitMad is Tomorrow!

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images (1)

Nothing soothes the writerly soul than a good twitter pitch party! Tomorrow is Brenda Drake‘s infamous #PitMad between the hours of 8am-pm (EDT). Common age category and genre hashtags are below.

Age Categories:

#PB = Picture Book
#C = Children’s
#CB = Chapter Book
#CL = Children’s Lit
#MG = Middle Grade
#YA = Young Adult
#NA = New Adult
#A = Adult

Genres/Sub-genres:

#AA = African American
#AD = Adventure
#CF = Christian Fiction
#CON = Contemporary
#CR = Contemporary Romance
#DIS = Disabilities
#DV = Diversity
#E = Erotica
#ER = Erotic Romance
#ES = Erotica Suspense
#F = Fantasy
#H = Horror
#HA = Humor
#HF = Historical Fiction
#HR = Historical Romance
#INSP = Inspirational
#IRMC = Interracial/Multicultural
#MR = Magical Realism
#M = Mystery
#Mem = Memoir
#LGBT
#LF = Literary Fiction
#NF = Non-fiction
#R = Romance
#P = Paranormal
#PR = Paranormal Romance
#RS = Romantic Suspense
#S = Suspense
#SF = SciFi
#SPF = Speculative Fiction
#T = Thriller
#UF = Urban Fantasy
#W = Westerns
#WF = Woman’s Fiction

The rules clearly state to only pitch THREE times per manuscript during the contest. Don’t break the rules and clog the feed! Also, please remember anyone can stalk the feed. So, do your research before submitting your manuscript!

As always, good luck!

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

“Dear Lucky Agent” Contest

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DearLuckyAgent24

Chuck Sambuchino announced Writer’s Digest is hosting the 22nd “Dear Lucky Agent” Contest. The agent judge is ANDREA MORRISON of Writers House.

andrea-morrison

 She started as an intern for Steve Malk in the California office in 2009, and has been in love with publishing and the company ever since. In NYC, she first learned under Brianne Johnson, and then went on to assist Rebecca Sherman and Geri Thoma. For this contest, she’ll want the first 150-250 words (i.e., your first double-spaced page) of your unpublished, completed book-length work of young adult (no high sci-fi or high fantasy, please). You must include a contact e-mail address with your entry and use your real name. Also, submit the title of the work and a logline (one-sentence description of the work) with each entry.

Please note, in order to be eligible to submit, you must mention this contest twice through any social-media. The contest will be live through the end of August 24, 2016, PST. Be sure to read all the contest guidelines before entering.

As always, good luck!

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

Pitch America for Latinx Voices

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Pitch América

A pitch contest focused on Latinx voices

This contest will feature the first 500 words and the 35 word pitch of completed and polished manuscripts written by Latinx authors. This is a diversity contest with many well known agents and editors participating.

Submissions open on August 16 at midnight EDT and close on August 17, 2016 at 11:59 EDT. Please check out the website for complete guidelines.

As always, good luck!

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

 

Pitch Wars Submissions are Open

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PitchWars-Logo

This is a quick reminder that Brenda Drake’s Pitch Wars submissions opened yesterday and will close August 6 at 10pm EDT (New York time). Go here for the guidelines and here  to submit. There are two extras this year also, a scavenger hunt  (scroll to find the info) to get a free pass into Pitch Wars and if you donate at least $20 you can pick two extra mentors. Woot! Lastly, be sure and stop by twitter to watch the #PitchWars feed because they are giving extra mentor prizes away.

As always, good luck!
P.D. Pabst

LOUISE MERIWETHER FIRST BOOK PRIZE

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Feminist Press

The Feminist Press has partnered with TAYO Literary Magazine to launch a contest seeking the best debut books by women and nonbinary writers of color to celebrate author Louis Meriwether’s achievements. This contest is for first time authors. Submit your complete manuscript of fiction (including novels and short story collections) or narrative memoir between 50,000 and 80,000 words. Capture their attention with your words and could receive $5,000 and a publishing contract from the Feminist Press!

To learn how to enter and complete guidelines, go here. As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst

Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

Pass or Pages

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PASSORPAGES

This contest called Pass or Pages is hosted by Operation Awesome. Submissions will begin July 11, 2016 EST for women’s fiction this round. How it works is participating agents give brief feedback on a handful of entries, explaining why they’d pass or want to request pages! Here are some important details:

  • Entry starts: Monday, July 11, 2016, at 6 a.m. Eastern
  • Ends: Wednesday, July 13, 2016 at 6 p.m. Eastern
  • Category/Genre: Women’s Fiction
  • How To Enter: Fill out the entry form on the contest post when it goes live
  • What Is Required: Your query (NO BIO or personalization for agents), your first 250 words, a complete and polished MS

Here are the participating agents for the Women’s Fiction Pass or Pages.

As always, good luck!

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

Picture Book Party

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PB_Party_for_contest

Holy-moly! It’s another picture book contest in less than a month. Things are looking up for the PB writers and illustrators, indeed. On July 10th, 20016 Michelle Hauck and Sharon Chriscoe will  co-host a Picture Book Party. Submission will open at noon EST and will close when 250 entrants have been received. You need to have a completed and polished PB manuscript and illustrations are encouraged to be submitted (if you’re an illustrator). The agent round will be between July 20-22, 2016. Be sure to checkout the complete guidelines on the website. You can also follow helpful hints for all writers on the twitter hashtag #PBParty.

As always, good luck.

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

Drue Heinz Literature Prize

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uPressLogo

The University of Pittsburgh Press announces the 2017 Drue Heinz Literature Prize for a collection of short fiction. The prize carries a cash award of $15,000 and publication by the University of Pittsburgh Press under its standard contract. The winner will be announced in December (2016) or January (2017). No information about the winner will be released before the official announcement. The volume of manuscripts prevents the Press from offering critiques or entering into communication or correspondence about manuscripts. Please do not call or e-mail the Press.

The award is open to writers who have published a novel or a book-length collection of fiction with a reputable book publisher, or a minimum of three short stories or novellas in magazines or journals of national distribution. Digital-only publication and self-publication do not count toward this requirement.

Eligible submissions include an unpublished manuscript of short stories; two or more novellas (a novella may comprise a maximum of 130 double-spaced typed pages); or a combination of one or more novellas and short stories. Novellas are only accepted as part of a larger collection. Manuscripts may be no fewer than 150 and no more than 300 typed pages. Prior publication of your manuscript as a whole in any format (including electronic) makes it ineligible.

Manuscripts must be received during May and June 2016. That is, they must be postmarked on or after May 1 and on or before June 30.  (That’s right, these are mailed submissions.)

As always, good luck!

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

Twitter Contest for Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers

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sffpit-contest

It’s that time of year again for science fiction and fantasy writers to polish their pitches for Dan Koboldt’s #SFFpit writing contest on twitter! It starts tomorrow June 23, 2016 between 8am-6pm EST. This contest allows 10 pitches total and Dan asks that you use them wisely! As usual, it needs to be a 140 character pitch for twitter and includes the hashtag #SFFpit. For all the rules, including how to properly insert the age group and category, go here. And remember to research any agents or editors that favorite your tweet because ANY ONE can trawl the feed!

As always, good luck!

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