Calling all Unpublished Entries for the
2018 San Diego Book Awards!

Entry fee for each Unpublished Novel/Novels for Children/Memoir submission is $30.00.

Entry fee for each Unpublished Short Story/Poetry Chapbook submission is $15.00.

• The submission period for unpublished entries will begin on October 1, 2017, and end on November 30, 2017.
• The San Diego Book Awards competition is open to current residents of San Diego County only.
• If a manuscript has multiple authors, at least one must reside within San Diego County. Manuscripts by former residents of San Diego County will not be considered.
• Judging in the Unpublished Novel/Novels for Children/Memoir category is a two-step process:
  • Entrants will submit the first thirty pages of their novel or memoir for preliminary judging.
  • Finalists will be chosen from those entries and will be asked to send in their complete manuscripts for final judging. Finalists will be notified by phone or email before April 1, 2017.
• Writers may submit more than one entry in more than one category, but a separate submission fee and entry form must accompany each entry.
• All submissions remain the literary property of the writer.
• Incomplete entries or entries received after the deadline will not be judged.
• Submissions received with postage due will be discarded and not judged.

Please Note: The unpublished competition is open only to writers who have never:
…….** published a short story (if entering in the short story competition)
…….** published a poetry chapbook (if entering in the poetry chapbook competition)
…….** published a full-length novel (if entering the novel/novel for children competition)
…….** published a memoir (if entering the memoir competition). 

If you are submitting a novel for children, be sure to indicate the age/grade level on the cover page. Middle grade (grades 3, 4, 5), middle school (grades 6, 7, 8), and young adult/YA (high school and above). Remember, children like to read stories with protagonists older than they are. If you’re writing for young adults, don’t have the protagonist be 12 years old.

Deadline: November 30, 2017. Entries postmarked after that date will not be judged.

For additional information, please see our GUIDELINES.