Sandi Greene

For YA Writers

*denotes YA specific

My Favorite Books on Writing:  

Plot and Structure, James Scott Bell
Characters, Emotion, and Viewpoint, Nancy Kress
Getting into Character, Brandilyn Collins
The Plot Thickens, Noah Lukeman
Revision and Self-Editing, James Scott Bell
Idiot’s Guide to Writing Christian Fiction, Ron Benrey
Writing the Breakout Novel, Donald Maas
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Browne and King
Scene and Structure, Jack Bickman
Writer’s Digest Handbook of Magazine Article Writing, Michelle Ruberg
*Writing for Young Adults, Sherry Garland
*Idiot’s Guide to Writing for Young Adults, Deborah Perlberg
*Writing and Selling the YA Novel, K.L. Going
The First Five Pages, Noah Lukeman
Christian Writer’s Market Guide, Sally Stuart
Writer’s Market, Brewer
Techniques of the Selling Writer, Dwight Swain
Scene and Sequel, Dwight Swain
On Writing, Stephen King

 
Contests for Unpublished YA Writers

Following is a list of contests for unpublished authors, all of which have a YA category. Some have passed, so you might check back next year (or when the previous year’s deadline was) to find out more information. I cannot vouch for any of these, nor do I have more information other than what I found researching on the Internet.

You may notice that most of them are contests put on by RWA (Romance Writer’s of America) chapters, so if you have a YA romance you might have a lot of places to enter! (Although, keep in mind that many of them only require the YA entry to have romantic elements, not necessarily follows the “rules” of traditional romance, so that’s good too).

I’m a little biased and found that the majority of these are general, contemporary, or romance YA types of contests. If you want to find fantasy/sci-fi/paranormal YA contests, check out this site (there are also other writing contests listed there and this woman does a thorough job with the details): http://www.stephiesmith.com/contests.html

Also, while contests can be great, many of them also cost money, so you’ll really want to do your research first. It’s best to look at what the prize is or who the final round judges are. Many times a final round judge is an agent, so if you already have an agent it wouldn’t matter if he/she requested your full ms after the contest was over. However, many times the contests will get some great YA editors to serve as final round judges and these I would suggest would be great to enter.

Golden Rose Contest (an Oregon RWA chapter)
http://www.rosecityromancewriters.com/contest.html
Deadline: Early August

The Golden Pen (an international RWA chapter)
http://www.thegoldennetwork.com/goldenpen.html
Deadline: Mid-August

Finally a Bride Contest (an Oklahoma RWA chapter)
http://www.okrwa.com/fab_index.htm
Deadline: Early September 

Launching a Star Contest (a Florida RWA chapter)
http://www.authorsofromance.com/contest.htm
Deadline: Early September

Hold Me, Thrill Me (a Florida romance writer’s chapter)
http://www.swfrw.org/contest.php
Deadline: Early September 

RWA East Texas Contest
http://www.easttexasrwa.com/html/southern_heat.php
Deadline: Early September 

RWI Magic Contest
http://rwimagiccontests.wordpress.com/
Deadline: Early September 

First Coast Romance Writers Contest
http://www.firstcoastromancewriters.com/contest_un.htm
Deadline: Early October 

MERWA Synopsis Contest
http://www.mainerwa.com/2009_Synopis_Rules.htm
Deadline: Early October 

Linda Howard Award of Excellence (Birmingham RWA chapter)
http://www.southernmagic.org/lindahowardcontest.html
Deadline: Mid-October 

Hook, Line, and Sinker Contest (Hudson Valley RWA)
http://www.hudsonvalleyrwa.com/contest
Deadline: Early November 

Great Expectations Contest (Northwest Texas RWA)
http://ntrwa.org/contest/contest.htm
Deadline: End of December 

Kids at Random House
http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/writingcontests/#youngadult
Deadline: End of the year

Notes: Requires submission of full ms 

RWA Golden Heart Contest
http://www.rwanational.org/cs/contests_and_awards/golden_heart_awards
Deadline: Early December 

Washington Romance Writers
http://www.wrwdc.com/ee/index.php/marlene_awards/
Deadline: Mid-January 

Yellow Rose Contest (RWA chapter)
http://yellowroserwa.com/contestUnpub.php
Deadline: End of January 

River City Romance Writers
http://rivercityromancewriters.org/duel.html
Deadline: Mid-February 

Sandy Writing Contest
http://www.cbfriendsofthelibrary.org/page.cfm?pageid=6378
Deadline: Mid-February 

MWA Novel Contest
http://www.marylandwriters.org/contest2009.html
Deadline: End of February 

Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association Literary Contest
http://www.pnwa.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=6
Deadline: Mid-February

Wisconsin (RWA)
http://www.wisrwa.org/contest.html#FabFive
Deadline: Early March 

Writer’s League of Texas
http://www.writersleague.org/contests/manuscript.html
Deadline: Early March 

Connecticut Chapter of RWA
http://ctrwa.org/connections/
Deadline: Early March 

Daphne du Maurier
http://rwamysterysuspense.org/d_unpublished.php
Deadline: Mid-March

Notes: No specific YA category, but optional single category 

Chicago North RWA
http://www.chicagonorthrwa.org/contest.shtml
Deadline: End of March 

ACFW Genesis Contest
http://www.acfw.com/genesis/
Deadline: End of March

Notes: Christian contest that is looking for entries appropriate for the CBA market 

Great Beginnings (Utah RWA)
http://www.utahrwa.com/gbcontest.html
Deadline: First of April 

Spring into Love (RWA San Diego)
http://www.rwasd.com/contest/
Deadline: Early April 

Alaska Writers
http://akrwa.alaskawriters.com/about.html
Deadline: Mid-April 

The Beau Mode RWA
http://www.thebeaumonde.com/royalascot/
Deadline: Mid-April 

Charter Oak Romance Writers
http://www.charteroakromancewriters.org/contests.html
Deadline: Early May 

Southwest Writer’s Contest
http://www.southwestwriters.com/swwcontestrules.php
Deadline: Early May 

Writer’s Digest Annual Competition
http://www.writersdigest.com/contests/annual/77th/
Deadline: Mid-May 

The Molly Contest
http://www.hodrw.com/2009-Molly.htm
Deadline: End of May 

Northeast Ohio RWA
http://www.neorwa.com/index.php/Contest/Contest
Deadline: Early June 

Emerald City Opener (RWA)
http://gsrwa.org/contest.php
Deadline: Early June 

Original Golden Opportunity (Toronto RWA)
http://www.torontoromancewriters.com/contest.html
Deadline: Early June 

Lone Star Writing Competition (Northwest Houston Chapter RWA)
http://www.nwhrwa.com/html/contests_announcement.html
Deadline: Early June 

Maryland Romance Writers
http://www.bemispromotions.com/mrw/index.php?page_id=9
Deadline: Mid-June 

Chick Lit Writers Contest
http://www.chicklitwriters.com/contest.htm
Deadline: Mid-June 

Indiana RWA
http://www.indianarwa.com/contest/contest.htm
Deadline: First of July 

Florida Writer’s Association
http://www.floridawriters.net/RPLA.html
Deadline: Mid-July