Every year, we get a slew of questions about the Realm Awards. Please read the FAQs below, and if you don’t find the answer to your question, feel free to reach out to us via email.
I would like to enter more than one work into the awards. Do I have to fill out a new form for each?
At the bottom of your first submission, before you pay the entry fee, you will see a button to add another entry. If you use this button, you can add your subsequent entries, and the entry fees will continue to tally for you to make a single payment for all works.
This works really well for publishers who are entering several of the books they released in the contest year (and prolific authors too!)
I am the main author of a novella but it was co-written. Am I still allowed to enter?
Yes. Co-authored works are allowed. The person who enters the work will be the one who will receive the award.
Will a work in the book/full-length adult category qualify for the contest if its publication is solely on a personal website and not done through a publisher i.e., Amazon? To clarify, I have the entire book for sale in a .epub or .pdf format on my website. It is a digital copy only.
For the contest, we need to be able to independently verify the publication date, either through the publisher, the retailer, or someplace like Goodreads.
I think my books are clean, but I know some don’t see them that way. How am I to gauge this? …there are some steamy scenes, but I never show sex. To me, that’s clean. But I guess that means PG13. As for “violence,” I wouldn’t think mine is G-rated, but I cringe to say it’s PG-13 …
We are looking for things that would make a Christian judge uncomfortable. We expect there to be conflict in your books. If it is extreme or intense, please let us know. If there is sex outside marriage or it is descriptive at all, please let us know. We don’t want your work scored poorly because it was given to a sensitive reader.
I am struggling on the format and the length of an audiobook submission for the awards. We are entering a full-length Audiobook for submission. Do you just need a sample to judge? The whole book? Please let me know ASAP so I can get my submission in in time!
We request that you submit the entirety of the work for judging.
I would love to enter an audio book, but I’m not sure how best to include it on the application. Can I submit a link and book promo code for ACX?
Yes. Promo codes are preferred.
I was wondering if an author can still enter the debut novel category even if they have previously published a novella?
Yes. We’re defining “debut” as an author’s first published novel.
For the audio categories and the “audio drama” option, are you asking for just written scripts or are you looking for fully produced audio dramas with recorded actors and sound? Also, by full-length do you mean something like a single, 1-2 hour standalone story (like a play), or are you looking for a whole season worth of material? And do you have either desired runtime or page limit on scripts? I saw that you have word limits for the other options, though it’s hard to judge by the word for scripted audio dramas given all the sound cues needed for editing and effects.
We’re looking for the actual audio files, so “fully produced with recorded actors.”
By full-length, we were expecting a novel produced as an audio drama. It could be that an entire season might be the equivalent if a season has a complete story arc.
Please base your entry on the time parameters listed on the entry form, whether it’s a long/full length project, like a whole novel, or short.
How old does a person have to be to enter the Realm Awards?
There is no minimum age for entry.
I published a piece of flash fiction with Havok, who later produced it in audio for their podcast. I would be thrilled to enter that into this year’s Realm Awards, but I don’t know how to acquire those files, or if I am even allowed to. Is that something I need to contact Havok about? This is all very new to me, so any help is wholly appreciated.
There’s a place on the submission form to enter the link to the podcast url for your story. You don’t have to acquire audio files for stories that can be listened to for free on the internet.
I would like to enter a short story in the Realm Awards – a slightly shorter version was published on medium.com in the past. I published the eBook in December. Does the eBook still qualify for this year’s awards?
We would not consider the story’s presence on medium.com “publication” since it is a group hosted blog. Therefore, your published eBook in Dec would be eligible for this year’s Realm Awards.
In the guidelines for submissions for the Realm Awards, one clause states: Entries must be submitted as .mobi or .pdf wherever possible. If you will be utilizing NetGalley to give us contest copies, check the appropriate box on the entry form. Please make your publisher aware that contest copies still need to be received by the January 21 deadline.
Does this mean that you need contest copies as well as a .mobi or .pdf file?
No, we do not. Some publishers won’t allow authors to submit a .mobi or .pdf, so we have no choice but to use NetGalley. We would much prefer a .mobi or .pdf.
Are we allowed to tweak our story at all? Or just send it in as published?
It needs to be the official, published version.
I’m interested in submitting a short fiction piece to The Realm Awards. Do you need an “official” mobi/PDF file that comes from the publisher, or is it enough to simply convert my finalized Word doc (that I sent to the publisher) into a PDF, then send that to you? I can also of course provide all publication information and any other required verification.
We need the final, formatted file from your publisher or you. Just the story, not the whole anthology, please.
The audio drama I plan to enter is a single episode of an anthology series. Basically, each episode in my series is a self-contained story focused on a different time, different place, and different characters. Is it eligible even though it’s part of a series, or do you require each submission to be its own 100% self-contained production?
If it is a stand-alone story, it is eligible as a single episode. If the episode is more like a book chapter, the entire series would need to be submitted as a full-length work.
Do you have to be a member of Realm Makers to enter the Realm Awards?
You do NOT have to be a Realm Makers member to enter the Realm Awards.
Is it possible to enter cover art for a novelette/novella into the Cover Design Award?
Yes, as long as it is speculative fiction written by a Christian author.
I have a novelette that I used as a reader magnet for my newsletter, written and sent out this year, but I haven’t published it anywhere else. Is my novelette eligible for the Novella/Novelette category? Or does it need to be published elsewhere first?
For a novella/novelette/short story to qualify as “published” it should either be available for purchase through Amazon, etc. and/or published by a third party.
Is it possible as the editor of an entire anthology, several stories from which are written by Christians, to submit the entire anthology? Can I just pay the novel price or… how should I go about that?
We don’t allow full anthologies because each author would need to affirm our Statement of Faith.
You are welcome to enter individual stories to the awards in the appropriate category, then we can contact the author to affirm our Statement of Faith. Otherwise, encourage your author(s) to submit to the awards themselves.
I’d love to enter my new novel in the awards, but I seem to fall short of the Adult Fantasy word count. I’m at about 52K words. Is that an automatic disqualification?
If it does not reach the minimum word count for the category, please enter it as a novella.
Question about your Realm Awards submissions, specifically, the short/flash fiction. I’m curious about your definition of published. Are you only looking for something that has been published traditionally, such as in an anthology or magazine? Something with an ISBN? I’ve been writing flash fiction off and on this past year and putting in on my website for people to read for free. I consider it publishing because I’m putting it out into the world, but I know some do not because it doesn’t have an ISBN. Just hoping for some clarification.
Unfortunately, we don’t consider publication to an author’s blog or website or use as a lead magnet publication for the purposes of our contest. To consider a story published if it appears online only, it either needs to be available for purchase somewhere (like Amazon) or published by a third party (like a publisher or ezine).
What definition does the committee use for “professional editing”? I am guessing it is tied into payment received as this would be my usual understanding of the term.
If a professional editor (someone who is employed as an editor, whether freelance or for a publisher) edits your work, it would be considered professionally edited whether or not you pay them.
Does not having a book professionally edited disqualify the book from consideration?
Not at all. We capture editorial information in case we decide to award excellence in editing in the future.
Will the judges be provided with the information that the book is or is not professionally edited?
No. We do not provide information on whether your book has been edited, or by whom, to the judges.
While still new at KDP, I prematurely “published” my novelette before it was ready for launch. I then removed it from availability because it wasn’t ready for the market, and then actually published it later in the intended final form. The problem is that on Amazon the ebook continues to list the first date as the publication date. My copyright page lists the correct year, in both ebook and paperback form. All of my launch posts are from the correct year on FB and Twitter. Does this situation makes the book ineligible for submission to the Awards?
If you are in this situation, or a similar situation, contact the Awards Committee via email. We’ll keep your email for reference and allowed you to enter the Awards.
I am a book cover creator and a Christian. Can I submit one of my speculative book covers to the Realm Awards Cover Design contest?
Only if the content of the book was authored by a Christian as well. While we applaud all Christian creatives, the Realm Awards seek to elevate speculative fiction written by Christians.
I am an audio book narrator and a Christian. Can I submit one of my audio books to the contest if there is no objectionable content? I’m not sure whether the author is Christian or not.
For your entry to be eligible for entry into the awards, the author would need agree to our Faith Statement.