4th Annual YA Novel Discovery Contest: "No Query? No Pitch? No Problem!"

Want a chance to get your writing read by editors at Simon and Schuster, Harlequin Kimani, Random House, Candlewick, Scholastic, Sourcebooks, Kensington, Harlequin Teen, Bloomsbury, and Feiwel and Friends?

From agent Regina Brooks comes info on the 4th Annual YA Novel Discovery Contest

Sarah V. Combs is one of the contest success stories. She wrote:

"I ended up signing with an agent -- just a few weeks ago, she sold the book to Candlewick's Nicole Raymond, who served as one of the judges of the 2010 YA Novel Discovery Contest. Breakfast Served Anytime is slated for publication in Spring 2014.”

Here's more info from the contest entry website:

Get in Front of Top YA Editors and Agents with ONLY the First 250 Words of Your YA Novel!

No query? No pitch? No problem!

Have a young adult novel—or a YA novel idea—tucked away for a rainy day? Are you putting off pitching your idea simply because you’re not sure how to pitch an agent? No problem! All you have to do is submit the first 250 words of your novel and you can win exposure to editors and a review of your manuscript from one of New York’s TOP young adult literary agents, Regina Brooks.


NOVEMBER IS NaNoWriMo

In honor of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo.org)—an international event where aspiring novelists are encouraged to write an entire novel in 30 days—this contest is meant to encourage the aspiring YA author to get started on that novel by offering an incentive for completing the first 250 words.

GREAT PRIZES
The Grand Prize Winner will have the opportunity to submit an entire manuscript to YA literary agent Regina Brooks AND receive a free, 10-week writing course, courtesy of Gotham Writers' Workshop, plus a collection of gourmet teas from Possibiliteas.co!

The Top Five Entrants (including the Grand Prize winner) will receive a 15-minute, one-on-one pitch session with Regina Brooks, one of New York’s premier literary agents for young adult books. They will also receive commentary on their submissions by editors from  Scholastic, Feiwel and Friends, Random House, Harelquin Teen, Kensington,  Kimani Tru, Candlewick, Bloomsbury, Simon and Schuster  and Sourcebooks. In addition, they will receive a year’s subscription to The Writer magazine!


First 50 Entrants will receive a copy of Writing Great Books for Young Adults by Regina Brooks.


HERE’S HOW IT WORKS:The rules of the contest are simple and entering is easy.  Submit entries of ONLY the first 250 words of your manuscript and the title via the contest website at http://www.writingclasses.com/ContestPages/YAPitch.php.


One entry per person; anyone age 14+ can apply. Open to the U.S. & Canada (void where prohibited). Entries for the YA Novel Discovery Contest will be accepted from 12:01am (ET) November 1st, 2012 until 11:59pm November 30th, 2012 (ET).

YA literary agent Regina Brooks and her team, will read all of the entries and determine the top 20 submissions. These submissions will then be read by Navah Wolfe Simon and Schuster, Tracey Sherrod Harlequin Kimani, Krista Viola Random House, Nicole Raymond Candlewick, Rachel Griffiths Scholastic, Aubrey Poole Sourcebooks, Mercedes Fernandez Kensington, Nataysha Wilson Harlequin teen, Laura Whitaker Bloomsbury, Anna Roberts Feiwel and Friends. These judges will whittle the top 20 down to five, and each of the five winners will be provided commentary on their submissions.

For SCBWI members dedicated to their craft, this sounds like a great opportunity.

You can enter here. Good Luck!

 Illustrate and Write On,
Lee