It’s that time of the year again: the novel awards and manuscript competitions are coming up.

True to the undisputed wisdom of Your chances to win rise by 100% if you enter AND You always have the No, but might get a yes, I’m ready to give it another try – this year with two possible manuscripts in hand.

There’s Senex Born, my YA dystopia, that bagged a shortlisting last year. And now there’s also What the Blind Eye Sees, my (incomplete) YA folk horror manuscript. But since there are competitions out there that allow WIP manuscripts, I’ll see if and where it might fit.

Unfortunately, I missed Stockholm Writer’s Festival’s First Five Pages deadline – that one allows WIPs, but I sent the folk horror to the Edinburgh YA Novel Award, that also doesn’t require a full MS.

I’m planning to enter (or have) Senex Born at

1. Exeter Novel Price
2. Bath Novel Award
3. GutsyGreatNovelist – Chapter One Prize
4. and maybe at I Am In Print (again) – depends on the rules.

There’s also the Britport Price, Searchlight Awards, and WriteMentor – but I’m still undecided. I’ll keep the updates coming…