Goldfinch Mini Writer Award 2024
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
Submissions invited until 15th May 2024
How long to go….?
Overview
The Goldfinch Books Mini Writer Award is a £50 book token local prize for story manuscripts by children, hosted by Goldfinch in partnership with the Alton Arts Festival.
Submissions are Open from Friday 19th January.
Deadline for submissions is 11:59pm on Wednesday 15th May 2024.
For writers aged up to 12 years, resident in the GU34 postcode area and/or attending a school in Alton and/or within a ten mile radius of Goldfinch.
One submission per person.
Submissions are the opening 500 to 1,000 words plus a short ½ page summary of the entire story for any age which may or may not be complete.
Shortlist announced 14th June 2024.
Shortlisted stories will be judged and the winner announced at the Alton Arts Festival on the 14th July.
Entry is free.
Judges
The Mini Writer Award will be judged by a pool of writers from the Goldfinch and AAF teams - more details to follow
Submissions
For full details, please read the TERMS.
Submission is required of 500 to 1,000 words of your story plus a short ½ page summary of the entire story.
Submission should be by email to submissions@goldfinch-books.com.
In the subject field of the email submission it should state “Mini Writer Award”
Submissions should be a single Word file or PDF with the synopsis at the end of the document.
Submissions should be double-line spaced in a size 12 font (Arial or Times New Roman), followed by a 1/2 page synopsis which should be single-line spaced in the same font.
Submissions are ‘blind’. Your name should NOT be seen anywhere on the document. Each entry will be assigned a reference number which will be linked to applicant details only by the submissions team, not by the judging team.
Submissions should be delivered by email by 23:59 on 15th May 2024.
There is no entry fee.
A submission comprises two parts:
Email of a single submission document to submissions@goldfinch-books.com
Completion and submission of the form below
A confirmation email will be sent once both of the submission steps have been registered. If no confirmation email is received, you should contact gary@goldfinch-books.com.
Submissions which do not comply with the TERMS may be disqualified.
TERMS
The Goldfinch Books Mini Writer Award 2024, in partnership with Alton Arts Festival 2024 is a prize for emerging authors who are unagented writers yet to accept an offer of publication for a novel (for any age of readers), chapter book or picture book which includes an advance / pre-publication payment from the publisher.
Entries may be submitted from 19th January until 23:59 GMT on May 15th 2024.
The prize is open locally to writers aged under 12 on the closing date.
Locally is defined as those living within the GU34 postcode, or those living within a 10-mile radius of Goldfinch Books, or those attending school in these zones.
Books should be unpublished. Previously published or self-published books are not eligible.
Entries should be your text only without any photographs, maps or artwork.
Entries must be between 500 and 1,000 words.
Books must be submitted in English and must be the author’s own work.
The winner of The Goldfinch Books Mini Writer Award will receive £50 in Goldfinch Book Tokens. In the event of a joint win, the prize will be shared equally between winners.
The winner of the Goldfinch Books Mini Writer Award 2024 will be announced at the Alton Arts Festival 2024 closing weekend on 14th July 2024.
Prize tokens will be presented with a trophy on a day to be arranged after the Festival.
Submissions should include one document including 500 to 1,000 of your story, double-spaced in a size 12 font (Arial or Times) followed by a 1/2 page synopsis which should be single-spaced in a size 12 font.
Submissions should be made by email to submissions@goldfinch-books.com with a single attachment (synopsis at the end) and we accept Word docs, docx and pdf
As entries are read blind, your name should NOT appear anywhere in the document. The submission email will be used to link the attached submission with the entry in a process not visible to the judges.
Only one entry is allowed per person.
There is no entry fee.
The winner agrees to an interview which may be published on our site and in any media for publicity purposes, including that of the Alton Arts Festival.
Entrants retain full copyright, however, by entering, all shortlisted entrants give permission for us to post the story on our site and that of the Alton Arts Festival.
Entries which do not comply with the competition rules may be disqualified.
The judges’ decision is final, and no correspondence will be entered into concerning this decision.
By submitting, you are agreeing to all contest rules.
Contest rules may be subject to change.