June 2015 Contest Roundup

Entering contests can be a lot of fun. I love seeing how the pitch contests bring people together as we post pitches and help each other out with them in our Sub It Club submission support group, and of course it’s thrilling when people share when they get favorites!

While they do create a lot of excitement, it is good to remember to treat contests as you would submissions. You only want to pitch your completed, polished work. Of course there are sometimes contests that don’t require the work to be complete, but you still want whatever you enter to be top notch. And yes, if you are pitching your work in a Twitter pitch party the agents and editors requesting do expect that the work is complete and ready for submission. So, don’t rush yourself. Take the time to get your work ready. There will always be more contests and submission opportunities! If you are ready, here are some upcoming contests:

June:

6/1: Cheltenham Illustration Awards – Enter your work for the theme ‘Tales of the City’. Chosen entries will be exhibited and published in an awards annual. Be sure to read their specific how to submit guidelines.

6/1: Tony Hillerman Prize – Open to mysteries set in the Southwest. Writer must not have a mystery published. Winner to receive a publishing contract with St. Martin’s Press and $10,000. Website advises to submit your entry as early as possible.

6/4: #PitMad – Twitter Pitch Party open to all genres. 8AM – 8PM EDT on Twitter. Use the #PitMad hashtag.

6/18: #SFFpit – Pitch your fantasy or science fiction on Twitter using the #SFFpit hashtag. All age categories are welcome (PB, MG, YA, NA, and adult.)

6/21: WNDB WALTER DEAN MYERS GRANT – Open to diverse applicants working toward a career as a children’s author and/or illustrator. Submit a cover letter, essays, and a work sample. Five grants of $2000.00 each will be awarded.

6/24: #PBPitch – Pitch your picture book on Twitter using the #PBPitch hashtag. Pitch manuscripts only one time before 12 pm and one time after. Subgenres hashtags can be included: #F=Funny, #CD = Character Driven, #NF = Nonfiction, #C= Concept, #L= Lyrical, #I= Interactive.

6/26: #WritePit – Pitch your complete and ready to submit Young Adult, New Adult, or Adult fiction on Twitter using the #WritePit hashtag from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST. No more than two pitches per hour. Put on by agent Jessica Schmeidler of Golden Wheat Literary. For more information check Jessica’s twitter feed @TheWriteShadow or the #WritePit hashtag.

6/30: Greenhouse Funny Prize – Open to unpublished and unagented writers in the UK, Commonwealth (excluding Canada) and Europe. Enter your funny picture book, middle grade, or YA. Judging is done on the first chapter but you are asked to send the entire manuscript along with a one page synopsis. Judging will be done by the Children’s Editorial team at Faber & Faber Ltd and agent Polly Nolan at the Greenhouse Literary Agency. Winner will be offered representation by Greenhouse.

July:

7/1 – 7/3: #70pit – Enter your 70th page. 7 entrants from each category will be chosen to be posted online for the agent round. 7/1  will be MG title entries, 7/2 teen titles, and 7/3 NA/Adult titles.

7/3: Pitch to Publication – Enter your query letter, first five double-spaced pages of your completed manuscript, and fill out a personality questionnaire. Entries will be chosen to work with a freelance editor to prepare for agent and editor rounds.

7/31: Killer Fiction – Crime & Thriller Competition – Manuscript does not need to be complete. Submit the first 2,000 words of your crime/thriller manuscript. Winner receives a pair of tickets to the upcoming Writing Crime & Thriller Fiction event in the UK and direct feedback from a literary agent on your work. Two runners-up will receive a copy of the W&A Companion Guide to Novel Writing and the W&A Companion Guide to Crime and Thriller Writing.

Upcoming:

8/14: The Richell Prize – Open to writers in Australia. “Writers need not have completed a full manuscript at the time of submission, although they must intend to finish one. The prize will be judged on their first three chapters and a synopsis outlining the direction of the proposed work, with detail about how the author’s writing career would benefit from winning the award.” $10,000 prize money, Hachette Australia will offer a year’s mentoring with one of its publishers to help develop the winning author’s first manuscript towards publication.

8/15: Pockets Annual Fiction Contest – Enter your 750 to 1,000 word children’s magazine piece for children age 6-12. Winner to receive $500.00 and publication in Pockets magazine. Submissions at Pockets should support the purpose of the magazine to help children grow in their faith, though all submissions do not need to be overtly religious.

8/17: Pitch Wars – Submission window opens for writers to send in their applications to mentors leading to an agent round 11/3-4.

8/31: Lord Mayor’s Creative Writing Awards – (Open to residents of Victoria.) Enter via form. Categories for short stories, poetry, novella, graphic short story, narrative non-fiction. Category winners receive $1000. Overall winner, $5000.

9/1: The Scholastic Asian Book Award – This contest is open to unpublished manuscripts “written by writers of Asian descent, living in Asia”. Must be a chapter book or novel of no less than 6,000 words.  See the Rules and Regulations for details. Top winner will receive a prize of SGD 10,000 and have their manuscript considered by Scholastic Asia for publication. Two runners up will be offered advice by Scholastic Asia on editing their manuscripts to submit for publication.

9/30: Lee & Low New Voices Award – “Open to writers of color who are residents of the United States and who have not previously had a children’s picture book published.” Enter your 1500 word or less fiction, nonfiction, or poetry manuscript for children ages 5-12. Winner receives a publication contract and $1000. Honor Award winner receives $500.

Know of a contest we missed? Link us up in the comments!