This is a "first book" award for an unpublished book-length work of fiction - novel, short stories, novel-in-stories, no length limit, by a woman writer, age 40 or older. Include a synopsis of the entire book*, an outline, and the complete manuscript, IN THAT ORDER. Also include a bio and resume, and a contact sheet including name, address, email, telephone, birthdate. Also, you should include certification of original work, no AI included (see below) Submissions that do not have all required materials will be discarded unread. All required materials must be included in ONE document.  Submittable does not permit multiple uploads.  Please note:  manuscripts that have been self-published are considered published, and are not eligible.  Publication in other genres besides fiction do not disqualify your entry. 

*If you are submitted a collection of stories, please include 2-3 sentence descriptions of each story. 

NO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE can be used to create this work.  You must include, with your submission materials, a statement certifying that the work is entirely original, and that no AI has been used in any way.
 

Reading Fee:  $20.00  Submission window opens January 20, 2025 and closes April 1, 2025. 

Winning manuscript receives $1,000 and publication on the Sowilo Press imprint of Hidden River Publishing. 

Announcements of our semi-finalists, finalists and winner are made at our blog: http://hiddenriverarts.wordpress.com -- Please be sure to follow us there to receive notification of all our posts and updates.

All decisions regarding the winning manuscript will be made by our staff, and the decisions are final. We reserve the right to withhold the prize on any given year should our staff decide that no manuscripts meet the winning criteria, or should the number of submissions fall below the number required by our by-laws.

 
 For all additional information,  including the names of our previous winners,  please see the guidelines on our blog at:

https://hiddenriverarts.wordpress.com/awards-deadlines-and-guidelines/eludia-guidelines/

Hidden River Publishing has several imprints: Hidden River Press, Sowilo Press, Defarge, and Many Frog.  Please see complete information about our imprints at our website at www.hiddenriverarts.com to familiarize yourself with our categories.  If you are interested in submitting a manuscript, please query us first with a full synopsis of your manuscript, an outline, the first ten pages, a bio, publication record, your website and contact information. In your subject line please put FICTION or NONFICTION and which imprint you are submitting to.  If we are interested, we will contact you with a request for the whole manuscript.  Please do NOT send an entire manuscript unless it is requested.  

There is a $3 submission fee that helps us to maintain our Submittable platform.