I came across this on Lia's blog on Scribblerati and decided to post it on my blog to spread the word. Amazon has
teamed up with Penguin Group for the fourth annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award
competition, which is an international writing competition. The
competition calls both general fiction and young adult writers to submit their
English-language works for the chance to be published by Penguin in 2011. The
contest is open to unpublished and self-published works and writers can enter
between Jan. 24 and Feb. 6, 2011.
The contest will accept up to 5,000
works in each of the two categories. The initial round of judging will be done
by Amazon, and they will choose 1,000 entries from fiction and 1,000 entries
from young adult. In the second judging round, Amazon.com editors and reviewers
will read excerpts of the 2,000 entries and narrow it down to 250
quarter-finalists in each category. Publishers Weekly reviewers will read, rate
and review the full manuscripts, and 50 semi- finalists will then be chosen. Penguin
editors will then judge these 50 manuscripts for each category and choose three finalists for each award.
Panels of publishing professionals
will judge the top three manuscripts. Panelists for the general fiction
category include author Lev Grossman, literary
agent Jennifer Joel of ICM and Marysue Rucci, Vice President,
Editorial Director with G.P. Putnam’s Sons. The panelists for the young adult
fiction contest include: author/journalist
Gayle Forman, literary agent
Julie Just of Janklow & Nesbit and Jennifer
Besser, Vice President and Publisher, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young
Readers.
Amazon customers will also be given
the chance to vote on these finalists and the winner will be announced in New York
For more information, follow these links :
P.S - For some strange reason, few of the above links seem to be broken, the competition title can be put through the search engine or googled.
I am taking a break till January. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. See you all on 4th January.
Thanks, Rachna for alerting us to this competition. Will check it out. It sounds like an wonderful opportunity to get a publisher like Penguin.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up. Looks exciting and scary too. :O)
ReplyDeleteThat sounds great. Will check out the links. Wishing you a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year too, Rachna.
ReplyDeleteI read about this. Not sure if I want to tie up my MS for the months it takes for the judging. But it is very tempting!
ReplyDeleteHave a great New Years!
@ Kiara...it is a wonderful opportunity. Do go through the link.
ReplyDelete@ Madeleine...when you think of the number of manuscripts that will flood the competition, we do get scared. On the other hand, every publisher/agent is flushed with manuscripts. So its always going to be like that until we break in.
@ Sameer... wish you too a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
@ Lydia...it always takes a long time to get any kind of response for our manuscripts from agents and editors. I think its worth a try for YA writers. Wish you a Happy New Year too.
Have a great well-deserved break, Rachna!
ReplyDeleteI've entered in the contest for the past two years. The first year, I got past the first door (the query letter), but did not get past the next bit of judging, which consisted of two Amazon readers. One loved it and one didn't and that was enough to knock me out of the competition. Last year, my query didn't make the cut. My query letter rocks now and I intend to enter again. We'll see how it goes. If nothing else, I improved my opening sequence enough from having posted it and receiving critiques (the first time around) that the book tied for first place in the 2010 Sandy Writer's competition. At least that put me in the "requested material" pile at Curtis Brown. The public forums are worthwhile to those in need of fresh eyes.
I heard about this contest! Thanks for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your holiday break, and we'll see you in 2011!
WOW! I hadn't heard of this. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteIt was such a 2010 blessing to meet you, Rachna.
Merry Christmas!
Blessed Christmas Rachna!
ReplyDeleteI love your dedication to all things "writing".
The best of everything in the new year!!
Sounds very exciting, thanks Rachna, Happy Christmas and best wishes for 2011!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rachna, for spreading the word! Really great news!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a great competition, and I'm glad you're alerting people about it. The judges sound like people who're really smart and in the know. Look forward to seeing you in the New Year!
ReplyDeleteRachna,
ReplyDeleteit's really very good news for new writers..and youngsters..they can get very high brek though this competition.
And i am very sorry to not reaching on your blog due to some official engagements.
Best wishes and happy new year.
Hemant
Thank you for letting us know about this competition. Sounds good... wish you and yours all the best for a happy and healthy New Year!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year, Rachna! Thanks for letting us know about this cool contest!
ReplyDeleteHey Rachna, thanks for this! Happy New Year to you and your family. Hope you had enjoyable holidays!
ReplyDeleteThanks for alerting us, Rachna. Hope you had a great holiday.
ReplyDelete