February Contest Update

Welcome to the February Contest Update. This issue is jam packed, so grab a beverage of choice and let's get going. Remember that this update is easily available all month under the Contest Tab at the top of the Seekerville blog, and on our website here.


Bookreviewers! Here's another opportunity for books for your reviewing pleasure! BookGrabbr! Check it out!

Published Manuscript Contests


Carolyn Readers Choice Award is open. Deadline February 14, 2016.


Inspirational Reader's Choice Awards Opens January 1. Deadline March 1, 2016.


ACFW Carol Awards. Opens January 2. Deadline March 15, 2016. 

Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense for Published Authors. Deadline March 15.

Oregon Christian Writers Cascade Writing Contest. Opens February 15. Deadline March 31. 

Published Maggie's. Opens January 1. Deadline April 2, 2016.

Unpublished Manuscript Contests


Great Beginnings Contest. Opens January 1. Deadline February 14.   Enter the opening five (5) pages of romance novels of all sub-genres (projected length of at least 50,000 words).Eligibility: Contest is open to published and unpublished authors. Published authors may submit only unpublished, uncontracted manuscripts that will remain unpublished until the contest has concluded.NOTE on Judging: Every entry will be judged 3 times, at least once by a PAN member.
 

Categories:
Contemporary: Single title, category, mainstream, or inspirational.
Historical: Single title, category, Regency, suspense, mainstream, or inspirational.
Paranormal: Time travel, ghost, futuristic, inspirational.
Romantic Suspense: Single title, category.

Final Judges:
Contemporary: Karen Solem, agent with Spencerhill Associates
Paranormal: John Scognamiglio, senior editor, Kensington Publishing
Romantic Suspense: Nicole Resciniti, agent with the Seymour Agency
Historical: Danielle Egan-Miller, agent with Browne and Miller Literary Associates


Cleveland Rocks Romance. Deadline February 14. Entrants must be unpublished in book-length fiction (minimum 40,000 words) in the last five years. For the purpose of this contest, unpublished means the author or authors have not accepted a publishing offer for, or self-published, a work of original fictional narrative prose of 20,000 words or more. Entry consits of the first chapter up to 5,000 words for all categories except novella category (first chapter up to 3,000 words).

Contemporary Long Romance–Mary Altman (Sourcebooks), Laura Kelly (The Wild Rose Press), and Elaine Spencer (The Knight Agency)

Contemporary Short Romance–Adrienne Macintosh (Harlequin), Jill Marsal (Marsal Lyon Literary Agency), and Latoya C. Smith (Samhain Publishing)

Historical Romance–Allison Byers (The Wild Rose Press),  Heidi Moore (Samhain Publishing), and Kimberly Lionetti (Bookends a Literary Agency)

Paranormal Romance– Cat Clyne (Sourcebooks), Trisha Skinner (Fuse Literary), and Debby Gilbert (Soul Mate Publishing)

Novella–Tara Gelsomino (Crimson Romance), Vicki Selvaggio (Jennifer De Chiara Literary), and Editors from Boroughs Publishing

Mainstream with Strong Romantic Elements–Bethany Blair (Penguin Random House), Char Chaffin (Soul Mate Publishing), and Kerry D’Agostino (Curtis Brown Ltd)

Young Adult/New Adult– Rachel Brooks (L. Perkins Agency), Jennifer Herrington (Bookfish Books), and Lydia Sharp (Entangled Publishing)


Fab Five. Opens January 1-Deadline (received) March 1. Entry: First 2500 words of ms. No synopsis. Unpublished authors only.Categories will be capped at thirty-five (35) entries. Any submissions received after a category has been capped will be returned.

Historical: Elle Keck, Avon & Abby Saul, Browne & Miller Literary Assoc.

Inspirational: Raela Schoenherr, Bethany House & Claudia Cross, Folio Literary Management

P/F/F/TT: Chris Keeslar, Boroughs Publishing Gp. & Laura Zats, Red Sofa Literary

Romantic Suspense: Amy Stapp, Tor Books & Lane Heymont, The Seymour Agency

Series Contemporary: Alexandra Sehulster, St. Martin's Press & Rachael Dugas, Talcott Notch Literary Services

Single Title: Lydia Sharp, Entangled Publishing & Jessica Watterson, Sandra Dijkstra Agency

Women's Fiction: Kate Seaver, Berkley Publishing Group & Carly Watters, PS Literary Agency

Young Adult/New Adult: Elizabeth Lynch, HarperCollins & Whitley Abell, Inklings Literary Agency. 



ACFW Genesis. Opens January 2. Deadline March 15. Unpublished authors only.Entry consists of a one page, single-spaced synopsis, followed by the first 15 pages of your manuscript.The top 7 semi-finalists in each category will be announced by May 5, 2016.The three finalists in each category will be announced by June 15, 2016.Winners will be announced on August 27 during the Awards Gala at ACFW's national conference in Nashville.

 Categories:
Contemporary 
Historical
Historical Romance
Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Novella
Romance
Romantic Suspense
Short Novel
Speculative
Young Adult 


Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense Unpublished Division. Deadline March 15. For each entry, entrants will electronically submit the FIRST 5,000 words of the manuscript with a synopsis of no more than 675 words. The synopsis is not judged but included for the judges’ reference.

CATEGORY (SERIES) 
AGENT: Nalini Akolekar, Spencerhill Associates
EDITOR: Patience Bloom, Harlequin Books

HISTORICAL
AGENT: Maria Carvainis, Maria Carvainis Agency, Inc.
EDITOR: Esi Sogah, Kensington Publishing Corp.

INSPIRATIONAL 
AGENT: Nicole Resciniti, The Seymour Agency
EDITOR: Raela Schoenherr, Bethany House

PARANORMAL 
AGENT: Andrea Somberg, Harvey Klinger, Inc.
EDITOR: Tracy Bernstein, NAL

SINGLE TITLE  
AGENT: Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency
EDITOR: Elizabeth Poteet, St. Martin's Press

MAINSTREAM  
AGENT: Christine Witthohn, Book Cents Literary Agency

EDITOR: Michelle Vega, The Berkley Publishing Group


Fire and Ice. Deadline March 18. Manuscript must have a projected word count of at least 50K. Entry consists of first 3,000 words.New this year! Include an optional QUERY LETTER as the first page of your entry. Never fear, the query letter will not be included in your final score, but by submitting one, you’ll get the chance to find out if preliminary judges would request to read more. All finalists will have the option of including their query in the final round to be read by our final agent and editor judges.
Contemporary Romance:

Cat Clyne, Sourcebooks (editor)
Stephany Evans, FinePrint Literary Management (agent)

Historical Romance

Julie Mianecki, Penguin Random House (editor)
Daniel Barthel, New Leaf Literary (agent)

Romantic Suspense

Peter Senftleben, Kensington (editor)
Jill Marsal, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency (agent)

Young Adult Romance

Suzanne Evans, Entangled Publishing (editor)
Elizabeth Copps, Maria Carvainis Agency (agent)

Fantasy/Futuristic/Paranormal Romance

Allison Carroll, HQN (editor)
Jessica Sinsheimer, Sarah Jane Freymann Agency (agent)


Royal Ascot. Deadline March 27. Entry consists of the first 7,000 words. Open to unpublished authors and published writers seeking representation and/or a publisher. All works entered should be unpublished (self or traditional) and uncontracted. All entries must have at least partial Regency (Late Georgian) setting, broadly defined: within the United Kingdom between 1780 and 1840.

Categories are used to determine first round judges only, and include:

Regency Historical (longer Regency or Mainstream Regency-set)
Hot Regency (Very sensual to Erotic Regency, at author’s discretion)
Wild Regency (Paranormal, Time Travel, other similar Regency)

Sweet & Mild Regency (Traditional, Inspirational, Young Adult or other without explicit sex)

Final Round Judges:
Editors:

Allison Byers of The Wild Rose Press
Brenda Chin of Imajinn/Belle Books

and more to come!


 Oregon Christian Writers Cascade Writing Contest. Opens February 15. Deadline March 31. 

An entry in the unpublished book category consists of a one-page synopsis  and the first 15 pages of the manuscript for the following categories:

Contemporary Fiction Book
Historical Fiction Book
Speculative Fiction Book
Nonfiction Book: Note: The nonfiction synopsis may be written in either paragraph form or chapter-by-chapter outline, depending on the type of book.
Memoir Book
Young Adult/Middle Grade Fiction Book
Children’s Chapter Book (ages 6–8) and Picture Book (ages 2–10+)                         

Fiction and Nonfiction: Entry consists of a one-page synopsis and the first 10 pages of the manuscript for Chapter Books. But for a Picture Book – submit the entire text of the book with no synopsis and without illustrations or artwork. 


Romance Through the Ages. Contest Opens February 15. Deadline March 31. Entry consists of 25 pages max, plus optional 1-2 page synopsis (unjudged).Unpublished authors may enter any category.Published authors may enter any category in which they’re not published, or in which they’ve not been contracted for publication within the past five years.

Final Judges

Ancient/Medieval/Renaissance: TBA
Georgian/Regency/Victorian: TBA
Colonial/Western/Civil War: TBA
Post Victorian/World War II: Amy Sherwood, Samhain Publishing
Time-Travel/Historical Paranormal: Robin Haseltine, Entangled Publishing
Historical Erotic: Jennifer Glover, The Wild Rose Press
Historical Novella: TBA
Historical YA: Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary Agency

Legends Award – A Man For All Reasons: Gabrielle Keck, Harper Collins



Fool For Love. Opens March 1. Deadline April 1. Contest is open to published and unpublished authors. Published authors may submit only unpublished, uncontracted manuscripts into the Published Category only. Enter the opening pages of your unpublished/uncontracted manuscript, not to exceed 7,500 words (approximately 30 pages).

Categories and Final Judges: 
Short Contemporary – Michele Grajkowski, 3 Seas Literary Agency; 
Long Contemporary – Isabel Farhi, Berkley Publishing; 
Historical – Rebecca Strauss, DeFiore & Co.; 
Dark Paranormal – Tricia Skinner, Fuse Literary Agency;
Light Paranormal – Madeleine Colavita, Grand Central Publishing; 
Romantic Suspense – Allison Lyons, Harlequin; 
New Adult – Amanda Leuck, Spencerhill Associates; 
Young Adult – Andrea Somberg, Harvey Klinger Agency; 

Published Author – Elizabeth Poteet, St. Martin's Press.


Rosemary Contest. Deadline April 1. Entry consists of the first twenty-five pages. 

YA Contemporary-Kathleen Rushall, Andrea Brown Literary, Lisa Yoskowitz,Little, Brown Books & Vicki Lame, St. Martin’s Press

YA Historical-Laura Bradford,Bradford Literary, Emilia Rhodes,Harper Teen & Robin Haseltine, Entangled Publishing

YA Paranormal-Cate Hart,Corvisiero Literary, Jessica MacLeigh, Harper Teen & Natashya Wilson, Harper Teen

YA Speculative-Nicole Resciniti, The Seymour Agency, Kristen Daly Rens, Balzer and Bray & Annette Pollert-Morgan, Sourcebooks


New Adult-T/B/A, Meredith Rich, Bloomsbury Spark& Amy Stapp,Tor/Forge

Other Writing Stuff

Time for reviewing a post called 

Falling in Love in One Thousand Words or Less: The Art of the Short Story. as we feature short story markets this month.

Big News at Woman's World Magazine. Fiction editor, Johnene Granger, has retired after 16 years of reading our fiction and mystery submissions. Patricia Gaddis has taken over and there is no second reader. As always Patricia sends all stories on to the Executive Editor for final approval. More news: submissions are electronic as are contracts.  If you submit via snail mail, your submission will still be read. Save trees, time and stamps and consider submitting electronically. For authors who have sold to WW in the past, send your submission to FictionPro@WomansWorldMag.com - for authors who have not sold to WW yet, submit to Fiction@WomansWorldMag.com


Still pays $800 for an 800 word, short romance.

If you do not hear back, re: print or email submission, you can consider that your story has not been accepted. More good news. Patricia Gaddis is now a member of the Woman's World Yahoo Loop and available to answer your questions. So do consider joining. Send an email to wwwriters-subscribe@yahoogroups.com  No changes to word count or payment has been mentioned. 

Looking for some other ways to make money writing for Woman's World? Check ou this information: http://www.womansworldmag.com/p/contact


True Story and True Confessions Magazine.  Join the Yahoo Group to stay informed. Editors are active on the loop. truewriters-subscribe@yahoogroups.com  Along with stories which are 3-7K, they also pay for feature columns. They accept sweet stories! Guidelines are available here. 

Another terrific paying market for your short fiction is Splickety Magazine. Check out the guidelines here.


Erma Bombeck Writing Competition. Deadline February 15. Personal essay must be 450 words or less. Cash prizes! “Hook ’em with the lead. Hold ’em with laughter. Exit with a quip they won't forget." ˜ Erma Bombeck 


WOW! Women on Writing. Winter 2016 Flash Fiction Contest with guest Judge Brooke Warner. The Winter Contest is open to all genres of fiction between 250 - 750 words. Only 300 stories are accepted, so enter early to ensure your spot in the contest. Deadline: February 28, 2016. Cash prizes.


Florida Keys Flash Fiction Contest. Deadline March 31. Submit your finest flash fiction story, 500 words or less. Enter the Florida Keys Flash Fiction Contest to win a three-week Key West residency at the renowned Studios of Key West between July 5 and July 31, 2016. Inspire your creativity by spending up to 10 days writing in Ernest Hemingway’s private study at the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum — and experience Hemingway Days 2016, celebrating the iconic author who called Key West home in the 1930s. Accommodations, an air travel card and a meal gift card are included as part of the prize as set forth in the official contest rules.


The Chicken Soup upcoming topic line up can be found here.


And just for fun, enter the Harlequin Valentine's Day Contest here.

~~~

Seekerville is delighted to introduce the February Contest Diva!

2013 My Book Therapy’s Frasier - Bronze Medalist
2014 ACFW-Central Florida’s Sonshine Scribes “Save Our Synopses” - Second Place
2014 My Book Therapy’s Frasier - Finalist
2014 ACFW First Impressions - Winner, Historical Romance
2015 My Book Therapy’s Frasier - Bronze Medalist
2015 ACFW First Impressions - Winner, Historical Romance (Agent Request)
2015 Promising Beginnings - Finalist

Imagine my surprise when I placed in the first contest I entered in 2013. Perhaps stunned is a better word for my shock. I joined ACFW in 2009 to learn how to write novels, participating in several online courses and a young adult critique group. During this time, I devoured craft books and did more critiquing than writing. It wasn’t until I became a member of My Book Therapy that the information I had acquired began to make sense. When the critique group disbanded, three of us remained craft partners. And I followed my heart to write adult Christian historical romance novels.

While I’ve experienced some success, my revised MBT 2013 Frasier Bronze Medal entry didn’t find traction in the ACFW 2013 First Impressions contest. Nor did another submission earn favor in the 2014 Phoenix Rattler. But submitting my work has allowed me to test my story ideas and evaluate my writing skills before I write the full manuscripts.

After each contest, I create a table comparing the judges’ scores and note where they’ve made comments or suggestions in my entry. For the most part, the feedback has been very consistent, enabling me to see exactly what I need to change. Thank you, judges, for sharing your expertise with me!

Contesting is teaching me how to silence my internal editor to meet deadlines. Great preparation for meeting a future publisher’s deadlines. I’m meeting new writing colleagues and learning more about the book publishing industry. But the biggest blessing of all is I’m discovering I possess a God-given gift to write!

If you are thinking of entering a contest, do it! Take this opportunity to submit your writing and receive advice from professional authors, agents, and editors. Let God lead you toward publication, one entry at a time.


A Washington State native, Deb Garland is a pastor’s wife, avid sailor, and is writing several Christian Historical Romance novels in Timepieces of the San Juan Islands. She is a member of ACFW, My Book Therapy, and Stitches Thru Time Writers. A reading specialist, she wrote short stories and articles published in Good Reading for Everyone, Guide, High Adventure, Jr. Trails, Young & Alive, and Stanwood-Camano News. She earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Louisiana Baptist Theological Seminary because her passion is to teach God’s truth to all ages. Connect with Deb at www.debgarland.com, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

You made it to the end of this month's Contest Update! Well done. Now go leave a comment for a chance to win Valentine's Day Chocolate, courtesy of Godiva and Seekerville. Let us know if you like milk, or dark.


Let's throw in two 15 page critique prizes for the Genesis too!! Let us know you really want it!

That's it! Now go forth and Contest!

This contest update was brought to you by Tina Radcliffe. Check out the Weekend Edition here, for opportunities to win her January release from Love Inspired, Rocky Mountain Reunion. Find her at www.tinaradcliffe.com and www.mycritiquepartner.blogspot.com