Category Archives: Contests

Picture Book Party To Get An Agent

March 15, 2019Contests, Literary, Publishing OpportunityAgents, Art, Authors, Betsy Amster Literary, Blue Whale Press, BookEnds Literary, Children's Stories, Clear Fork Publishing, Dunham Literary, Editing, Editors, Fiction, Guidelines, Hashtag, Illustrators, Kidlit, Kids, Manuscripts, Martin Literary Management, Michelle Hauck, Mindy Alyse Weiss, Page Street Publishing, Picture Boos, Prospect Agency, Sharon Chriscoe, Stories, Submissions, The Innovative Press, Trident Media Group, Twitter, Upstart Literary, Writers, Writers House Literarypdpabst

Holy-moly! It’s another picture book contest. Things are looking up for the PB writers and illustrators, indeed. On March 19 2019 Michelle Hauck, along with Sharon Chriscoe and Mindy Alyse Weiss, will host a Picture Book Party. Submissions will open at 4pm EST and will remain open for one hour. You need to have a completed and polished PB manuscript and illustrations are encouraged to be submitted (if you’re an illustrator).

Past Participating Agents and Editors

Alexandra Levick of Writers House Literary
Leslie Zampetti of Dunham Literary
Susan Hawk of Upstart Crow Literary
Clelia Gore of Martin Literary Management
Tracy Marchini of Bookends Literary
Emma Sector of Prospect Agency
Adria Goetz of Martin Literary Management
James McGowen of Bookends Literary
Alyssa Eisner Henkin of Trident Media Group
Mary Cummings of Betsy Amster Literary
Asia Citro of The Innovative Press
Alayne Kay Christian of Blue Whale Press
Charlotte Wenger of Page Street Publishing
Callie Metler-Smith of Clear Fork Publishing

The agent round will be between March 27-29, 2019. 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.

SCBWI Don Freeman Grant

March 11, 2019Contests, LiteraryArt, Art Directors, Art Supplies, Artwork, Award, Design, Don Freeman Grant, Enrollment, Grant, Illustrators, Members, Monetary Prize, Opportunity, Picture Books, Pictures, Portfolio, Projects, Published, SCBWI, Travel, Writingpdpabst

According to the webpage, the Don Freeman Grants are available to all members of the SCBWI, regardless of membership level, who are working on a picture book or their portfolio. They are not available for projects on which there is already a contract.

Two grants of $1,000 each will be awarded annually. One grant to a published illustrator and one to a pre-published illustrator. The money may be used in any way to help you complete your project. Acceptable uses include: purchasing art supplies, enrollment in workshops or conferences, courses in advanced illustrating or writing techniques, travel for research or to expose work to publishers/art directors, or childcare.

Enrolment is open and ends on March 31, 2019. Visit the webpage to for complete information and guidelines to submit. As always, good luck.

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

Oscars: Academy Nicholl Fellowships

March 6, 2019Contests, Fellowship, LiteraryAcademy Nicholl Fellowship, Adaptations, Adult, Authors, books, Competition, Deadline, Fiction, Film, Guidelines, Middle Grade, Monetary Prize, Non-Fiction, Opportunity, Oscars, PG, PG-13, R, Rules, Screenplay, Screenwriter, Stories, Submission, Television, Writing, Young Adultpdpabst

The Academy Nicholl Fellowships in screenwriting is an international screenwriting competition established to identify and encourage talented new screenwriters. And yes, this is a branch of the Oscars!

If you write screenplays and haven’t earned more than $25,000 for writing fictional work for film or television, then this contest is for you. Up to five fellowships for $35,000 are awarded each year. Please read the entire guidelines and obligations before submitting. There is a small entry fee, with an option to also purchase reader comments. And who doesn’t love feedback? Although there are three separate deadlines, the final entry deadline is May 1, 2019.

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

#Pitmad is March 7, 2019

March 4, 2019Contests, Literary#Pitmad, Adult, Age Category, Agents, Authors, Brenda Drake, Editors, Event, Fiction, Genre, Guidelines, Hashtags, Kellye Garrett, Manuscripts, Middle Grade, Non-Fiction, Opportunity, Picture Book, Pitch, Pitching, Publishing, research, Rules, Submit, Twitter, Writers, Young Adultpdpabst

Nothing soothes the writerly soul than a good twitter pitch party! This Thursday, March 7, 2019 is the infamous #PitMad founded by Brenda Drake, now ran by Managing director, Kellye Garrett, and a full committee (yeah, it’s grown that much!). This event will run between the hours of 8am-8pm (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. And as always, good luck!

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

Author Mentor Match #AMM Round 6

March 1, 2019Contests, Literary, Mentor ProgramAge Category, Agent Ready, Alexa Donne, Author Mentor Match, Authors, Critique Partners, Feedback, Fiction, Genre, Heather Kaczynski, Manuscript, Mentoring, Middle Grade, Opportunity, Publishing, Query, Stories, Submissions, Synopsis, Writers, Young Adultpdpabst

Author Mentor Match was created by Heather Kaczynski and Alexa Donne. The object is to match new writers with authors further along in the publishing process and gain invaluable mentoring! That’s right, this is an opportunity to get your manuscript critiqued (for free) before submitting to agents!

Authors can select up to four mentors during the submission window between March 1, 2019 through March 5, 2019. Watch for the mentor BIOS to be posted to learn what age groups and genres they wish to see in their inbox!

Please note there is a two-step process for entering:

Fill out the submission form. (I believe the form will appear during the sub window period.)
Email the proper information to authormentormatch@gmail.com:

A query (pasted in the body of the email!)
The first 50 pages/3 chapters of your novel (whichever is longer & can be attached)
A synopsis

Be sure to include in the subject line the manuscripts Age Category +Genre + Title. (ie: YA Sci-Fi – Mars Plants are the Bomb) on the email submission. And check out the site in order to know how to select the mentors you wish to submit because it isn’t clear quite yet. (I’m guessing this might be part of the submission form.) As always, good luck!

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

#SFFpit Pitch Event For Writers

January 29, 2019Contests, Literary#SFFpit, Age Group, Agents, Author, books, Dan Koboldt, Editors, Event, Fantasy, Fiction, Genre, Hashtag, Horror, Literary Agency, Manuscripts, Opportunity, Pitch, Pitching, Publishing, research, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Stories, Twitter, Words, Wordsmith, Writers, Writingpdpabst

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 runs on January 30, 2019 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 280 character pitch for twitter including 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.

L. Ron Hubbard Writers & Illustrators of the Future Contest

December 22, 2018Contests, LiteraryArt, Artists, Artwork, Authors, Award, Entrants, Entries, Fantasy, Guidelines, Illustrators, Illustrators of the Future, Judges, L. Ron Hubbard, Manuscripts, Monetary Prize, Nevelettes, Pictures, Prizes, Publication Rights, Science Fiction, Stories, Submissions, Writers, Writers of the Futurepdpabst

L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers and Illustrators of the Future contest entries end at 5pm on December 31, 2018. So, hurry and get your submissions in.

Writers

L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest is an opportunity for new and amateur writers of new short stories or novelettes of science fiction or fantasy. No entry fee is required. Entrants retain all publication rights. All awards are adjudicated by professional writers only. Prizes every three months: $1,000, $750, $500, Annual Grand Prize: $5,000 additional! If you have not read the contest rules, please click here before submitting. To enter, go here.

Illustrators

L. Ron Hubbard’s Illustrators of the Future Contest is an opportunity for new science fiction and fantasy artists worldwide. No entry fee is required. Entrants retain all publication rights. All judging by professional artists only. $1,500 in prizes each quarter. Quarterly winners compete for $5,000 additional annual prize! If you have not read the contest rules, please click here before submitting. To enter, go here.

As always, good luck!

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

Skylark Agency Competition 2018

December 20, 2018Contests, Critiques, LiteraryAmber Caraveo, Authors, Charlotte Eyre, Children, Children's Publishing, Competition, Creative, Deadline, Editorial Critique, Editors, Joanna Moult, Judging, Kirsty Stanfield, Lucy Pearce, Macmillan Children's Books, Manuscripts, Middle Grade, Nosy Crow, Prize, Skylark Literary, Stories, The Bookseller, UK, Writerspdpabst

Skylark-Logo-CMYK

Skylark Agency is hosting a middle grade competition to find original talent for children. They are wanting to find great stories for ages 8-12 from creative writers. They have leading experts from the UK children’s publishing industry as guest judges to help them pick a winner.

Kirsty Stansfield, Head of Fiction, Nosy Crow
Lucy Pearse, Senior Editor, Macmillan Children’s Books
Charlotte Eyre, Children’s Editor, The Bookseller

Along with these three professionals, Joanna and Amber of Skylark Literary will also help create the judging panel. The prize will be a one-to-one editorial critique of your finished manuscript by phone, or in person (locations allowing). Deadline to enter is December 24, 2018. So go here for contest information and the read the submission guidelines. As always, good luck!

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

RevPit Critique Giveaways!

December 18, 2018Contests, Critiques, Literary#RevPit, Adult, Authors, Blog, December, Editors, Feedback, Fiction, Giveaway, Guidelines, Hashtag, Manuscripts, Middle Grade, Query, Rafflecopter, Synopsis, Twitter, Win, Writers, Young Adultpdpabst

The RevPit editors are giving away critique packages through December 21, 2018! Check out the site each day for the package you want to submit to the Rafflecopter. Here are their sites guidelines:

When: 12/17/2018–12/21/2018 (Yes, it started already.)
Where: On Twitter, using the #RevPit hashtag, and on this blog post.
Who: The editors of #RevPit and you!
How: Check in each day on Twitter AND here on the blog post to enter to win the daily giveaways. Each day a new Rafflecopter link will go live, and you’ll only have 24 hours to enter!

Be sure to check out each editors likes for the raffle before signing up. And as always, good luck!

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

Pitmad is Coming, December 6, 2018

December 3, 2018Contests, Literary#Pitmad, Adult, Age Category, Agents, Authors, Brenda Drake, Committee, Contempory, Diversity, Editors, Fantasy, Fiction, Genres, Guidelines, Historical, Horror, Humor, Kellye Garrett, Magical Realism, Manuscripts, Middle Grade, New Adult, Non-Fiction, Paranormal, Picture Books, Pitch Party, Publishing, research, Romance, Rules, SciFi, Subgenres, Thriller, Twitter, Westerns, Writers, Young Adultpdpabst

Nothing soothes the writerly soul than a good twitter pitch party! This Thursday, December 6, 2018 is the infamous #PitMad founded by Brenda Drake, now ran by Managing director, Kellye Garrett, and a full committee (yeah, it’s grown that much!). This event will run between the hours of 8am-8pm (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

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

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