And the Winner Is....

The Beau Monde is pleased to announce the winner of the 2012 Royal Ascot Contest. First Place goes to:

Terri Gibson for Violet Camberwell*

The Royal Ascot was a highly competitive contest this year. In the end, our finalists received 12 requests for more material made, 8 fulls and 4 partials. All of our final round judges noted the quality of this year's entries.

Warm congratulations and best wishes to Terri and to the rest of this year’s finalists:


Eileen Emerson, Embracing an Unloved Earl*
Anna Genest, The Duchess and Mr. Smith
Sandra Owens, The Letter*
Joanna Shupe, Drawn to the Earl*
and Amy Villalba, To Pluck a Rose*


The Royal Ascot chairs, Sarah Tormey and Wendy La Capra, would like to thank you to our entrants, our first round judges, and our final round judges:

Stephany Evans, Fine Print Literary
Louise Fury, L Perkins Agency
Pam Hopkins, Hopkins Literary Associates
Lauren Plude, Hachette Book Group
Angela Polidoro, Random House
Deb Werksman, Sourcebooks
*indicates multiple requests 

2012 Royal Ascot Contest Finalists

Thank you all for being so patient while we tallied the scores for The 2012 Royal Ascot Contest. It was a highly competitive contest this year. Please join me in sending warm congratulations to this year’s finalists:

Eileen Emerson, Embracing an Unloved Earl
Anna Genest, The Duchess and Mr. Smith
Terri Gibson, Violet Camberwell
Sandra Owens, The Letter
Joanna Shupe, Drawn to the Earl
Amy Villalba, To Pluck a Rose

We will be returning the judged entries this weekend & the finaling manuscripts will be on their way to our final round judges tomorrow.

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

Thank you our talented entrants and to our hard-working judges.

Sincerely,
The 2012 Royal Ascot Co-Chairs,
Wendy La Capra & Sarah Tormey

Experiencing Technical Difficulties

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!

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

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!

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

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