JacketFlap/Drue Heinz Prize

Thought for the Week: Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing.  ~ Harriet Braiker

JacketFlap connects you to the work of more than 200,000 authors, illustrators, publishers and other creators of books for Children and Young Adults. The free, searchable database is updated regularly. Publisher entries include details on what they publish as well as contact information and web site links.

Drue Heinz Literature Prize
http://www.upress.pitt.edu/prizes.aspx
Deadline: June 30, 2012
No entry fee.

The Drue Heinz Literature Prize is open to writers who have published a book-length collection of fiction or at least three short stories or novellas in commercial magazines or literary journals. Manuscripts are judged anonymously. The prize carries a cash award of $15,000 and publication by the University of Pittsburgh Press under its standard contract. Open to writers in English, regardless of citizenship. You may submit more than one entry.

Amazon No Fee Novel Awards/The First Line

Thought for the New Year: The road to success is not a path you find but a trail you blaze. ~ Robert Brault

THE FIRST LINE
 
Spring deadline: February 1, 2012
Spring Prompt: "There are a few things you need to know before we start."

All stories must start with the appropriate first line, and you cannot change it in any way unless otherwise indicated. Stories chosen are paid $30 and published online and in a chapbook by TheFirst Line. The story should be between 300 and 3,000 words. “We are open to all genres. We try to make TFL as eclectic as possible.” Also pays $20 for 500 to 800 word critical essays about your favorite first line from a literary work.

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

No Fee to enter. Jan. 23 – Feb 5, 2012 submission period.

This award brings together talented writers, reviewers, and publishing experts to find and develop new voices in fiction. The 2012 international contest will award two grand prizes: one for General Fiction and one for Young Adult Fiction. Each winner will receive a publishing contract with Penguin, which includes a $15,000 advance. Manuscripts submitted as entries to the Contest cannot be actively shopped by agents during the contest period, which runs from January 23, 2012 to June 16, 2012.