About the Contest:

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We are excited to announce that our seasoned team of Rate Your Story Contest Judges will accept manuscripts and award prizes in three categories PLUS honorable mentions. And this year, all submissions will receive Contest Submission Feedback!

 

Please read below for all contest details, restrictions and guidelines. If you have any questions after reading this post, please feel free to contact us at RYS.CyberOffice@gmail.com with 2023 CONTEST QUESTION in the subject line.

 

GOAL: To utilize the building blocks of storytelling and to entertain and inform the reader.

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About the Categories:

Fiction Picture Book - Fiction text only. Rhyme, free verse, or prose accepted. Board books may be submitted under this category, if desired. Stories should be geared for today's children. Judges will evaluate text and choose winning entries that shine from the start, show originality, overall quality, appropriateness for the intended audience, readiness of submission, AND whether it supports our contest theme of building a story. That means that we will be looking for things like a solid story foundation, character arcs, narrative arcs and a satisfying ending. Submit your entire manuscript to RYSSpeedpass@gmail.com with a subject line of [2023 Contest (Category)] TITLE by Author. Please send as a .doc or .docx attachment.

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Nonfiction Picture Book - Non-fiction text only. Rhyme, free verse, or prose accepted. Stories should be geared for today's children. If you have back matter available and you would like to include it, feel free to include it. However, please note that back matter is optional and judges will base their evaluations on the main text of the manuscript. Judges will evaluate text and choose winning entries that shine from the start, show originality, overall quality, appropriateness for the intended audience, and readiness of submission, AND whether it supports our contest theme of building a story. That means that we will be looking for things like a solid story foundation, character arcs, narrative arcs and a satisfying ending. Submit your entire manuscript to RYSSpeedpass@gmail.com with a subject line of [2023 Contest (Category)] TITLE by Author. Please send as a .doc or .docx attachment.

 

MG/YA/Graphic Novels - Submit only the FIRST CHAPTER or NO MORE THAN FIVE (5) PAGES - of a completed Middle Grade, Young Adult or Graphic novel (fiction or nonfiction). Judges will evaluate text and choose winning entries that hook the reader from the start, show originality, overall quality, appropriateness for the intended audience, and readiness of submission AND whether it supports our contest theme of building a story. That means that we will be looking for things like a solid story foundation, character arcs, narrative arcs and a satisfying ending. Submit your entire manuscript to RYSSpeedpass@gmail.com with a subject line of [2023 Contest - (Category)] TITLE by Author. Please send as a .doc or .docx attachment.

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**Please note that all manuscripts will be judged on their own merit. All entries must be the original work of the author and not previously published or under contract at time of entry. Any submissions that do not follow the guidelines will be disqualified.**

 

The Prizes:

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Our goal is to further our entrants on their path to publication. Accordingly, we have beefed up the contest prize resources to further facilitate that goal.

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GRAND PRIZE WINNER: One-Half Year Silver or Gold Membership to Rate Your Story. A silver membership will be awarded to a new Rate Your Story member (anyone who is not a Member in 2023), and a gold membership will be awarded to a returning Rate Your Story member. In this case, the membership will be prorated.

 

The Grand Prize Winner will be selected from our First Prize Winners. This winner will need to have shown professionalism and exceptional promise in their manuscript and selected category.

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FIRST PRIZE WINNERS:

One hour Consultation with Lynne Marie prior to submission to agents.

Query Letter Critique

Submission Opportunities

Mini Rate Your Story PB Membership from October - November 30, 2023

*Includes All Webinars and Recordings in our Member Resource Group

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*If the winner is already a Rate Your Story Member, they will instead get an additional one and one-half hour Mentoring Session with Lynne Marie.

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SECOND PRIZE WINNERS:

One-Half Hour Consultation with Lynne Marie prior to submission to agents.

Query Critique

Submission Opportunities

 

Mini Rate Your Story PB Membership for the month of November

*Includes All Webinars and Recordings in our Member Resource Group

 

*If the winner is already a Rate Your Story Member, they will instead get an additional one-hour Mentoring Session with Lynne Marie.

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THIRD PRIZE WINNERS:

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Fifteen-Minute Consultation with Lynne Marie Prior to submission to editors.

Query Critique

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HONORABLE MENTIONS:

FREE Attendance at first Post-Contest Paragraph Webinar

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ALL ENTRIES:

Entry in a drawing for a One-Hour Session Mentoring Session from Lynne Marie

Contest Submission Feedback

Special spot prizes to entrants (not based upon placing in the contest), including, but not limited to the following:

Speed Passes, Query Critiques, Pitch Critiques, Author Critiques, Books and Bonus Mentor Sessions.

 

COST: $15

Additional Entries Allowed at $15/Entry

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Rate Your Story Members who purchase three entries will get a fourth one FREE. Just note that it is your free submission in your e-mail with the manuscript attachment.  You must have purchased three submissions. The Free Submission will be considered for contest prizes but will not get the additional feedback. 

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NOTE: Rate Your Story reserves the right to withhold any prizes in any category in which there is no entry that fits the specific criteria to be a winner.

 

Submission Guidelines:

 

Writers are allowed to enter as many manuscripts as they'd like in each category. However, an entry fee must be paid for each. Please see our "SUBMISSION GUIDELINES" section below for manuscript formatting guidelines.

 

1. To purchase a contest entry pass, read all of the guidelines and then click the button at the bottom of this page. Please note that if you plan to enter more than once, you must check out separate times for each contest entry.

 

2. To avoid confusion, please attach your receipt with your submission. You may purchase passes and enter the contest as many times as you wish but each must be a separate submission and receipt.

 

3. Once you have purchased your non-refundable entry pass, you may submit one manuscript per receipt to RYSSpeedpass@gmail.com.

 

For example, your email subject line will look something like these:

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[2023 Contest - Fiction PB] The Palace Rat by Lynne Marie

[2023 Contest - NF PB] Let's Eat! Mealtime Around the World by Lynne Marie

[2023 Contest - MG Novel] Transplant by Lynne Marie

[2023 Contest - YA Novel] Things I Wish I Never Knew by Lynne Marie

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In the email body only, please put your name, the category, title of your work, and preferred contact information. HOWEVER, winners and prize redemption will be announced on the RYS Blog (www.rateyourstory,org/blog), a link to which will be provided in the October 2023 RYS Newsletter. Please be sure to be signed up to receive the newsletter. www.tinyurl.com/getRYSnews

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4. Please send all submissions as a word.doc or .docx submission. We are not accepting google docs or pdfs and these will be disqualified and will not be considered. It's important to read and follow directions. 

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5. Please follow all category guidelines above, and read our regular submission guidelines page for best practices in formatting a manuscript professionally. Though we don't want to do so, we reserve the right to disqualify entries that do not follow submission guidelines. We also will not be able to offer refunds for contest entry passes, nor can we accommodate requests to update a version of a manuscript submitted in error, etc.

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DEADLINE: While the contest officially runs August 1- 31st, we will be open for early submissions starting July 16th, so don't fret if you are away in August!

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All entries must have been received by 11:59pm EST time on August 31st, 2023. Entries received after August 31st, 2023 will not be considered for the contest, nor will feedback be sent.

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In addition, we will give back to our writing community by granting e-books to our weekly Mentor Text Talk. We know many of you have limited access to books and even less access to the newest, best and most talked about books, so we offer a FREE chat on Sundays from 6:30 - 7:30 PM EST with replays available to those who can make it.

 

ALL ARE WELCOME: Tinker and Talk Book Chat by The Picture Book Mechanic

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READY TO CHECK OUT? CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW: