2008 MWA Novel Contest

Maryland Writers' Association, Inc.
P.O. Box 65 • Pylesville, MD 21132-0065

Who We Are:

The Maryland Writers' Association (MWA) is a voluntary, not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting the art, craft, and business of writing. MWA's diverse membership includes publishers, agents, journalists, professional freelancers, published authors, writers aspiring to be published, and those who write as a creative outlet. Members hail from Maryland, D.C, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, plus a few as far away as southern Florida. Members produce both non-fiction and fiction, including novels, short stories, poetry, plays, scripts, speeches, feature articles, and essays. Some members work in specific genres such as romance, science fiction, mystery, thriller, fantasy, action/adventure, children's literature, horror, travel writing, or biography.

Our Mission:

The goal of the MWA Novel Contest is to encourage and develop authors by providing a reputable literary critique and contest experience. An award from our contest is a bona fide seal of approval from an incorporated group of professional and published writers. As such, it is well suited for drawing the attention of editors and agents to your work.

Our method is to run the MWA Novel Contest as if it were the "front office" of a literary agency or publishing house. Editors and agents are inundated with submissions. They look for the first excuse to toss your work and put a generic rejection letter into your SASE. Such letters are normally devoid of hints on improving your effort.

The MWA Novel Contest's submission package is patterned on the materials commonly requested by an agent or editor in response to a successful query letter. MWA contest volunteers screen and cull submissions following the same criteria used by agents and editors. Our contest judges critique and score the entry's effectiveness in meeting a standardized set of novel style and content criteria.

Unlike an agency or publishing house, the MWA Novel Contest will provide participants with detailed and well-intentioned feedback about their submission(s). Besides the volunteers that perform the initial screening, each submission is critiqued by at least two contest judges. Judges names will be published on the MWA web site after judging is complete. In the event of a tie, reserve judges will also critique and score the submissions. Every aspect of your submission is evaluated, and the detailed evaluation results will be sent to you in the SASE.

Contest Overview:

Each entry must be a COMPLETED, English Language, book-length (at least 50,000 words), work of FICTION that is UNPUBLISHED and not currently under contract by an agent or publisher.

Entries will be accepted in the categories:

• Action/Adventure/Horror
• Mainstream/Literary
• Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
• Romance/Historical
• Science Fiction/Fantasy/Speculative

Entries must conform to the MWA guidelines and formatting instructions. Failure to follow the published rules and guidelines will disqualify the entry.

Membership in MWA is NOT a requirement for participation or winning the contest.

Entries must be postmarked by February 28, 2008.

Entry Fee:
$37 per submission for MWA members, $40 per submission for non-members. Make checks payable to the Maryland Writers' Association, Inc. Contest fees are not refundable after the entry has been passed to the judges for critique.

Prizes:
Prizes will be awarded at the MWA meeting on June 11, 2008. Winners need not be present to win. There will be one overall contest winner, and each final category will have a first and second prizewinner. The Grand Prize winner will receive $150.00. The first place entry in each category will receive $100.00. The second place winner in each category will receive $50.00. Each winner will receive an Award Certificate, a quotable letter, and a press release from the Maryland Writers' Association, which you may used to publicize your work. All entrants will receive two (2) judges' critiques of their submission.

Mail your entry (postmarked) by February 28, 2008 to:

MWA Novel Contest
P.O. Box 65
Pylesville, MD 21132-0065

If you have any questions, send an email with the Subject: "MWA Novel Contest" to the contest coordinator Mary Beth Creighton: mbcreighton@clearviewcatv.net. Emails that lack a proper subject line will be deleted unread. You may also use the MWA feedback form.