• The Bath Novel Award is a prize for unpublished, self-published or independently published novelists
• The winner of The Bath Novel Award 2019 will receive £2,500
• Entries will open from December 5th 2018 until 23:59 (BST) at the close of June 2nd 2019
• Entry is open to writers of any nationality or residency
• Novels can be in any genre written for adult or young adult (13+) readers
• Novels can be unpublished, self-published or independently published
• Writers who have accepted a traditional publishing deal for a novel are not eligible. For the purposes of this competition, a “traditional publishing deal” is defined as an offer of publication which includes an advance payment.
• The writer of the most promising longlisted novel, as chosen by the Bath Novel Award and Cornerstones Literary Consultancy will receive a free place on Cornerstones’ 18 week online course Edit Your Novel the Professional Way.  The value of this prize is £1,800. The course is non-transferable and there is no cash alternative to this prize.
• Unrepresented shortlisted writers will be offered the opportunity to be introduced to an individually tailored list of literary agents by email or other means. This service is entirely free and optional
• Submissions should include (up to) the first 5,000 words of your novel, double-spaced in a size 12 font and a one page synopsis, single spaced in a size 12 font
• If submitting your work online, we accept Word docs, docx and pdf
• If submitting by post, entries should be postmarked no later than June 2nd 2019
• As entries are read blind, your name should NOT appear anywhere in your extract/synopsis document
• The entrance fee is £25 per novel and you may enter as many novels as you wish
• Sponsored places are available for writers on low incomes, more details here 
• The longlist will be announced at www.bathnovelaward.co.uk on June 21st with longlisted writers invited to submit their full manuscript no later than June 30th for the final judging stages
• Full novels should be at least 50,000 words in length
• Shortlisted novels will be announced July 31st 2019
• The winner of the Bath Novel Award 2018 will be announced in September 2019
• Novels must be your original work and in English
• The winner agrees to an interview which may be published on our site and in any media for publicity purposes
• Entrants retain full copyright, however by entering, all shortlisted entrants give permission for us to post an extract of up to 5,000 words on our site
• Submissions may not be altered after entry
• Entries which do not comply with the competition rules may be disqualified
• Entrants may be agented, but should not be represented by either the judging agent or any agent within the judging agent’s agency
• Employees of the Bath Novel Award, Cornerstones Literary Consultancy and the judge’s agency are not eligible