For the purposes of the competition, we define emerging authors as: ‘unagented writers who are yet to accept an offer of publication, for a novel or children’s fiction book, which includes an advance / pre-publication payment from the publisher.’

An advance is a signing bonus that is negotiated and paid by the publisher to the author before publication.

So if you have had a book deal for a novel or children’s fiction book but your deal did not include an advance this would not affect your eligibility to win.

Yes, self-published books are eligible to win and can have been published in any year.

Entrants cease to be eligible to win on accepting a publishing deal with advance. In this event, entrants should retire their entry by emailing entries@bathnovelaward.co.uk. We uphold listings awarded prior to acceptance of book deals.

Entrants cease to be eligible to win on accepting an offer of representation. In this event, entrants should retire their entry by emailing entries@bathnovelaward.co.uk. We uphold listings awarded prior to acceptance of literary agent representation.

Yes.

Yes. Our prizes are open to writers of every nationality and residence.

Past Bath Novel Awards winners and shortlistees have included writers in: Australia; Azerbaijan; Canada; Cayman Islands; China; Denmark; England; Germany; Ireland; Northern Ireland; Scotland; Singapore; Spain; Sweden; UAE; USA, and Wales.

Yes. As a prize for works in progress we welcome re-submissions. Several Bath Novel Awards winners did so with later drafts of manuscripts they had entered before.

Yes. A complete draft of your book is required for the final judging stages and will be requested on longlist day for prompt submission.

The Bath Novel Award longlist is announced in early July. The Bath Children’s Novel Award longlist is announced in mid-December.

For the Bath Novel Award, full manuscripts should be at least 50,000 words long or 25,000 words for novels-in-verse.

For the Bath Children’s Novel Award, there is no minimum or maximum word count.

Yes. We recognise that exclusivity is not in writers’ best interests so never ask for this. Similarly, recognition by another prize won’t affect your eligibility to win with us.

Yes. Please name all authors as entrants, giving separate email addresses. If longlisted, we will require confirmation of prize-sharing arrangements in the event of a win.

To enter two author names, please type the first author’s full name in the first box on the entry form, and the second author’s full name in the second box. If there are more than two co-authors, please email the full list of author names and email addresses to entries@bathnovelaward.co.uk

Yes. Book deals for poetry, non-fiction and short form fiction do not affect your eligibility to win.

Yes. Novels with overarching narratives told through a series of connected stories are eligible to win.

Yes.

Autobiographical novels are eligible to win. We are not the right prize for memoirs aimed at the non-fiction reader.

We welcome the texts of illustrated chapter books and picture books for our children’s award.

We are not the right prize for graphic novels or books where the illustrations are the story, as opposed to an extension of the text.

Yes, books which are part of a series are eligible to win and please mention the series at the end of your synopsis.

You do not need to enter other books in the series, unless submitting a book which requires an understanding of an earlier book. In that case, we would recommend entering both books as separate entries and stating on the entry form for the later book “Read after TITLE OF OTHER BOOK” in brackets after the title of that book.

Yes. In the event of the novel listing, we would require reasonable formal confirmation that you own the deceased author’s work.

We do not use generative artificial intelligence to read or judge submissions.

Manuscripts that have been originated, written, edited, or translated by generative AI programs such as Chat GPT are not eligible to win.

This is because we are known for helping emerging authors to go on to secure literary agents and land traditional book deals, and standard publishing contract terms require clear and unencumbered human copyright ownership.  

Yes, you may enter as many times as you wish.

Our longlists are selected for opening extracts of up to 5,000 words followed by a one page synopsis. For fairness, any material over this word count is not considered.

When considering each entry for the longlist, readers vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the question: did this extract and synopsis make you want to read the full? We therefore recommend ending your extract at a point which leaves readers eager to read more.

The 5,000 word limit includes everything except your novel title and one-page synopsis.

If your novel has a prologue, you can either include it in your opening extract or start at your first chapter.

Broadly speaking, our advice would be to start with your prologue if it is short and establishes character stakes. If your prologue is on the longer side and does not introduce your main protagonist we would recommend starting with your first chapter.

If you choose to omit your prologue and are longlisted, we can accept your prologue as part of your full manuscript submission.

Our How to Write a Strong One-Page Synopsis page walks you through the key elements we hope to find. We are looking for a complete summary of your main plot so you should reveal your ending and any plots twists.

Yes. Please state “alternative version” in brackets after the title on your entry form and we’ll match each version with different readers.

Please email any contact details or eligibility change to entries@bathnovelaward.co.uk.

If you have edited your book since submitting and wish to enter the revised draft, please note that we are unable to replace entry documents once reading work has begun. Reading work typically begins on the following working day.

Should you wish, you can submit a later draft as a fresh entry. If doing so, please state “alternative version” in brackets after the title on your entry form. We will then commission different readers for the revised entry.

Alternatively, if your extract is longlisted we can accept the latest version of your opening 5,000 words as part of your full manuscript submission for the final competition rounds.

No. By entering you are confirming that the copyright is yours.

As we can only consider text, submissions should not contain images of any kind.

Yes. If a particular illustration is essential to the reader’s understanding of a plot point you can include an illustration note in its place.

We can accept up to three picture book texts per entry, and you can send as many entries as you wish.

All listed writers win feedback on their opening 5,000 words and synopsis.

Shortlisted authors win feedback on their full book manuscript. For the Bath Children’s Novel Award, this includes book reports from Junior Judges aged 7-17 years.

Due to the volume of entries we receive, and the time and care that thoughtful feedback requires, we are unable to provide comments to all entrants.

For professional feedback on your extract or full manuscript, we recommend:

Cornerstones Literary Consultancy

Joanna Barnard Writing Critique Services

Laura Marshall Editing and Mentoring Services

Yes we do. We have sponsored entry schemes for writers on a low income for both awards at:

The Bath Novel Award sponsored entries

The Bath Children’s Novel Award sponsored entries

If you would like to sponsor a writer on a low income, our donations page can be found here.

Thank you, our donations page can be found here.

Young adult novels can be entered for either The Bath Novel Award or The Bath Children’s Novel Award, or both. The main differences between the prizes are:

-Our adult prize is shortlisted by adult readers and older teens, and judged by a literary agent who primarily represents adult fiction authors. Our children’s shortlist is chosen by children and teens, and judged by a literary agent who primarily represents children’s authors.
-Our adult prize receives more entries than the children’s prize so is the more competitive of the two.

-Full manuscripts of novels entered for The Bath Novel Award must be at least 50,000 words. There is no minimum word count for the full manuscripts of books entered for the Bath Children’s Novel Award.

-The closing date for our adult prize is May 31st, while our children’s prize is open until 30th November.

Yes. If our auto-confirmation email does not reach your inbox, drop us an email us at entries@bathnovelaward.co.uk and we’ll resend.

Drop us an email at info@bathnovelaward.co.uk