Categories & Final Round Judges
Long/Short Contemporary Series Romance (50-85,000) – Susan Litman, Harlequin/Silhouette
Single Title Romance (75-125,000) – Talia Platz, NAL
Mainstream Fiction (50-125,000, should contain romantic subplot or thread) – Leis Pederson, Berkley Books
Historical Romance (50-125,000) – Tessa Woodward, Avon
Romantic Suspense (50-125,000) – Cassandra Dozet, HQN & LUNA
Paranormal/Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Time Travel Romance (50-125,000) – Latoya Smith, Grand Central Publishing
Romantic Novella (20-40,000) – Martin Biro, Kensington Publishing Corp
Notes:
- Word counts are approximate and should serve as a guide only. Use your best judgment in deciding where your entry fits.
- All heat levels are welcome and will be judged fairly, whether the sensuality tends toward erotic or leaves nearly everything to the imagination.
- Sub-genres, such as Inspirational, GLBT, Erotica, etc., should be entered into whichever genre they best fit. Please note the sub-genre in the header of the manuscript and also when sending your entry to the appropriate category coordinator to ensure a fair judging is received.
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Purpose
The purpose of THE GOLDEN GATEWAY is to challenge and inspire
unpublished authors of romance as well as to help prepare for
the process of sending proposals to editors. The Golden Gateway
is timed to provide feedback for contest submissions targeted
for the RWA National's Golden Heart® contest.
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Eligibility
This contest is open to all unpublished authors of novel length
romantic fiction (40K and over) and to those who have not published
or contracted (in print or electronic forms) within five (5) years
of the contest deadline. All entries shall be the author's original
work and not contracted for publication prior to the entry deadline.
An author is considered published regardless if their publisher
is RWA recognized.
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Entry Procedure
- Send signed entry form and check/money order to contest coordinator (address below) OR enter via electronic entry form and make payment using PayPal. Alternately, those entering via e-form may send a check/money order to the contest coordinator—include a printed copy of the completed e-form.
- Send electronic entries to category coordinator
as listed below. No print copies will be accepted.
- Entry should be sent to the appropriate category coordinator within 48 hours (2 days) of submitting entry form and payment.
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Entry Fees
The entry fee for FTHRW members is $20. For all other RWA
members who are not members of FTHRW the entry fee is $25, and
for all non-RWA members is $30.
For all RWA Members who would like to also join FTHRW,
send $45 for membership and the contest at the same time ($25
membership fee + $20 contest fee = $45).
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Entry Deadline
All entries and payments must be received by June 26, 2009.
Any entries received after that date will be returned.
Note: From The Heart Romance Writers reserves the right to
return all entries and fees if the minimum entry number of five
(5) for each category is not received. Entrants will be contacted,
and will have the option to place their entry in another category
before entries are returned.
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Entry Details/Checklist
Download the Printed Golden Gateway Contest entry form: RTF
format or PDF format
Entries will be accepted in electronic (e-mail) submissions only.
See below for the formatting guidelines. If you have problems
sending electronically, coordinators will try to help you any
way they can.
Each entry should include:
_____ One (1) copy of the beginning of your manuscript and 10-page
maximum synopsis (55 pages total maximum)*. The synopsis will be
judged. Total entry
must be in one file; synopsis should be placed at the
end of an entry.
*Please see romantic novella guidelines below for the novella category
_____ One (1) completed Electronic
Entry Form for each entry OR one (1) completed
and signed official paper entry form and agreement (see above to download)
for each entry to be mailed separately to Contest
coordinator:
Jodi Lozon
RE: Golden Gateway
10321 E. Lovejoy Road
Perry, MI 48872
NOTE: The entries are e-mailed to a CATEGORY
coordinator listed below--not the contest coordinator.
_____ One (1) check or money order made out to "From The
Heart" for the applicable entry fee for each entry should
be sent along with official paper entry form to contest coordinator
address above OR if you would like to use a credit card or direct
withdrawal from your checking or savings account, go to www.paypal.com,
send amount of applicable entry fee for each entry to FTHBOD@yahoo.com
at a time prior to the entry deadline or use the paypal button
below:
NOTE: If you will be using the electronic entry form, a button for PayPal will appear after you
submit the form.
_____ Name of category must be listed in the subject
line of e-mail entry.
_____ You will receive a confirmation of the arrival of entry.
If you do not receive a confirmation within 3 days of sending,
please e-mail the appropriate category
coordinator (listed below) to ask if it was received.
_____ Entries should be received in RTF (rich text format) format
only and should be formatted in standard manuscript format, ready
for printing. This includes header and page numbers.
_____ Should you advance to the final round, you will be required to email a clean entry to the contest coordinator for printing. Your entry must be received within five (5) days for mailing to the editor of the category you're entering. Editors
and the categories they will final judge are listed at the top
of this page.
Romantic Novella Guidelines:
All entries details listed above apply with exception of entry length, which is identified below. Any genre or heat level may be entered in the romantic novella category.
_____ One (1) copy of the beginning of your manuscript and 5-page maximum synopsis (45 pages total maximum). The synopsis will be judged. Total entry must be in one file; synopsis should be placed at the end of an entry.
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Entry Format
- Entry must be presented in proper standard manuscript format
(double-spaced, approximately 1" margins, size 12 font,
Courier or Times Roman fonts). Hard to read fonts will be disqualified.
- Synopsis should be double-spaced.
- Header on the manuscript and synopsis should contain title
and category in the upper left corner and the page number
in the right corner. For combined categories, ie: Paranormal/Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Time
Travel, please specify which sub-category your entry fits by
putting the one (rather than all) as the category. Additionally,
you may note your target publisher and/or line beneath the title
and category in the upper left.
- The name of the author shall not appear anywhere on the manuscript
or synopsis or the entry will be disqualified.
- The same manuscript may not be entered into more than
one category. Pick the category that best fits your manuscript
entry.
Note: If the above rules aren't met, the entry may be disqualified
and entry fee may not be refunded.
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Judging
First Round: The first round will be judged by experienced critiquers and published authors, each entry receiving three (3) judges with at least one (1) being a published author. A discrepancy judge will be used in the event the 2nd and 3rd judge's scores vary by more than 20 points (100 points are possible). The top five (5) entries with a score of 225 or above will advance to the final round.
Judges are encouraged to type comments directly on the manuscript.
Judges are also encouraged to answer a few questions to help the
author improve their manuscript.
Final Round: The finalists in each category will be ranked by an editor who will be encouraged to answer two (2) questions to help the authors improve their manuscripts.
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Notification
The first round finalists will be notified by August 14, 2009. Finalists will be required to have a clean electronic entry to the contest coordinator by August 20, 2009. Place winners will be notified on or around October 9, 2009.
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Awards
First Place in each category will receive a plaque and choice of a free FTHRW contest entry fee or a year’s worth of FTHRW dues. Second Place in each category will receive an e-certificate and choice of FTHRW dues paid or a free FTHRW contest entry. Third, Fourth, and Fifth Place in each category will receive e-certificates.
A Grand Prize of $100 will be given to the highest overall scorer based on first round judging.
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Submissions & Category Coordinators
ENTRY FORMS MAY BE FILLED OUT ONLINE AND ENTRY PAYMENT MADE VIA
PAYPAL, OR CHECK/MONEY ORDER AND HARD COPY ENTRY FORM MAILED TO
THE CONTEST COORDINATOR:
Jodi Lozon
RE: Golden Gateway
10321 E. Lovejoy Road
Perry, MI 48872
ELECTRONIC ENTRY SUBMISSIONS AS AN ATTACHMENT IN RTF FORMAT MUST
BE SENT TO APPROPRIATE CATEGORY COORDINATOR AS FOLLOWS:
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Questions
Please direct all questions to Contest Coordinator at contest @ fthrw.com
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