Deadline: 6 February 2011
Amazon.com, along with Penguin Group (USA) and CreateSpace, is pleased to announce the fourth annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, the international competition seeking the next popular novel. The competition will once again award two grand prizes: one for General Fiction and one for Young Adult Fiction. Each winner will receive a publishing contract with Penguin, which includes a $15,000 advance.
The Breakthrough Novel Award brings together talented writers, reviewers, and publishing experts to find and develop new voices in fiction. If you're an author with an unpublished or previously self-published novel waiting to be discovered, visit CreateSpace to learn more about the next Breakthrough Novel Award. Open submissions for manuscripts will begin on January 24, 2011 and run through February 6, 2011.
1. ELIGIBILITY. You are eligible to enter the Contest if you are at least 13 years old at time of entry and a legal resident of one of the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada (excluding the Province of Québec), China, Denmark, Finland, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States (the 50 states and D.C.), or the United Kingdom. If you are considered a minor in your jurisdiction, you must have the permission of a parent (or both parents where required by law) or legal guardian to enter the Contest. If you are not of the legal majority in the jurisdiction in which you reside, your parent or legal guardian will be responsible for fulfilling all of the requirements set forth in these Official Rules. You are not eligible to enter the Contest if you are (a) our or Publishers Weekly’s employee or independent contractor; (b) a family member (spouses, domestic partners, parents, grandparents, siblings, children, and grandchildren) of our or Publishers Weekly’s employee; (c) an individual living in the same household as our or Publishers Weekly’s employee or independent contractor; or (d) a judge involved in the Contest, including any reviewer who participates in selecting the Quarter-Finalists. To be eligible to become a Grand Prize winner ("Winner"), you must be available to travel to the location of the Grand Prize event ("Venue") for a three to five-night trip, which trip will take place between June 9, 2011 and June 15, 2011 (we will determine and announce the exact dates of the trip). We may waive the requirement for you to travel to the Venue if, in our sole discretion, extraordinary circumstances outside your control would prevent you from traveling.
2. HOW TO ENTER. We must receive your Contest entry between January 24, 2011 at 12:01 a.m. (U.S. Eastern Standard Time) and February 6, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. (U.S. Eastern Standard Time). The young adult fiction category and the general fiction category are each limited to 5,000 Entries, and we will stop accepting Entries for a category after we have received 5,000 Entries in that category. You must register at www.CreateSpace.com/abna to enter the Contest. Once you have registered, follow the instructions on the entry form and upload: (1) the complete version of your manuscript ("Manuscript"); (2) up to the first 5,000 words, but not less than 3,000 words, of your Manuscript, excluding any table of contents, foreword, and acknowledgments ("Excerpt"); (3) a pitch of your Manuscript consisting of up to 300 words ("Pitch"); and (4) the personal information required on the entry form. (1-4 collectively, an "Entry"). We will not accept or review any Entry that does not comply with these Official Rules.
3. ENTRY REQUIREMENTS. You must be the only author of your Manuscript, and your Manuscript must be a novel between 50,000 and 150,000 words. Any Manuscript submitted as an Entry written by two or more authors will not be eligible. Additionally, poems, short stories, and collections of works are not eligible. Your Manuscript, Excerpt, and Pitch must: (a) be your original creation; (b) be fictional; (c) be in the English language; (d) be of interior black and white text without images; (e) not currently or previously have been the subject of a publishing agreement with any publishing house (but you may submit your self-published novel if you retain all worldwide distribution rights in and to the novel); (f) not include your name anywhere in the Manuscript, Excerpt, or the Pitch; and (g) meet the content guidelines found at http://www.amazon.com/contentguidelines (which are incorporated in to these Official Rules by this reference). Additionally, you must submit your Manuscript digitally in Microsoft Word .doc, .docx, or .rtf format. Any entry that we determine, in our sole discretion, to meet these requirements will be considered a "Valid Entry.” You may be represented by an agent on the condition that you - not your agent - agree to comply with these Official Rules. Our servers and clock will be the official clock for all phases of the Contest, and your proof of submission is not proof that we received your Entry. You may only submit one Entry for only one category. If you submit more than one Entry, the first Entry that we receive will be the judged Entry, and any subsequent Entries you submit will be void and disregarded.