$800 bursary offered to debut novelists   Debut novelists can win a $800 bursary to have their novel professionally critiqued at the Writers’ Village Foundation, a not-for-profit award scheme established to help new authors. The top eight submissions will also gain personal feedback from the award judge, novelist Michelle Spring, a Royal Literary Fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge.   Entry is $19 and the deadline is 31st March...

Serendipity Literary Agency in conjunction with Sourcebooks Inc. is hosting their fifth annual  YOUNG ADULT DISCOVERY COMPETITION No query? No pitch? No problem! Have a young adult novel—or a YA novel idea—tucked away for a rainy day? Are you putting off pitching your idea simply because you’re not sure how to pitch an agent? No problem! All you have to do is submit the first 250 words of your novel and you can win exposure to editors and a...

DEADLINE: October 1, 2013 GENRE: Books DETAILS: Any genre of novel is accepted, as long as it includes a love story. “Boy meets girl, girl meets girl, girl meets shark, shark meets pirate — anything goes.” Previously unpublished novel, 50,000 words minimum, no maximum. PRIZE: $10,000 and publication by Quirk Books. There are no entry fees. URL: http://quirkbooks.com/lovestories

NO ENTRY FEE The contest is open to any professional or non-professional writer, regardless of nationality, who has never been the author of a published mystery. All manuscripts submitted must be original works of book length (no less than 220 typewritten pages or approximately 60,000 words) written in the English language by the contestants. Murder or another serious crime or crimes is at the heart of the story, and emphasis is on the solution...

Grand Prize Blue Ribbon for Best Book 2013 will receive $1,000 plus prizes and promotion. $40 ENTRY FEE The winner will be announced in early October 2013. There will be only one CBR Grand Prize Blue Ribbon Winner 2013. Only First Place Genre award winners may compete for the Grand Prize for Best Book 2013. If a manuscript wins, it will be eligible to be forwarded to literary agents who have contacted CBR for first peeks at outstanding...

The 2013 Autumn House Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction Contests Naomi Shihab Nye, Poetry Judge Kathleen George, Fiction Judge Phillip Lopate, Nonfiction Judge Scroll down for separate contest guidelines for each genre. Guidelines for the 2013 Autumn House Poetry Contest Since 2003, the annual Autumn House Poetry Contest has awarded publication of a full-length manuscript and $2,500 to the winner. For the 2013 contest, the preliminary judge is...