#WriteMentor Children’s Novel Award 2020
2020 Shortlist Judge:
Alice did an interview with us and you can read this here.
2020 Prizes:
Winner – £500 and trophy
Shortlist – a place on #WriteMentor programme
(if you’re not agented by June 2020 and mentor availability allowing)
We are also offering a 1 year mentorship with #WriteMentor Spark, at Level 2 (3000 words a month) worth £480, for the best placed entry featuring a BAME main character, written by a BAME author.
Who can enter?
Any unagented or unpublished writer of PB/CB/MG/YA fiction of any genre.
How much does it cost?
Entry fee is £10. If you are low-income and unable to pay this, you can enter for free. However, this is limited to 30 spots and 1 free entry per writer. (So enter early if you want a free spot).
*PLEASE NOTE THAT WE’VE NOW ALLOWED MORE THAN 40 FREE ENTRIES BUT WE WON’T BE ABLE TO ACCEPT ANY MORE – updated 30/1/20.
Our aim is to give an opportunity to everyone in our society, particularly those who are less privileged. If using a free entry, type CONCESSION into the payment reference box. If you don’t do this, we will not be able to count your entry.
Why charge a fee at all?
We have some small expenses to cover and we want to award a cash prize to help the winner develop their writing in some capacity.
We are also going to pay our readers this year (last year everyone volunteered) and to ensure our child readers get a greater value book voucher (only £1.50 per reader last year and some of them read 20-30 extracts and novels).
What do I need to submit to enter?
We are looking for the first 3,000 words of your novel and a 1-page synopsis (at the start of your single document).
For PB, we will want the whole manuscript.
What are the important dates?
Entry window: December 1st 2019 to January 31st 2020.
Longlist announced: February 2020.
Shortlist announced March 2020.
Winner announced: April/May 2020.
Rules
- All entries should be for completed manuscripts (or complete and polished by January 2020).
- We are accepting only PB/CB/MG/YA entries of any genre.
- You cannot be agented or traditionally published.
- To clarify, self-published novels are eligible.
- Indie published writers, who have not received an advance may enter, but not with the published novel.
- Submit a synopsis (single-spaced) and the first 3,000 words (1.5 or double-spaced) in the same word document.
- For PB writers, send us the whole manuscript, with a short synopsis at the start.
- Use 12″ and a plain font like TNR. Put page numbers in the footer.
- DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME ANYWHERE ON THE DOCUMENT.
- DO PUT THE TITLE OF YOUR MANUSCRIPT IN THE HEADER.
- Please DO NOT have your name in the name of the document you upload. We are reading and judging anonymously. The ONLY place your name should be is in the name field on the form.
- Name your document in the format of ‘TITLE.docx’ – i.e. ‘THEHOBBIT.docx’.
- The manuscript titles will be able to be matched with names based on your entry form alone. We want all entries to be read blind.
- Due to how google uploads documents into our drive, your name may appear in the title of the document when you get your confirmation email. DO NOT WORRY about this – Stuart will check and edit all document names before sending to readers, so they will be read blind. You do not need to email/message to explain this.
- Use the PayPal /Stripe link or Bank Transfer to pay your entry fee.
- If you are unable to pay this, simply type CONCESSION in the box on the entry form. You do not need to provide any evidence or explanation for this.
- However we are limiting the FREE entries this year to 30 and one FREE entry per person.
- If you are long listed, we will contact you after the announcement to ask for your full manuscript. Please send this within 7 days.
- If you are shortlisted, we will forward your full manuscript onto our judge, Alice Williams.
- All announcements will happen via the site, so do sign up to receive alerts of new blog posts and to our mailing list, as well as Twitter account.
- Those under the age of 18 are ineligible due to safeguarding reasons. If you are younger than 18 and wish to enter, please ask an adult to do this on your behalf.
- You may enter as many novels as you wish, but they must be complete and unpublished.
- All entries will be sent digitally. We are committed to being green and want to keep costs for writers down, so mail entries will not be allowed.