Entries are Now Being Accepted for the Third Annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Competition
The contest is now open! Amazon.com and Penguin Group (USA) will be accepting submissions for the third annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition at www.amazon.com/abna from January 25th through midnight EST on February 7th, 2010. For the first time, the competition will award two grand prizes: one for general fiction and one for best young adult novel. Each of the two winners will receive a publishing contract with Penguin Group (USA), which includes a $15,000 advance. Entries will be accepted until February 7th or until 10,000 entries have been received (with up to 5,000 each in the general fiction and young adult categories). Enter now!
The contest consists of five judging phases by Amazon editors and expert reviewers, publishing professionals and Amazon.com customers. The grand prize winner chosen in each category will each receive a $15,000 publishing contract with Penguin Group (USA).
How the contest works
Between January 25 and February 7, 2010, writers with an English-language novel manuscript can submit their work at www.amazon.com/abna. Up to 10,000 total initial entries will be accepted, with up to 5,000 each in the general fiction and young adult categories.
Initial Round: Amazon editors will select 1,000 entries from each category to advance to the next round.
Quarter-Finals: Expert reviewers from Amazon will read excerpts of the 2,000 entries and narrow the pool to 500 quarter-finalists (250 in each category).
Semi-Finals: Reviewers from Publishers Weekly will then read, rate and review the full manuscripts, and 50 semi-finalists for each category will be selected. Two panels of esteemed publishing professionals will read and post their critiques of the top three manuscripts on www.amazon.com.
Finals: Penguin editors will evaluate the manuscripts of the 50 general fiction and 50 Young Adult semi-finalists, and choose three finalists for each award.
Grand Prize Winners: Amazon customers will have seven days to vote for a Grand Prize Winner in each category. The two Grand Prize Winners will be announced in Seattle on June 14, 2010. Each winner will receive a publishing contract with Penguin, which includes a $15,000 advance.
For complete terms and conditions for the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and more information about the contest, please visit www.amazon.com/abna.
General Fiction Expert Panel:
Young Adult Expert Panel:
General Fiction Expert Panel:
Tana French
Tana French has dual citizenship in the United States and Italy. She grew up in Ireland, Italy, the United States, and Malawi and has lived in Dublin since 1990. Trained as a professional actor at Trinity College, she works in theater, film, and voiceover and is a member of Purple Heart Theatre Company. Both her debut novel In the Woods and follow-up The Likeness have been bestsellers in hardcover and paperback. She lives in Dublin with her husband and daughter.
Photo by Kyran O'Brien
Julie Barer
Julie Barer represents a wide range of fiction and non-fiction writers, including National Book Award finalist Joshua Ferris (Then We Came to the End), award winning short story writer Gina Ochsner (People I Wanted To Be), and bestselling historical novelist Kathleen Kent (The Heretic's Daughter). Before starting her own agency, she was a literary agent at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates and a bookseller at Shakespeare & Company in New York. Julie grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and is a graduate of Vassar College.
Molly Stern
Molly Stern is the Editorial Director of fiction and an Executive Editor at Viking Books. Molly works with a range of acclaimed and New York Times bestselling authors. Recent publications include Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks' bestselling novel, People of the Book, New York Times bestsellers The Magicians by Lev Grossman, City of Thieves by David Benioff, Traveling with Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor, Pilgrims by Garrison Keillor, as well as critically acclaimed work by New York Public Library Young Lions Award winner Ron Currie Jr (Everything Matters!), PEN/Faulkner finalist Susan Choi (A Person of Interest), and Bich Minh Nguyen (Short Girls). Forthcoming books include the first novel of Jasper Fforde's new series, Shades of Grey, Danielle Trussoni's debut novel Angelology, and Fury: A Memoir, by Koren Zailckas, author of New York Times bestseller Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood. After short stints at Addison Wesley and Random House, Molly began working with Penguin Group (USA) president Susan Kennedy in 1995, and assumed her current position at Viking in 2005. She's married to literary agent, Jay Mandel. They have two sons.
Photo by Michele Asselin
Young Adult Expert Panel:
Sarah Dessen
Sarah Dessen is the author of eight acclaimed novels; including #1 New York Times bestsellers Lock and Key and Along for the Ride. Her first two books, That Summer and Someone Like You, were the basis for the movie "How to Deal" starring Mandy Moore. Sarah is a graduate of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she currently lives with her husband and family. Visit her website www.sarahdessen.com or check out her blog writergrl.livejournal.com.
Nancy Werlin
New York Times bestselling author Nancy Werlin (www.nancywerlin.com) was a finalist for the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Award for her novel, The Rules of Survival. She won an Edgar Award for The Killer's Cousin, which was also named by ALA as one of the "100 Best of the Best for the 21st Century". Her first book, Are You Alone on Purpose? was named a Publishers Weekly Flying Start title. A graduate of Yale, Nancy lives near Boston, MA.
Photo by Jerry Bauer
Amy Berkower
President of Writers House LLC, Amy Berkower began her career as a literary agent in 1979 after graduating from University of California at Santa Cruz. She founded the company's now thriving children's book department and has developed a diverse client list including bestselling authors Nora Roberts, Ken Follett, Sharon Creech, Laurie Anderson, Ann Martin and Andrew Clements. Amy lives with her husband in Manhattan.
Ben Schrank
Ben Schrank is President and Publisher of Razorbill. Most recently, Razorbill has published New York Times best sellers that include Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, The Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead, and I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be your Class President by Josh Lieb. A graduate of Brown and the MFA program at NYU, Ben lives in Brooklyn, New York.
