Drumroll....

The 2012 Royal Ascot is Complete
Please look for the 2013 Royal Ascot early next year.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Winners of the 2010 Royal Ascot

The winners of the 2010 Royal Ascot were announced by The Beau Monde Regency Writers' Chapter of RWA, at the annual soiree on Wednesday night, July 28, 2010.

Congratulations to all!
Regency Historical:
First Place: A Most Improper Gentleman*** by Elisa Beatty
Second Place: Listen to Your Heart*** by Miranda Liasson
Third Place: Embracing Scandal by Sue Webb
Judged by Leis Pederson, Assistant Editor, Berkley

Hot and Wild Regency:
First Place: The Devil May Care by Elisa Beatty
Second Place: Stealing Time by Bill Haggart
Third Place: Cursed by Alyssa Fernandez
Judged by Tessa Woodward, Editor, Avon/HarperCollins

Sweet and Mild Regency:
First Place: A Deceitful Widow by Constance Hussey
Second Place: The Unexpected Beneficiaries by Michelle Wood
Third Place: Long Lost Husband by Kristl Spalding
Judged by Nicole D'Arienzo, Senior Historical Editor, The Wild Rose Press

*** Denoted full manuscript requested by final round judge



Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Anouncing the 2010 Finalists!

Regency Historical Finalists:
A Most Improper Gentleman by Elisa Beatty
Listen to Your Heart by Miranda Liasson
Embracing Scandal by Sue Webb
To Be Judged by Leis Pederson, Assistant Editor, Berkley

Hot & Wild Regency Finalists:
The Devil May Care by Elisa Beatty
Stealing Time by Bill Haggart
Cursed by Alyssa Fernandez
To Be Judged by Tessa Woodward, Editor, Avon/HarperCollins

Sweet & Mild Regency Regency Finalists:
A Deceitful Widow by Constance Hussey
Long Lost Husband by Kristl Spalding
The Unexpected Beneficiaries by Michelle Wood
To Be Judged by Nicole D'Arienzo, Senior Historical Editor, The Wild Rose Press

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

The Royal Ascot 2010 Contest is Closed

As of April 30, 2010, midnight PDT, the deadline has passed and the contest is closed to further entries. All entries that met the contest standards are now in the hands of the first round judges. Each entry has at least two published judges, and a few have three.

Finalists will be announced the first week of June, barring unforeseen circumstances, and winners will be announced on July 28,2010.

With the big flood in Nashville and the inundation of the Opryland Hotel, RWA and the Beau Monde have been sadly forced to re-locate our conferences. It is our great fortune that the RWA staff succeeded in re-locating the RWA conference to Orlando, Florida, and the Disney World Swan & Dolphin Hotels. The beau Monde is likewise working to obtain space in the same hotel complex for our short, one-day conference on Wednesday, July 28. So we hope for the best and continue to plan to announce our Royal Ascot winners at our annual Soiree that evening.

Good luck to the contestants, and may you either achieve a publishing contract or learn what you need to know to to make your journey toward publication a success!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

The 8500 Word Limit: What Does It Mean?

One of the hardest things to work out in running a contest is the size of the entries. If it's a page count, then some contestants will always have the problem of being a page or two over the limit for the portion they want to submit. But there has to be a limit somewhere. So why did we set the limit this year as a computer word count?

Years ago, the Royal Ascot started out being a "First Chapter and Synopsis" contest. Sure, yes, Prologues could be included. Had to be 30 pages or less, synopsis no longer than 10 pages. So contestants were often forced to do what I call "cramming" in order to get the material they wanted into their entry. I know. I was entering in all those years.

Well, we decided that yes, sometimes an opener really needed to be two chapters long, and that would be okay if it stayed in the page limits. So contestants were soon trying to figure out how to turn three chapters into two. And cram it all in. One year I saw an entry with six chapters and I knew we had to make some changes.

It's really not fair if some people double space and others space at 1.435 or whatever. Should we limit the number of lines? It doesn't work if you don't specify a font. And some people dislike it if we tell them what font they have to use. I once saw a contest entry in 8 pt. Arial, with line spacing that was barely over single, and every sentence in not more than one paragraph per page.

The only thing that keeps the contest entries evenly matched in the beginning is to specify a computer word count. We set it at 8500 words. This, frankly, is more than equal to what a 30 page manuscript that an author would submit to an editor would hold. It's more than equal to "the first one or two chapters and up to ten page synopsis". That's a shade over 283 words per page for a 30-page document, and that's a lot of words on a page.

Computer word count. Not page word count. Not a "250-word-per-page" estimate (which would actually work if you're using Courier 12 pt, and probably would make it for Times New Roman too, if you're not cramming). I'll accept a count in Word or Word Perfect. Or even Open Office. And I do verify. So now that's settled, you don't have to worry about squeezing words onto pages. You can just double-space normally and use a nice Times New Roman 12 pt font. Go back to no more than two chapters. Don't try to make it three. Shorten your 15-page synopsis because you really shouldn't send one that long to an editor anyway.

I've written a few other blogs, mostly last year, on how to shorten entries, writing a better synopsis, etc. You'll find them in the archives of this blog.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Announcing the 2010 Royal Ascot

The Beau Monde Regency Writers' Specialty Chapter of Romance Writers of America is proud to announce its 2010 Royal Ascot. You can read the basic rules in the column to the right. Future announcements will specify the exact rules and final round judges, along with several blogs by experienced contest enterers and judges and published authors who have sold as a result of winning a contest.

The contest will be open for entries beginning March 15, 2010, and close to all entries at midnight PDT, April 20, 2010. If you have any questions or special needs regarding the contest, feel free to ask questions at any time. Just leave a comment on the blog, or contact the coordinator personally at theroyalascot@gmail.com.

Delle Jacobs
2010 Royal Ascot Coordinator

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