As Speedbo rages on, remember that that these contests are the perfect place for your 2015 Speedbo masterpieces!
Dear Readers! Interested in Judging the 2015 Maggies? Fill out the application here.
Meet all the finalists here!
Published Contests
National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award Contest-Deadline April 1. Open to Indies
The Published Maggies. Opens January 2, 2015. Deadline April 3. Open to Indies.
Book Buyers Best-Deadline April 15. Open to Indies.
Read her Diva post here!
Unpublished Contests
The Rosemary. Deadline-March 31. Published and Unpublished Authors. Published and unpublished authors. Submitted manuscripts must be new, original, YA or NA fiction that has not been published, self-published, or contracted. First 25 pages of manuscript (manuscript wordcount of at least 40k).
Final Judges:
YA Contemporary - Agent Laura Bradford of Bradford Literary, Editor Aubrey Poole of Sourcebooks, Editor Elizabeth Tingue of Penguin/RH
YA Historical - Agent Kathleen Rushall of Marsal Lyon Literary, Editor Jessica MacLeish of Harper Teen, Editor Robin Haseltine of Entangled Publishing
YA Paranormal - Agent Holly Root of Waxman Leavell Literary, Editor Kristin Daly Rens of Balzer & Bray, and Editor Natashya Wilson of Harlequin Teen
YA Speculative - Agent Nicole Resciniti of The Seymour Agency, Editor Meredith Rich of Bloomsbury Spark, Editor Vicki Lame of St. Martin’s Press
New Adult - Agent Cate Hart of Corvisiero Literary, Editor Amy Stapp of Tor Forge, Editor Angela James of Carina Press.
Touched by Love. Deadline April 1. First 20 pages of an inspirational manuscript, 2-page synopsis. Eligibility: All authors who have not accepted a publishing offer from a publisher or self-published a work of original fictional narrative prose of 20,000 words or more in the past three years. Final Judges: published authors. Top Prize: Overall Winner will win $100 for writing-related expenses and an editor critique. This year's editor is Kim Moore of Harvest House. Categories are Historical, Long Contemporary and Short Contemporary.
Fool For Love. Deadline April 1. No page count. Now a 7500 word maximum word count.All categories, except the Published Author category, are open to entrants who have not published and are not contracted in any novel-length fiction.
Short Contemporary
Final Judge: Allison Lyons, Harlequin
Long Contemporary
Final Judge: Rebecca Strauss, DeFiore and Company
Historical
Final Judge: Courtney Miller-Callihan, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates
Dark Paranormal
Final Judge: Laurie McLean,Fuse Literary Agency
Light Paranormal
Final Judge: Madeleine Colavita, Grand Central Publishing
Romantic Suspense
Final Judge: Esi Sogah, Kensington Publishing
Young Adult
Final Judge: Tamar Rydzinski, Laura Dail Literary Agency
New Adult
Final Judge: Karen Grove, Entangled Press
Published Author
Final Judge: Julie Mianecki, Berkeley
The Catherine. Deadline April 30. Enter the first pages of your manuscript plus a synopsis of up to 5 pages. Entries must be no longer than 7500 words including synopsis.
Categories/Final Judges:
Contemporary Series - Piya Campana, Harlequin
Contemporary Single Title - Esi Sogah, Kensington
Historical - Katherine Pelz, Berkley
Paranormal, Fantasy, Futuristic - Brenda Chin, Belle Books
Romantic Suspense - Dana Hamilton, Grand Central Publishing
Strong Romantic Elements - Kerri Buckley, Carina Press
Young Adult - Annie Berger, HarperCollins Children's
New Adult - Megha Parekh, Grand Central Publishing
Top Prize: Top entry in each category is entered into a Gold Ticket round to be judged by Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary Agency. The Gold Ticket winner receives a three-chapter critique by NYT bestselling author Kelley Armstrong.
Unpublished Maggies. Deadline April 30. Entry consists of first pages and synopsis, not to exceed 35 pages.
Single Title Romance-Madeleine Colavita Editorial Assistant, Grand Central Publishing
Contemporary Category Romance-Ann Leslie Tuttle-Senior Editor, Harlequin
Inspirational Romance-Stephanie Broene-Senior Acquisitions Editor, Tyndale
Historical Romance-Gabrielle Keck-Editor, Avon
Paranormal Romance-Rose Hilliard Editor, St. Martin’s Press
Young Adult-Candace Havens Editorial Director, Entangled Publishing
Novel with Strong Romantic Elements -Sarah Murphy Editor, Ballantine Bantam Dell
Erotic Romance-S.N. Graves-Senior Editor, LooseId
The Golden Rose. Deadline April 30. The Golden Rose accepts entries up to a maximum of 10,000 words including prologue (if any).
Contemporary Series Romance
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Poteet, St. Martin’s Press
Contemporary Single Title
Tera Kleinfelter, Samhain
Historical
Robin Haseltine, Entangled Publishing
Mainstream Novel with Strong Romantic Elements
Sinclair Sawhney, Tule Publishing Group
Paranormal
Lauren Smulski, Harlequin/HQN
Romantic Suspense
Amy Stapp, Tor
Young Adult/New Adult
Gabrielle (Elle) Keck, Avon/Harper Collins
Start gearing up NOW for the TARA! One of our favorite contests!
Tara Contest. Deadline May 1st. Open to unpublished and published authors of novel-length fiction; however, the entry must be the author’s original work, unpublished and not contracted as of the time of the contest deadline. Entry consists of the first 4,500 words of a qualifying manuscript (actual word count). First and subsequent chapters up to the maximum entry word count of 4,500 words.
Series Contemporary JoVon Sotak Montlake Publishing
Inspirational Raela Schoenherr Bethany House
Historical Sue Grimshaw Penguin/Random House
Romantic Suspense Chelsey Emmelhainz Avon Books/Harper Collins
Single Title Brenda Chin Imaginn
Women’s Fiction Abby Zidle Simon & Schuster –Gallery Books
Paranormal Latoya Smith Samhain Publishing
Inspirational Category! Myra WON!! (TEN YEARS AGO!!)
Other Fun Writing Opportunities
The Golden Donut Short Story Contest. "The Writers' Police Academy has officially opened the 2015 version of its wildly popular and extremely fun Golden Donut Short Story Contest! So it's time to let this year's contest photo inspire a perfect entry. The primary rule is your story must be EXACTLY 200 words. The submission deadline is: Midnight June 30, 2015 (the precise point in time between 11:59 pm 6-30 and 12:01 am July 1, 2015).Good luck and have fun. The contest is open to all writers--regardless of whether they're attending this year's Writers' Police Academy. So be sure to tell your author friends about the contest.
Here's the Chicken Soup 2015 Line Up!
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Welcome to the April Contest Diva: Patti Jo Moore!
Patti Jo & Patches! Patti Jo is immortalized in Tina Radcliffe's Paradise series as the owner of a Bakery & Cafe.
My contest journey has been rather slow in getting started—much like myself before my first 3 cups of morning coffee. However, I am finally beginning to see the wisdom in Tina Radcliffe’s encouragement to so many of us: Contests really are a great way to improve our writing, grow as a writer, and for many folks—even lead the way to publication.
So now that I’ve finally come to this realization (not that I ever doubted Tina’s wisdom—she is truly one of my heroes) I am a bit braver about submitting my work to contests. I would love to present an impressive list of my contest achievements, but since I don’t have many, I’ll share what I’ve done so far AND am working on now!
In 2012 I entered the Genesis, and even though I didn’t place, the feedback was very valuable. One judge’s comment in particular has remained with me: I want you to keep writing. Don’t give up. Wow, those simple statements have kept me going when I was tempted to put away my writing for a month or more. At Tina’s urging I entered the Seekerville Read Me contest and was thrilled to be one of the 10 finalists. Then I went through a spell where I really meant to enter a contest or two, but just didn’t push myself enough. So now in 2015 I’ve decided that I am not getting any younger (LOL) and if I’m serious about my writing (which I AM!) then I must do everything possible to work towards my goal of publication (Lord willing---I only want what He wants me to do, and at this season I feel this is what I’m supposed to do). I’ve entered the 2015 Genesis contest, and am presently polishing my entry for the unpublished Maggies, in addition to preparing my entry for Harlequin’s “From Blurb to Book” pitchfest.
I applaud those of you who’ve been more assertive than I have, and for those similar to me I say it’s time for us to do ALL we can to move forward, which includes entering those contests. As always I am so very, very grateful and appreciative to ALL the amazing Seekers. You ladies truly are the best, and I am honored and blessed to call you friends.
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Comment today for an opportunity for an opportunity to win an advanced copy of my June release, Safe in the Fireman's Arms. Print only.
That's it! Now Go Forth & Contest!