New Writers Awards Rules 2020 [Closed]

FAQs

Here are some of our frequently asked questions, please read through these before asking us a question  - Thank you!

Q: When will you announce the finalists for a competition?

A: While we make every effort to be timely with our judging, we can't always get our judging done as quickly as we want. Especially when we have an unprecedented amount of submissions or have a limited number of judges. We ask you to please have patience while waiting for scores and finalists to be announced, sending us repeated messages and comments asking when the judging will be announced does not speed up the process. It simply makes us more stressed and feel worse about not being on time. Lets all just be kind and patient with one another. 

Q: I submitted my entry yesterday/a few days ago, when will I hear back from you

A: Although we try our best to process submissions as soon as they come in this is not always possible, we sometimes get over 10 submissions a day which might not sound like a lot but we are a small team and the procedure for setting up that submissions judging takes time. Please try and be patient with us during high volume times. We will make every effort to process your submission quickly but sometimes it may take awhile. Please also remember that the team running the awards have jobs and responsibilities outside of Wattpad and this can also impact on our processing time. 

Q: My submission was declined, what does this mean?

A: When we decline a submission it is usually because you have not followed the rules or instructions, your story is not eligible for the competition or we do not think that you classify as a new writer. Although we have reads cap to determine if you are a new writer, we also look to see if you have any other works and what the readership is on those. If you have a high readership on multiple works we may discount you as a new writer and therefore decline your submission. 
There are also smaller reasons that we may decline a work, such as not tagging your story with the correct tag, not providing us with all the correct details or sending us your submission through the wrong channels. We usually explain why we have declined your submission if it's something small but if we haven't and it's none of the above-mentioned issues then please re-read the rules to see if you haven't followed any of them (this includes competition-specific rules) 
If you are still confused please do get in contact with us and we will try to sort it out. \

Q: Can I submit a work in progress or does it need to be completed?

A: Yes, of course, you can. We do accept works that are currently still being written AND we accept completed works (If it is completed it needs to have been done so this year). Just remember that submitting us a first draft that hasn't seen any editing is not likely to work in your favour. We always recommend that you read over your work before you submit it. 

Q: Why will you no longer be judging erotica and what do you consider erotica. 

A: The reason behind us no longer judging erotica or smut works is because most of our judges feel particularly comfortable with it and would prefer not to do so. Should we get more that one judge who is fine judging this type of literature then we may change this. 
As for what we consider erotica, it is stories in which sex and sexual acts take up a large portion of the novel, are a major part of the plot and/or the sexual acts are continuously explained in great detail in the work. If it happens a few times in the story and is significant to the plot then we won't class it as erotica. More so if sex is an important part of the novel but it isn't shown in a particularly explicit manner then we don't consider it as erotica.