I’ve just been scouring the internet for contests as per my usual end of the month practice when I put together the Contest Roundup. While I do find most of the contests for the Roundup throughout the month as I frolic through the internet during my day to day travels, when I put together the Roundup I am always certain there are some good ones I missed. There must be at least one more! I did find a few new contests to add to this month’s post but my research has me wondering, where are the good July contests? Are there not any because we all want to enjoy summer (at least in the Northern hemisphere) and have a month off, or are my Google skills failing me? Whatever the case may be there are still some really good contest opportunities coming up. There are seven pitch days in June! But if you find an opportunity I missed, please help your fellow subbers out and add it in the comments. As usual, the contests below are listed in ending date order. They have no fees and give you an opportunity to connect with an agent or publisher. Be sure to click the links of the contests you are interested in for all the details. Good luck!
June:
6/7: #pg70pit – Open to Middle Grade, Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult manuscripts. Enter your word count, genre, and 70th page of your manuscript. Winners to move onto an agent round. There is also a Twitter entry round.
6/8: #PitMad – Open to all genres. Pitch your manuscript via Twitter using the #PitMad hashtag between 8am & 8pm EDT. Only pitch 3 times per project.
6/21: #NLAPitch – Open to Middle Grade, Young Adult, and various genres of Adult Fiction. Pitch the Nelson Literary Agency agents between 9am and 4pm MST using the #NLAPitch hashtag. See link for specific guidelines as well as what each agent is looking for.
6/22: #SFFpit – Open to works of fantasy or science fiction. All age categories (PB, MG, YA, NA, and adult). Pitch your manuscript via Twitter using the #SFFpit hashtag between 8am and 6pm EST. 10 tweets in total per participant.
6/22: #PBPitch – Open to picture books. Pitch your manuscript via Twitter using the #PBPitch hashtag between 8am and 8pm EST.
6/23: #PitchCB – Pitch Curtis Brown and Conville & Walsh agents via Twitter using the #PitchCB hashtag.
6/28: #FaithPitch – Open to “completed Fiction that falls under the categories of inspirational, faith-based, biblical worldview, or Christian.” Picture book through Adult categories. Pitch your manuscript via Twitter using the #FaithPitch hashtag between 8am and 8pm CST. See the contest page for a list of age category and genre hashtags.
6/30: Drue Heinz Literature Prize – Open to writers who’ve published a novel or a book-length collection of fiction or three short stories or novellas. Enter your collection of short fiction. Chose winner to receive $15,000 prize and publication by the University of Pittsburgh Press.
Upcoming:
8/2-6: Pitch Wars – Submit your query letter and 1-3 page synopsis. Chosen winners will work with a mentor to prepare for an agent round in November.
8/15: Pockets Fiction Contest – Open to stories for children of 750-1000 words. Winner to receive $500 and publication in Pockets Magazine.
9/30: New Voices Award – Open to picture book manuscripts by unpublished writers of color who reside in the U.S. Fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. “Manuscripts should address the needs of children of color by providing stories with which they can identify and relate, and which promote a greater understanding of one another. Themes relating to non-traditional family structures, gender identity, or disabilities may also be included.”
Sub It Club 
Hi I’m a budding author and an illustration artist which, I am sure you never hear that statement more times than not, lol but… I do have a auestion. My question or should I say…my concern, is that when a client submits on the Twitter site, is there a chance that your own creation and ideas can be taken and others use your ideas to write their book?
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When you pitch via Twitter, yes your pitch is viewable to the world online. So, if you have a high concept that you don’t want someone to maybe “borrow” your idea then it would be better to query directly. (For instance, I did not put my title THE NINJABREAD MAN online until it was sold. Too easy to see the concept there.) While contests and pitch days are a fun way to break up the submitting, querying directly is a very good way to go.
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