"Finish The Damn Book" Contest

For those of you who don’t know, I’m a member of the Chesapeake Romance Writers, my local chapter of Romance Writers of America.  This past year has been a rough one for the chapter because we lost long-time member Judi McCoy, author of fourteen romances and the very popular “Dogwalker” romantic mystery series.

Judi was a driving force in our chapter, a mentor to new writers, a great critique partner, and an avid dog lover.  Her beloved bichon frise, Rudy, was a rescue dog and Judy supported the Tidewater Bichon Frise Rescue organization where she adopted him.

To honor the memory of Judi and Rudy, Chesapeake Romance Writers is holding what we hope will become an annual writer’s contest, called “Finish the Damn Book!”  That was one of Judi’s favorite pieces of advice to all of us writers and we thought it an apropos title for this contest.  If you’ve finished a book, at least 55K in length, please consider submitting it to our contest.  A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Tidewater Bichon Frise Rescue organization in memory of Judi and Rudy.

Complete details for the contest can be found on our website, or you can email crwc@rocketmail.com with any questions, but I’ll give you the highlights here.

The contest is open to both published and unpublished authors.

To enter you need to submit the first and last chapters of your unpublished 55K+ manuscript, plus a synopsis of the entire work.  Total submission must not exceed 50 pages.

Deadline for Entry Fee:  5:00pm October 1, 2012

Deadline for Submissions:  5:00pm October 12, 2012

Categories include:  Contemporary, Paranormal, Historical, Mainstream with Romantic Elements, and Young Adult.

Three finalists from each category will advance to Finals Judging.

Finalist Judges for the contest:

Contemporary: Deb Nemeth, Carina Press

Paranormal: Amanda Barnett, The Wild Rose Press

Historical: Mary Murray, Lyrical Press

Mainstream w/Romantic Elements: Valerie Mann, Decadent Publishing

Young Adult: TBA

Entry Fee:  $25.00 for RWA members, $35.00 for non-RWA members

All Finalists will receive a certificate and a banner for their website.                                                                                               First place Winners in each category will receive a Rudy Statuette and a check for $50.00.                                                                       All entrants will receive detailed feedback on their first-round score sheets.

I hope you will consider entering our “Finish the Damn Book!” Contest.  You’ll get great feedback and the chance to get your work before some excellent judges in the publishing industry.  If you have questions for me, you can ask via comments or my Contact Me page.

I hope to see your name on a finalist list come November 30!