The Royal Ascot Contest is experiencing technical difficulties accepting payments. We are attempting to resolve the problem and hope to have the entry forms and payment instructions posted as soon as the issue is resolved.
Thank you for your patience!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
One more week until the Royal Ascot Contest opens
The Royal Ascot contest opens in just one more week! Your coordinators are working behind the scenes to make this year's contest as successful as it has been in prior years. Did you know that one year, an editor promised contracts to all three finalists in a particular category? Last year, our re-vamped contest resulted in requests for 12 manuscripts.
So, what else is there to love about the Royal Ascot?
1. Judges who love Historicals
2. Broad Exposure: All six finalists are read by all six editors and agents, giving each of our six finalists six chances at requests
3. No chance of being in 6th Place: There will be one winner and five finalists
4. Cash Prizes!
...and so much more.
Still on the fence? Check out these links to the 2012 Contest Rules and the 2012 Contest Score Sheet.
Not able to enter? How about helping us judge? We have a judge's loop for support and instruction.
Judges can choose their categories, and will receive their entries the week of 4/9. Each judge will receive 4 entries. Deadline for returns is May 18th. The entries are a maximum of 7000 words (no synopsis this year).
Sign up here, via Google docs: Judge Sign Up Form
So, what else is there to love about the Royal Ascot?
1. Judges who love Historicals
2. Broad Exposure: All six finalists are read by all six editors and agents, giving each of our six finalists six chances at requests
3. No chance of being in 6th Place: There will be one winner and five finalists
4. Cash Prizes!
...and so much more.
Still on the fence? Check out these links to the 2012 Contest Rules and the 2012 Contest Score Sheet.
Not able to enter? How about helping us judge? We have a judge's loop for support and instruction.
Judges can choose their categories, and will receive their entries the week of 4/9. Each judge will receive 4 entries. Deadline for returns is May 18th. The entries are a maximum of 7000 words (no synopsis this year).
Sign up here, via Google docs: Judge Sign Up Form
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Announcing the 2012 Royal Ascot!
Announcing the 2012 Royal Ascot!
Unpublished writers: Polish the first 7000 words of those manuscripts! The 2012 Royal Ascot will open for Entries on February 1st, 2012. In the next few weeks, details will be available on our webpage and through MyRWA, but, for now, here are highlights:
This year's contest will be open to unpublished authors and authors who have not been contracted in book length fiction by RWA PAN definition in the last 5 years. All entries must have at least partial Regency (Late Georgian) setting, broadly defined: within the United Kingdom between 1780 and 1840. No synopsis is necessary!
Our categories will be used to assign first round judges to the manuscript types they prefer: Regency Historical (longer Regency or Mainstream Regency-set) Hot Regency (Very sensual to Erotic Regency, at author's discretion) Wild Regency (Paranormal, Time Travel, other similar Regency) Sweet & Mild Regency (Traditional, Inspirational, Young Adult or other without explicit sex). Each entry will be judged by three judges, including at least one published in Regency Romance. The lowest score will be dropped, and the top six entries will move to the final round.
Our Final Round Judges are:
Agents
Stephany Evans, Fine Print Literary
Louise Fury, L Perkins Agency
Pam Hopkins, Hopkins Literary Associates
Editors
Lauren Plude, Hachette Book Group
Angela Polidoro, Random House
Deb Werksman, Sourcebooks
Besides the February 1st opening, some additional important dates are:
• Friday April 6th, 2012, midnight PDT: Deadline for all parts of entry
• Finalists Announced May 25th, 2012
• Winner(s) will be announced at The Beau Monde Conference
Further details will be announced on the blog and website soon! If you have any questions, feel free to contact this year's co-coordinators, Sarah Tormey and Wendy La Capra, at royalascotcontest@gmail.com. Thank you!
Unpublished writers: Polish the first 7000 words of those manuscripts! The 2012 Royal Ascot will open for Entries on February 1st, 2012. In the next few weeks, details will be available on our webpage and through MyRWA, but, for now, here are highlights:
This year's contest will be open to unpublished authors and authors who have not been contracted in book length fiction by RWA PAN definition in the last 5 years. All entries must have at least partial Regency (Late Georgian) setting, broadly defined: within the United Kingdom between 1780 and 1840. No synopsis is necessary!
Our categories will be used to assign first round judges to the manuscript types they prefer: Regency Historical (longer Regency or Mainstream Regency-set) Hot Regency (Very sensual to Erotic Regency, at author's discretion) Wild Regency (Paranormal, Time Travel, other similar Regency) Sweet & Mild Regency (Traditional, Inspirational, Young Adult or other without explicit sex). Each entry will be judged by three judges, including at least one published in Regency Romance. The lowest score will be dropped, and the top six entries will move to the final round.
Our Final Round Judges are:
Agents
Stephany Evans, Fine Print Literary
Louise Fury, L Perkins Agency
Pam Hopkins, Hopkins Literary Associates
Editors
Lauren Plude, Hachette Book Group
Angela Polidoro, Random House
Deb Werksman, Sourcebooks
Besides the February 1st opening, some additional important dates are:
• Friday April 6th, 2012, midnight PDT: Deadline for all parts of entry
• Finalists Announced May 25th, 2012
• Winner(s) will be announced at The Beau Monde Conference
Further details will be announced on the blog and website soon! If you have any questions, feel free to contact this year's co-coordinators, Sarah Tormey and Wendy La Capra, at royalascotcontest@gmail.com. Thank you!
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
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
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!
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.
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.
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