The Parthenenon Prize for Fiction
www.parthenonprize.com

The Parthenon Prize for Fiction will award $8000 and publication for an unpublished novel or short story collection under a standard traditional book contract with Cold Tree Press. The purpose of this competition, open to both published and unpublished writers nationwide, is
to discover book-length manuscripts of literary excellence written in English.

Manuscripts will be accepted between March 1 and April 30, 2007.

Submissions will be read and judged anonymously. A final judge will choose the winning manuscript from a pool of finalists narrowed by a team of readers. The final judge for the 2007 competition is Tony Earley, author of Jim the Boy, Here We Are in Paradise, and Somehow Form a Family.

The contest is open to any U.S. resident writing in English for adult readers. Both published and unpublished writers are welcome to submit manuscripts. To avoid any conflict of interest, close friends and current or former students or employees of the final judge, contest director, sponsor, or publisher are not eligible to participate.

We invite only full-length, original, unpublished literary novels and short story collections. Translations and works of non-fiction cannot be considered. Full-length manuscripts are defined as novels of 60,000 to 200,000 words or short story collections of 150 to 300 manuscript pages, double-spaced. All manuscripts must conform to the format described in these guidelines.

Stories previously published in periodicals are eligible for inclusion in a submission; however, stories or chapters previously published in a book-length collection of the author’s own work may not be included.

Manuscripts submitted to The Parthenon Prize for Fiction may also be submitted to other contests and publishers; however, the contest director must be notified immediately, in writing, if the manuscript is awarded a prize or accepted for publication elsewhere.

More than one manuscript may be submitted to the competition provided the appropriate reading fee is included with each submission and does not duplicate material submitted to us in another manuscript.

Manuscripts should be between 60,000 and 200,000 words for a novel, and 150 to 300 manuscript pages for a short story collection, of letter-quality print (no dot-matrix) on standard white paper. Please use an easy-to-read font, such as Times New Roman 12 pt., in black ink. Text should be double-spaced, paginated, and printed on one side of the page
only. Manuscripts should not be bound or in a folder; instead, please use two rubber bands to bind and a padded mailer for shipping. We will not accept email submissions.

The submitted manuscript should be accompanied by two title pages: one with the title only; the other with the title and author’s name, address, phone number, and email address (if available.) The author’s name or other identifying information should not appear anywhere else in the manuscript. Do not include an acknowledgements page or author’s bio.

Contest administrator cannot consider manuscript revisions during the course of the submission and judging period; however, the winning author will be given the opportunity to make revisions before publication.

A check or money order in the amount of $25, payable to The Parthenon Prize, must accompany each manuscript. Please do not send cash. All entry fees are non-refundable.

Manuscripts must be postmarked between March 1 and April 30, 2007. The winner will be notified in September and the cash prize will be awarded in October 2007 at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, TN. Book publication will occur the following year.

No application forms are necessary. Each manuscript must be accompanied by an SASP (self-addressed stamped postcard) for confirmation of receipt, along with an SASE for contest results. FedEx and UPS will be accepted only if no signature is required. Do not include an envelope for the return of your manuscript. Manuscripts will not be returned;
they will be recycled. Be sure to retain a copy of your manuscript for your records.

Your submitted manuscript must be an original work of which you are sole author and must be submitted in accordance with the above eligibility requirements and format guidelines or it will be disqualified.

No entry fees or manuscripts will be returned.

This competition is void where prohibited or restricted by law.

Although the greatest care will be taken with submitted materials, The Parthenon Prize for Fiction assumes no responsibility for lost or damaged manuscripts.

The decision of the judge is final. If, however, the judge and contest administrator find that no manuscript, in their estimation, merits the award and publication, no winner may be chosen. In this circumstance only will submission fees be refunded. No manuscripts, however, will be returned.

The author of the winning manuscript is expected to work with the publishing editor on final manuscript preparation prior to publication. It is an ordinary and usual requirement for an author to accept editorial assistance in preparing his or her manuscript for publication.

Manuscripts must be postmarked between March 1 and April 30, 2007.

All submissions and correspondence should be sent to:

Kelly Falzone, contest director
The Parthenon Prize
2116 Hobbs Road, M-4
Nashville, TN 37215
Questions or inquiries can be made by emailing us at
info@parthenonprize.com