One Fee to Enter Them All…
— Submission Period —
January 2, 2024- February 1, 2024
Each year, our members eagerly enter the OWFI annual writing contest. Featuring over 30 categories, feedback from qualified judges with industry experience, and a red-carpet-style award ceremony at our conference, this contest is one of the major highlights of the year! For one $30 contest fee, OWFI members can enter one submission to each and every category.
Follow the links above to register, learn more about the categories available, read the submission and formatting guidelines, watch our how-to-enter video tutorial, or take a peek at last year’s winners and sponsors!
If you’d like to be a part of the dream team that makes this contest happen, check out the judging application and sponsorship opportunities. And of course, keep an eye on this page for the link to the submission form once the contest opens. We can’t wait to see your work!
— Awards/Prizes —
Unpublished Categories:
First Place: $50 prize, certificate, and electronic badge
Second Place: $35 prize, certificate, and electronic badge
Third Place: $20 prize, certificate, and electronic badge
Honorable Mentions: Certificate and electronic badge
Published Categories:
One trophy prize and an electronic badge will be awarded in each published book category
Crème de la Crème: (best of all first place winners in unpublished categories)
$500 prize, trophy, and electronic badge
— Submission Guidelines —
All submissions must be submitted electronically.
Contestants (including students) must be active OWFI members in good standing when entering the contest.
Submit only one entry per category. We do encourage you to enter as many categories as you want.
Each submission may be entered in only one category. Do not change the title and enter the same piece in multiple categories.
Co-authored entries may be submitted under a Team Registration. All members of a team must be OWFI members in good standing. There will be one registration fee for each team. Members of a team who wish to submit individual entries will also need to register as an individual. Team members who also register as an individual may enter one separate entry in the same category as each registration is independent.
Plagiarism is unacceptable.
Manuscripts that are AI generated or enhanced do not qualify for submission.
Do not exceed the word, line, or page count limitations set for each category. Judges are instructed to stop reading at the limit and deduct points for entries that run long. Synopses, outlines, and tables of contents are included in maximum limits.
All submissions are submitted to judges anonymously. No identifying information may appear on any page of entries in unpublished categories. If the author’s legal name, pen name, or nickname appears anywhere in the submission, the entry will be immediately disqualified. Do not use the author’s name as a character’s name.
Only entries that have not been released for publication before the submission period closes may be entered in unpublished categories.
Works that have been posted on any online media, including blogs (other than personal/author blogs), websites, social media, or other online venues (except for critique purposes) are considered published and are ineligible for submission in unpublished categories.
Published category entries must have a copyright date of 2023.
Contestants who win first place in an unpublished category may not enter that same category again the following year.
Contestants who win in a published category may enter the same category the following year but may not enter the same piece again.
Entries that have won a cash prize (1st, 2nd, or 3rd place) in any previous contest may not be entered again. The only exception applies to winning unpublished manuscripts that are later published. These may be entered in a published category after publication.
Published category entries must be submitted in .pdf
If you need to convert your file to pdf, try https://convertio.co/
If your cover and book are separate files and you need to combine them to submit, visit https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/online/merge-pdf.html
