OWC Writing Contest in 2020 will focus on mystery. Submissions will be accepted from December 16, 2020, through midnight, PST, January 31, 2021. Submit through Submittable using the link on our website.
Fees are $10 for OWC members, $20 for nonmembers, $5 for high school or college students.
First Prize: A two-day stay at Colonyhouse or a virtual mentorship session with published author.
Second Prize: A virtual mentorship session.
Third Prize: A full critique of your submission by a published author.
Honorable Mention: 1-year OWC membership.
Submit here
Rules
10 pages of a mystery novel in 12-point times or similar typeface
Standard margins
No author name in manuscript
Attached manuscript named with title of entry
Use this link to submit to the contest
Judge
We are are pleased to have Valerie J. Brooks as our final judge. Valerie is a longtime member of OWC who has generously contributed her time and talents to developing writers. She is the author of an acclaimed femmes-noir series, as well as an in-demand workshop teacher. Watch for an upcoming workshop for OWC.
Contest winners will be announced and will read from their entries at our Virtual Contest Gala on Zoom in March 2021, date and time to be announced.
Contest Judge
Acclaimed author Valerie J. Brooks writes femmes-noir psychological thrillers where the women are badass and take center stage. The first in the Angeline Porter Trilogy Revenge in 3 Parts was a finalist for the Nancy Pearl Book Award and a winner in the International Readers’ Favorites Thriller Awards. New York Times bestselling author Kevin O’Brien called her second book Tainted Times 2 “a real nail-biter from first page to the last.”
After studying film noir in college, Valerie found her noir voice for fiction. She received an Elizabeth George Foundation grant and was the recipient of five writing residencies. Brooks teaches workshops and classes in how to write noir. She reviews mystery, suspense and thriller novels, podcasts, and streaming shows on her blog.
Brooks lives in the McKenzie River Valley in Oregon with her husband, Dan, and their Havanese pooch Stevie Nicks.