Write It Now Competition

Ms. Young:

I figured if you read my Blog, maybe other people are lurking hereabouts too. ;-)

----Original Message Follows----
From: "Editor"

I read some of your blog. Love your titles - Alternate Hilarities, The Lawnmower that Ate Manhattan. Funny stuff.

I hope you'll share the following with your writing list. It's a great opportunity for new voices to get some big attention.

Thank you!
Roxyanne Young
Editorial Director, SmartWriters.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Roxyanne Young
Editorial Director,
SmartWriters.com
858-530-8028
editor@smartwriters.com


ARE YOU READY TO W.I.N.?
SmartWriters.com’s Write It Now Competition Brings Out the Cream of the New Writing Crop

SmartWriters.com has launched their second annual Write It Now! Competition, with bigger prizes and a longer entry period. “Our 2004 competition was a huge success,” said Editorial Director Roxyanne Young. “Of last year’s W.I.N.NERS, at least three are under contract, one tells me she’s being recognized at conferences, and others have had their full manuscripts requested by editors. Others have written to tell me that they are taking themselves more seriously as professionals, and that makes me happiest of all. It’s our goal to encourage new voices to develop their skills and submit their work to publishers.”

Henry Holt’s Reka Simonsen is returning this year to offer editorial reviews to our W.I.N.NERs. “I look forward to seeing what talents you discover!” Simonsen said.

Anne Bowen, sold her W.I.N.NING manuscript, HARLEY HARRISON, TATTLE TALE, to Albert Whitman Publishers! “I do think it helped a great deal that I could say my manuscript took first place in the W.I.N. contest in my cover letter,” Bowen said. Other W.I.N.NERS have sold their manuscripts, too. Tammi Sauer was offered a contract for her picture book, COWBOY CAMP, after she told the editor who’d had it for some time. Others have had editors request the full manuscript after offering an editorial review as part of their prize package. "My win in the W.I.N Competition gave me the validation to submit my work to publishers," said Jennifer Roy, author of GROWING UP IN THE LODZ GHETTO, which placed in the mid-grade category. According to Jen, she first had interest from Dutton, who wanted her to revise it using free verse and as she was considering it, her nonfiction editor at Marshall Cavendish (Jennifer writes educational books) asked to read it out of curiosity. This editor passed it along to Margery Cuyler, their fiction editor, who loved it and bought it in September!
Ruth McNally Barshaw, whose cover illustration, “Jibby and Louise” took third place in the Illustration category, recently shared this: “The W.I.N. contest meant an awful lot to me. I used it all year in my cover letters and queries. It gave me a lot of confidence…I sent “Jibby and Louise,” along with 6 other sample art pieces, to Candlewick and they picked out that painting as what they wanted to see more of, so I spent all year creating more…and now I am ready to market my work like crazy!”

Authors and illustrators are invited to enter their works in six categories: Young Adult, Middlegrade, Picturebook, Non-fiction, Poetry, and Illustration. The entries go through three tiers of readers to make the W.I.N.NERS list, all professional, published, and some award-winning, authors and illustrators. This year’s judges include two-time Coretta Scott King Award Winner Nikki Grimes; Terry Davis, considered by many to be the father of young adult literature; the funny and charming author-illustrator Katie Davis; legendary freelance writer and online PR guru Kelly Milner Halls; and Alexandria LaFaye, winner of the 2005 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction. The Grand Prize W.I.N.NER will receive $500 cash, a copy of the 2006 Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market, and an editorial review from one of several elite editors who have agreed to read and comment on their work. 1st placers will receive $50 case, the 2006 CWIM, and an editorial review, as well.

Complete rules and entry forms are available at www.SmartWriters.com.
Entries must be postmarked by February 28, 2005. Winners will be announced July 1 on SmartWriters.com.



# # #




Roxyanne Young
* Are you ready to W.I.N.? Enter the SmartWriters.com Write It Now Competition at www.SmartWriters.com. Grand Prize is $500, a 2006 CWIM, a one-year subscription to the Children's Book Insider (Online Version), and an editorial review of your W.I.N.NING manuscript! Entry deadline is February 28, 2005!
* Editorial Director, www.SmartWriters.com
* Founder, www.SmartReaders.org
www.RoxyanneYoung.com - named one of the Top Ten Writer's Web Sites by Writer's Digest, October 2004
* Free Newsletter offering news and tips on Web site management, online PR, domain name, online copyright protection, and much, much more:
mailto:2TS-Journal@aweber.com.

"If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves." - Thomas Edison. Let 2005 be your year to astound
yourself.