IMPORTANT UPDATE: We are no longer accepting submissions for Project YA Editorial this year. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have postponed this contest until the summer of 2017. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and encourage you to check back in for next year's contest.
The official launch of the first contest for Project YA Editorial is finally here! As a campaign dedicated to helping young authors get their start in the publishing world, my good friend and fellow editor, Sarah Wright, and I are on a quest to find a stellar short story that we will professionally edit—for free! She and I will be combing through the entries up until November 20th, when we will announce the top 5 finalists. Each finalist will receive an in-depth assessment of their piece along with a chance to win the grand prize: a package of free professional editing services for their story from Sarah and myself, plus a paperback copy of the super helpful book The Emotion Thesaurus by authors Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. The grand prize winner will be chosen on December 18th, and their story will be featured on both Sarah’s site and mine.
Rules
- The contest is open to those between the ages of 18 and 25. Our reason for selecting those ages, apart from federal contest and giveaway rules, is that we’ve found some of the most creative and well-written work comes from that age group. Though we love mentoring younger writers when we get the chance, the slightly older group is full of those on the brink of the delving into the world of publishing, so that’s what we’re focusing on. For those of you who aren’t quite to this age group, hang in there! We plan to make this a yearly contest, so you’ll still get your chance. Keep writing and tweaking those ideas, because next year could be your year to enter!
- You must live in the U.S. to participate. Though we wish we could open it up to more awesome writers in the world right now—we know there are a lot of you—to comply with federal laws for shipping prizes, it must remain in the U.S. for the time being. We are, however, looking to open it up to be an international contest at some point in the future.
- All stories must be submitted by 11:59 PM EST on October 30th. After that, any entries submitted will not be considered. To enter your story, please email us at projectYAeditorial at gmail dot com, with “Project YA Editorial 2016” and the title of your piece in the subject. Please also include a short query letter in the body, along with your name (or pen name if you’d like us to use one) and email address so we can contact you in the event you are chosen as a finalist. Stories should be copied and pasted into the body of the email as well, not sent as an attachment. We will do our best to respond to each of you with our decision, but if you do not hear from us by November 19, you can safely assume that you did not progress to the next round.
- The theme for entering this year is “Follow the White Rabbit.” We’re looking for speculative fiction stories that are 5,000 words or fewer (but not flash fiction) that use tattoos as an integral component. You can be as creative with that as you like, so long as you include elements typically found in speculative fiction and visible markings of some sort as a main element of your piece. The subgenres fantasy, science fiction, and horror are all welcome with the exception of erotica. We will not accept entries that are primarily erotic in nature, promote violence toward children, are heavily gruesome in nature, include illegal underage romances, or convey the rise or fall of the world based on the political agenda of a leader. We also will not accept fanfiction. For your story to be considered in the contest, it must follow the theme and be your original work!
- No simultaneous submissions. One entry per person please. Only entries that have not been published or submitted elsewhere will be considered.
Other Details
Authors will retain all rights to the piece that they submit. The goal of this campaign is to provide young writers with the resources and connections they need to hone their craft and publish their work, and this is our way of giving back to all the young writers out there who deserve a shot at publication. If you don't meet the requirement for entering but know someone who does, please share this with them. Sarah and I both love connecting with new writers, and this a chance for them to get some free help and publicity for their work.
*Please note that the due dates for entry into this contest have been extended from the original post! To ensure that each entry receives a fair chance to be selected, we have opted to lengthen the duration of the contest for a larger pool of submissions.
Updates about the contest, the finalist, and the grand prize winner will posted on the Project YA Editorial page of my website, on Sarah’s website, and also on my main Tumblr blog, so be sure to bookmark one or more of those pages.
Happy writing, and good luck!