Entries are being accepted for the CWA 2009 Debut Dagger Competition until February 7th next year. The contest is for crime novels by unpublished authors.
Previous winners and shortlisted writers have gone to find agents and publishers so there is a good chance of having your book considered.
First prize is £500 plus two free tickets to the prestigious CWA Dagger Awards including a night's stay for two in a top London hotel.
Shortlisted entrants will receive "a generous selection of crime novels" and professional assessments of their opening chapter(s), and will also be invited to attend the Dagger Awards.
The competition also recommends signing up to a free bi-weekly email that gives loads of tips on the competition and writing in general which I have found really interesting so far.
In one this year's competition organiser Liz Evans said: "Amer Anwar won in 2008 with his entry Western Fringes and the judges highly commended Belinda Bauer for her story Blacklands. I'm pleased to say that Amer and Belinda have both acquired an agent and Belinda has also obtained a publishing contract.
"Several of our short-listed authors have gone on to not only have their books published, but to win awards with them. Writing requires persistence and patience in spades, but if you have it, you can succeed. I was recently contacted by one of our 2002 short-listed authors to tell me that she had got a publishing contract for both the novel she'd entered in this contest and its sequel. It had taken her five years to finish her book, but she'd stuck with it and it had paid off in the end."
There is an entry fee to enter the Debut Dagger competition of £25 and you can enter by post or online.
To take part entrants must submit the first 3,000 words of their novel along with a synopsis of the whole book of between 500 and 1,000 words. Please make sure you read the rules properly and complete the entry form which is available on the Crime Writers' Association website.
Find out more at http://www.thecwa.co.uk/daggers/debut/index.html
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