Enter the opening five (5) pages of romance novels of all sub-genres (projected length of at least 50,000 words).
Contest is open to published and unpublished authors. Unpublished authors are ranked separately from published authors.
Published authors may submit only unpublished, uncontracted manuscripts. NOTE: If you have a romance novel published by a
non-recognized RWA publisher, Utah RWA Considers you to be published.
Categories:
- Contemporary: Single title; category; mainstream; young adult; or inspirational in a contemporary setting.
- Historical: Single title; category; Regencies; suspense; mainstream; young adult; or inspirational in an historical setting.
- Paranormal: Time travel; ghost; futuristic; inspirational in a paranormal setting; or paranormals of all other kinds.
- Mystery/Suspense: Single title; category; suspense; mainstream; or young adult.
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**Published Will Be Judged Collectively**
*URWA reserves the right to combine categories if fewer than eight entries are received.*
Final Round Judges
- Contemporary: Michelle Grajkowski, Literary Agent/3 Seas Literary Agency
- Historical: Pam Ahearn, Literary Agent/The Ahearn Agency
- Paranormal: Christine Witthohn, Literary Agent/Book Cents Literary Agency, LLC
- Mystery/Suspense: Faith Black, Editor/Berkley Books at Penguin Group USA
- Published: Amanda Bergeron, Editor/Avon-HarperCollins
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Awards
An individual may enter more than one manuscript, may enter in more than one category and may enter more than once per category; however, each submission must have its own entry fee and completed entry form. The same entry may not be entered in more than one category. Manuscripts that won in previous Great Beginnings Contests will not be accepted.
Each entry will receive three scores; The lowest score will be dropped.
- Unpublished authors in each submission category: Contemporary, Historical, Paranormal, and Mystery/Suspense.
- Unpublished manuscripts by published authors (not separated by category).
- The first place recipients will be awarded a $10 Barnes and Noble gift card, a bookmark and a certificate.
- All other finalist will receive certificates.
- All finalists will be recognized in the Romance Writers Report.
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First round entries will be judged by avid readers as well as published and unpublished authors, who are encouraged to comment on entries.
(See Judge's Scoresheet)
Tips on the Judging Criteria:
Is this contest right for your manuscript?
- Does your story make the reader want to keep turning the pages from the beginning?
- Do you have a great opening line?
- Is your manuscript easy to read? (i.e. free of major grammatical and spelling errors)
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Submission Checklist:
- Contest fee of $10, paid via PayPal, check or money order, drawn on U.S. funds, made payable to Utah/Salt Lake Chapter RWA®. (Each entry must be accompanied by the entry fee.)
- Each ELECTRONIC entry MUST include a completed entry form.
- Up to the first five (5) pages of your manuscript. Do not submit more than five pages; only five pages will be judged.
- Submissions should be in standard manuscript format.
- 1" margins.
- Double-spaced.
- Typed in an easily read font that is acceptable for submission to publishing houses, such as Courier.
- A maximum of 25 lines per page.
- In the header on each page, include title, category, and page number.
- Your name must ONLY appear on the entry form and not on any manuscript page. If authors name(s) appear on the entry pages, the entry will be disqualified and the entry fee will be forfeited.
- PLEASE SEND YOUR SUBMISSION AS AN ATTACHMENT IN .RTF FORMAT
- Send all entries to: Jennifer Beckstrand at jgbeckstrand@gmail.com .
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For all questions and comments, please contact the contest coordinator, Jennifer Beckstrand at jgbeckstrand@gmail.com.
[NOTE: If you wish to send thank you notes to judges after completion of contest, please e-mail them to the above address with the judge number.]
To Enter: Please fill out the ELECTRONIC ENTRY FORM by clicking below. After you complete and submit the entry form, you can mail your entry fee of $10 to:
Utah RWA
Great Beginnings Contest
P.O. Box 997
West Jordan, UT 84084
or return to this page and use our easy PayPal Cart to process your entry fee.
Click here for Manual Entry Form to send with your check.
Or
if paying by PayPal
Utah RWA
2010 Great Beginnings
Contest Fee
$10.00
