One month from today, on Friday, March 8, our chapter’s annual writing contest opens for entries and your Co-Chairs are working hard behind the scenes to get everything ready!
This year sees a few changes to the Stiletto Contest, ones we’re proud to put into effect.
- Judges will receive more training and support.
- Category Coordinators will have access to each other and the Co-Chairs via a groups.io discussion area.
- The group will be moderated by the Co-Chairs and there will be zero tolerance for unkind or incendiary comments. We are here to support our writers and our chapter.
- Published entries will have separate scoresheets that better reflect the fact judges are looking at work that is out in the world.
Why enter? Published authors—traditional and self-published—submitting your work supports our chapter, introduces you to potential new fans, and serves to inspire writers on the rise.
For not-yet-published writers (and authors with unpublished work), this is a terrific opportunity to have at least three more sets of eyes on your manuscript. The RWA Conference in New York City is just five months away, and if you’re planning to pitch to editors and agents, this is another opportunity to polish your work.
The top five entries in each of the Unpublished Categories will go to one agent and one editor per category for the final round of judging. Judges are listed here and the list will be updated.
Get ready!
- Prepare for the contest by finishing your manuscript and working with your critique partners to make those first 7,000 words shine.
- Submit your finished manuscript to the RWA to gain your PRO status.
- The contest closes for entries on April 12.
- We celebrate together in NYC on the opening day of the conference and we have it on good authority our Swag Bags are going to be epic.
The Co-Chairs can be reached at any time at the contest email: crwstilettocontest (at) gmail (dot) com. Look for regular updates in the coming weeks, and good luck to everyone!
