The 2010 Christian short story writing contest has announced the winners!
Read their stories here!
Information about our 2011 Short Story Contest.
Christian Novel Contest Details
- $1,000 first prize! $500 second prize! Plus publication!
- Deadline: Sept 1st., 2010.
- Winners to be announced in January 2011.
- Winning authors’ books to be published Summer of 2011.
The next short story and poetry contest will begin taking submissions on Sept 1st, 2010.
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Book Length Novel Contest Deadline: Sept 1st, 2010
View past short story winners: 2009 | 2010
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Athanatos Christian Ministries (ACM) wants to inspire young Christians to take up the pen and promote the Christian world view through fiction. ACM believes that the the secular world is constantly promoting itself through the arts and that Christians should be prepared to fight back. Thus, the Gospel of Christ should be communicated through music, movies, plays, art … and literature. The purpose of this writing contest is to create a culture of quality writing reflecting a Christian world view.
Contest Details
READ IN FULL!
- 1st Prize: $1,000 and possible publishing contract offer.
- 2nd Prize: $500 and possible publishing contract offer.
- Published winning authors receive 15% commission on net profits of the sale of their books.
- Manuscript length: recommend between 40,000 and 90,000 words.
- Contest Submission/Reading Fee: $69.95.
- Up to 3 submissions per author accepted with discounts for second and third entries
- English only.
- FICTION only.
Top 10-12 entries will be invited to revisit their entry in order to revise it for a final round of judging in light of judges’ feedback.
All entries will receive a copy of the winning books- if the offers to publish the entries are extended and accepted. Shipping is included in the entry fee for domestic and Canadian addresses. $5.95 additional for international shipping.
All entries will receive at least a 1 page document providing feedback from one or more of the contest judges.
In the unlikely event that a winning entry is one that ACM, in its sole discretion, doesn’t want to publish, ACM reserves the right to not offer a publishing contract. Cash awards will, of course, still be disbursed.
ACM reserves the right to modify the terms of this contest, including the cash award amounts. Cash award amounts may be decreased if the number of entries are low. If, however, it appears that the award would be less than $500/1st prize and $250/2nd prize, the contest will be canceled and all entries fees refunded in full. This threshold has been met!
Except for this possibility, no refunds are possible.
ACM reserves the right to add additional prizes at its sole discretion.
ACM will take submissions through Sept. 1st 2010, but authors are strongly encouraged to enter their submissions as early as possible to ensure that their stories receive adequate time for consideration.
Copyright: Entrants grant ACM the right to distribute the story to anyone that they please for the purposes of judging. Authors otherwise retain copyright, with some obvious exceptions if ACM is to publish their story.
Discounts: Second entry is an additional $55.95. Third entry is an additional $35.95. Be sure to select the appropriate options when submitting your entries. It is possible for the same author to win both prizes!
Content: Manuscripts should be fiction, but can be in any genre: action/adventure, fantasy fiction, young adult, historical, etc. Stories can be written even for young people, say junior high, but illustrated books for children would not qualify. Think: Chronicles of Narnia, Wrinkle in Time, etc. If you have a specific audience in mind for your story please indicate as much in the story summary which must accompany your submission.
Format: Each submitted manuscript should have 1 inch margins, single spaced, with font sized 12. The first page should include the title of the entry, author’s name, phone number, and email address on it. The next page should have a summary of the story. The third page should have an outline of the story. After that, the entire book should follow.
Obviously, if the story is chosen as a winner and for publication, it will be formatted differently.
Previous Publication and Age Requirement: Manuscript must be one that has not been previously published (self-published is ok) and one that you have the full copyright to. Winner must be 18 by January 1st, 2011. Manuscript should be written in English, but foreign submissions are ok.
Criteria ACM judges will use for judging:
- First and foremost, is it an interesting story that is well written with few grammatical and spelling errors?
- Does it, implicitly or explicitly, reflect a Christian world view or promote a Christian perspective?
- Does it do something new and fresh, showing creativity?
Judges will not necessarily read the entire book! If the first 10-20 pages do not catch and keep their attention, they will stop reading it, and in their feedback page- if you desire to receive it- explain why. It is the author’s job to do what it takes to make the story interesting from the beginning. If this is a story that ACM will eventually publish, it is obvious that it must be interesting!
Judging Process: ACM’s editorial staff will divide the submissions between them. The top 10-12 stories will then be scrutinized by the entire staff and authors will be invited to revise their stories in light of feedback received. Back and forth between ACM staff and the authors can be expected during this time. Authors will have a short period of time to perform the revision(s) and then will re-submit their stories, at which time all of the judges will determine which story shall be the winners.
