Announcing the 2023 Rate Your Story Summer Contest

About the Contest:

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.

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.

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.

**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 (Scroll All the Way Down to Read the Additional Prizes)

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.

GRAND PRIZE WINNER: A two month, weekly Mentorship with Lynne Marie.

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.

FIRST PRIZE WINNERS:

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

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

*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.

SECOND PRIZE WINNERS:

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

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.

THIRD PRIZE WINNERS:

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

Query Critique

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

FREE Attendance at first Post-Contest Paragraph Webinar

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.

ADDITIONAL PRIZES TO BE AWARDED:

Audrey Ades - Non-Fiction Book Prize

Becky Scharnhorst (Author) - Picture Book or Critique

Dan Cramer of Page Turner Literary - Above the Slush for all first-place winners

Erin Dealey (Author) - Choice of a Manuscript Critique or a Picture Book

Fred Koehler of Ready Chapter 1 - PB Manuscript Critique

Helen H. Wu of Yeehoo Press - Long Goes to Dragon School Swag Bag

Above the Slush Submission

Jennifer Buchet (Author) - Query Letter Critique

Jill Nadler (Author) - PB Manuscript Critique

Karen Kilpatrick of East West Literary - Three Above the Slush Passes

(to Fiction PB Winners)

Karly Dizon of Fuse Literary - One Query Critique with One First 10 Pages Critique

Linda Joy Singleton (Author) - Zoom Consultation

Lynne Marie (Agent Intern / Author ) - Three Query Letter Critiques

Michele McAvoy (Editor / Publisher - the Little Press) - 3 Above the Slush Pile

One PB, One MG, One YA First Place Prizes

Nancy Churnin (Author) - Choice of Two Picture Books

Rate Your Story - 3 or More Speedpasses

Stacy Ramey (Author) - Five Page Critique of PB, MG, YA

Additional Prizes Pending - Watch Our Social Media for Additional Announcements

COST:

RYS Members $15

Additional Entries Allowed at $15/Entry

Non-Members $20

Additional Entries Allowed at $20/Entry

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:

[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

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

4. Please make sure that your title on the manuscript matches exactly the title in your email subject line! Also, only one contest entry per email. We will be checking pass receipts and member lists to the entries to verify eligibility. Do not send a link to a Google or Dropbox document, or any other file format than a .doc or .docx attachment for your submission. Do not submit the same manuscript more than once (or a "corrected" version if you realize later that you had a typo). Email all contest entries to RYSspeedpass@gmail.com.

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.

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!

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, but feedback will be sent.

READY TO CHECK OUT?

Find the Summer Contest Here: Rate Your Story | Become a Member

Click on the button at the bottom of the page to purchase.

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