FWA St. Augustine Ancient City Chapter Writers Group

The Northeast region of the Florida Writers Association announces its Second Annual Lighthouse Book Awards Competition for unpublished novels. The competition has been expanded this year to the following four categories of fiction: Mysteries/Suspense/Thrillers, Fiction-General, Young Adult, and Science Fiction/Fantasy.

Once again, the top three finalists in each category will be sent to acquisition editors at major publishing companies. They will rank the finalists as to first, second and third place award-winners. “Last year, we were overwhelmed with the number of entries we received,” FWA Regional Director Vic DiGenti said in announcing the competition. “We received nearly 100 submissions demonstrating the growing strength of our writing community.”

Aside from the opportunity to have their work read by one of the acquiring editors, each submission will receive feedback from the preliminary judges. Finalists will be announced at a regional writers’ conference on Saturday, May 17 at the Players Senior Community Center.

The contest is open to all writers whose entry has not been contracted with or published by any publisher, including self-publishing. The entry fee is $35 per entry and multiple entries are allowed. Contest rules call for three copies of the first twenty-five (25) pages of the manuscript to be mailed along with three copies of a one-page synopsis. The deadline for entry is Friday, January 25, and checks should be made payable to Florida Writers Association.

Contest rules and submission guidelines can be found at: http://www.windrusher.com/ContestRules.html. For questions, please contact Judy Connolly, Competition Coordinator, at judy.connolly@comcast.net or Vic DiGenti at windrusher@comcast.net.