Recruiting judges soon! Contest to open in September. Watch your email and social media for announcements.
Contest Details
Entries Accepted September 18th to October 8th
Many new authors are looking for feedback on whether their writing is on the right track to someday be published. Everyone can benefit from professional comments on their strengths and weaknesses. Not every day do you come across an opportunity for editors and an agent get a “first look” at your writing.
The Aurora Contest offers all these opportunities!
To Enter:
Authors of adult and YA books submit the first 7500 words of their unpublished, uncontracted SPECULATIVE FICTION manuscript. Middle grade submissions send the first 3500 words.
Authors send a 500-word synopsis of their novel that includes how the story ends.
The work being submitted must be the opening chapters from a novel-length work. If the work has a prologue, the author will include it to be considered the first chapter.
These requested materials will be uploaded as two documents (.docx, .rtf, .PDF)
Entry Fee: $25 per excerpt, per category
For example:
Entry 1 chooses to enter the genre category Fantasy only. Entry fee: $25
Entry 2 chooses to enter science fiction and middle grade: Entry fee: $50
If you feel that your work is a mashup of genres, choose the genre you feel it reflects most prominently.
FIRST:
In the first round, judges will read the first 2500 (YA, Adult) or 1500 (MG) words of the book and assign the work a score. The judges will offer comments, not an edit or full critique.
NEXT:
The top-scoring first 2500/1500 word samples advance to the second round. Judges for this round will then read the first 5000/2500 words of the manuscripts, once again assigning the work a score. Judges will provide comments about the work’s strengths and areas for improvement.
FINALLY:
The top scorers from round two will move on to the final round. Judges will read the full sample as well as the synopsis. The judges for this round will be agents, editors, and/or publishing industry professionals. This round will reveal our winners!
Categories
Authors may enter an excerpt from their manuscript into one genre and/or one audience category, maximum.
GENRE CATEGORIES
Fantasy—a story with elements that do not occur in the real world, which may have magic, mythical creatures, races of intelligent beings besides humans, etc. Any setting or time period is permissible. Non-magic fantasy is permitted as well.
Science fiction—built upon scientific premises but goes beyond what our current scientific understanding explains. Any setting or time period is permissible.
Horror–stories that include scary or macabre elements Please be advised that because this is a Christian run and judged contest, gratuitous gore such as slasher-type horror will not qualify.
Supernatural/Paranormal-Supernatural stories embrace spiritual entities such as angels, demons, God, and Satan. Paranormal stories are set in the real world and contain elements that occur outside the range of what is normal in our everyday experience: ghosts, monsters and cryptids, for example,
AUDIENCE CATEGORIES
Adult: Written for individuals mature enough to enjoy complex plots and potentially mature themes, though not all adult books will contain the latter. Protagonists may be adult characters beyond their coming-of-age experiences. This audience is the most general of the three we offer in this contest.
Young Adult: written for readers aged 13 and up, generally focusing on teen protagonists
Middle Grade: written for readers aged 8-12.
Entrants will have an open field to indicate if the story has a subgenre that will help contextualize the work better.
A note for Middle Grade submissions: we acknowledge that the word count for middle grade books a varies widely, depending on whether the story is for early middle grade or late middle grade readers. When you submit, we recommend that you use the sub-genre field to indicate which part of the middle grade spectrum your work is written for. This will help us judge your work most accurately.
Eligibility
What is the definition of unpublished?
The contest is for unpublished novelists. For the sake of this contest, unpublished means:
The author submitting their work has never released a novel-length work with any royalty-paying publisher. Authors under contract with a future release date on a project are ineligible.
-OR-
The author has never sold more than 300 copies of any single self-published book. For example, if the author has written four books and sold 125 copies of each, they are still eligible. If they have sold 300+ copies of one of those titles, they are not eligible. Totals are to be counted from the date of publication to the present.
Other Qualifications
Authors who have published short stories of any length remain eligible for this contest.
Authors who have published non-fiction, short story, and/or picture books are eligible to enter novel-length works in progress.
Authors entering the contest must be willing to affirm our statement of faith as stated on the entry form.
If a manuscript entered into the contest earns a contract before December 1, 2023, it is the author’s responsibility to inform the contest coordinators. This manuscript will no longer qualify for the contest.
In the event of a co-authored entry, both authors must meet the qualifications of “unpublished” and affirm our statement of faith
If a sample does not win its category this year, it is still eligible to be entered in future years, so long as the author remains unpublished.
Realm Makers reserves the right to cancel or combine any category receiving fewer than ten entries. In the event of a category cancellation, the entries will receive a refund of their contest fee.
Manuscripts do not need to be complete to enter the contest, but should be far enough along that the author is certain the final story will be novel length, (over 25,000 words for Middle Grade, over 40,000 words for YA, over 70,000 words for adult)
The manuscript shall contain no gratuitous/glorified violence, excessive gore, erotic content, or other material that conflicts with a Christian worldview. The work and/or the synopsis should indicate the work’s inherent harmony with Christian moral standards. The contest runners reserve the right to evaluate entries for disqualifying content.
Judging
Judging phases will last approximately 3 weeks per round. The exact timing of each round will be determined by the numbers of entries and judges involved in the contest.
Books will be judged according to the following criteria (each area worth 10 points):
Writing mechanics: grammar, punctuation, syntax
Writing artistry: voice, cadence, pacing
Story: emotional impact, hook(s), originality
Characters: appeal, dimension, uniqueness
World Building: Consistency, interest, appeal