RITA Awards: Contest Rules

Purpose and Rules of RWA’s RITA® and Golden Heart® Contests

Rules for all contestants
Rules specific to the RITA
Rules specific to the Golden Heart

Purpose

The purpose of the RWA contests—RITA and Golden Heart—is to promote excellence in the romance genre by recognizing outstanding romance novels, novellas, and manuscripts.

Entry Qualifications and Rules for All Contestants

The contest is open to members of RWA and to non-members as well. Any break in membership during the course of the contest shall result in the entrant being required to pay the higher non-member entry fee.

Each contest (Golden Heart and RITA) shall be limited to the first 1,200 paid entries. If entries in excess of 1,200 are received by the entry deadline, excess entries shall first be returned to those who did not volunteer to judge, and second in reverse order of receipt.

If an entry is the result of a collaboration, all collaborators must be RWA members in good standing to pay the RWA member entry fee. If any of the collaborators is not a RWA member, the higher non-member entry fee shall prevail.

The entrant shall select the category for entering the work. Entrants may designate (at the time of entry) a second category for the work in the event the first-choice category does not receive the required number of entries to be judged.

No entry shall be entered in more than one category. For example: A historical novel that has a strong suspense element may be entered in Romantic Suspense or a historical category, but not both. (The exception to this rule is the Best First Book category of the RITA contest.)

There is no limit to the number of eligible books/manuscripts that may be entered for each author in each category. If fewer than 25 entries (defined as actual copies of required materials received by RWA on or before the deadline, not simply the number of paid entries submitted) to any category qualify to be judged, the category shall not be judged. If the entrant designated an alternate category on the entry form, the entry shall be judged in that category. Otherwise, entry fee/s shall be returned to the entrant. Once the author has designated the category, no entry shall be allowed to change categories except in the case of category cancellation.

All contest entry information and appropriate fees must be received at the RWA office no later than 5:00 p.m. Central Time, November 15, 2007 for Golden Heart and November 30, 2007 for RITA. All forms and fees received after the deadline shall be returned to the entrant.

If a check is returned or a credit card charge denied, the replacement money must be in the RWA Office by November 15, 2007, for the Golden Heart and November 30, 2007, for the RITA, or the entrant shall be disqualified.

The RWA staff shall send confirmations to all entrants and nominators. If an entrant has not received confirmation and mailing instructions by December 5, 2007, for Golden Heart and January 5, 2008, for RITA, the entrant must contact the RWA Office.

Manuscripts/books must be received by RWA at 16000 Stuebner Airline Rd, Suite 140, Spring, TX 77379 no later than 5:00 p.m. Central Time, December 3, 2007, for the Golden Heart Contest and January 2, 2008, for the RITA Contest. Failure to meet the appropriate deadline shall result in disqualification, and the entry fee shall be forfeited. The person who submits the entry and pays the fee (nominator) shall be responsible for mailing the books to RWA.

Finalists shall be notified by an Official Letter of Notification sent by the RWA Office via 2-day registered, guaranteed delivery.

The complete list of finalists shall be made public no later than March 26, 2008.

Neither employees of RWA nor members of their immediate families shall be eligible to enter any RWA contest.

All deadlines are final.

All Golden Heart non-finalists shall receive their preliminary scores and percentile ratings after the end of the preliminary round.

Golden Heart finalists shall receive their preliminary-round scores after the Awards Ceremony.

RITA non-finalists who so mark their entry forms shall be sent their preliminary-round scores after the end of the preliminary round.

RITA finalists who so mark their entry forms shall be sent their preliminary-round scores after the Awards Ceremony.

Only preliminary-round scores are reported to the authors.

Scores will not be reported or returned to anyone other than the author(s) of each entry.

If any finalist is disqualified for any reason, no other finalist shall move up to fill a vacant spot.

Communication between judges and entrants shall not be forwarded by RWA.

Works entered shall not be returned, with the exceptions of hardcover books entered in the RITA and full manuscripts for the Golden Heart, which shall be returned if SASEs are provided by the entrants.

Contest Rules Specific to the RITA

Books must be published by a publisher that is a non–Subsidy, non-Vanity Publisher. An eligible entry must meet these criteria:

• Have an original copyright date (printed on the copyright page) or a first printing date or a first North American printing date in the year prior to the current contest year.

• Be in print book format, complete with copyright page, produced by the publisher, with perfect or case binding and printing on both sides of the page.

• Match at least one of the category descriptions.

• Be a work of original fictional narrative prose that is offered for sale to the general public through print media. The author must not participate financially in the production and/or distribution of the work.

• Be an English-language edition that has not been previously entered.

Five copies of the book are required for the preliminary round.

In the event that duplicate entries for the same book are received, the first nomination shall be the official entry and the subsequent entries and fees will be returned. However, if the author is one of the nominators, the author’s choice of category (and alternate if applicable) shall prevail.

If a novel/novella is published as part of a collection, it is not necessary for each work in the collection to be entered in the contest. Each work will be judged independently.

A collection of novels/novellas is not one entry; rather, each work must be entered separately and five copies of the book must be submitted for each entry. The appropriate fee shall be paid for each entry.

All RITA entrants are required to sign the RITA Contestant’s Agreement located on the entry form or check a box on the Web site indicating their acceptance of terms.

Five additional books are required for the final round. If someone other than the author nominates a book, only the author shall be contacted regarding the additional books. These books must be received at the RWA Office by 5:00 p.m. Central Time on April 9, 2008. Failure to meet this deadline shall result in disqualification, but entrants shall retain finalist status. No fees shall be returned to disqualified finalists.

If a finalist qualifies for the Best First Book category, an additional five books shall be required by the April 9th deadline.

Contest Rules Specific to the Golden Heart

The Golden Heart contest is open to writers who have not accepted a publishing offer from a non-Subsidy, non-Vanity Publisher for a novel or novella by the contest entry deadline. Entrant must retain all rights to the entry and not have granted any of them to a publisher or any other party by the contest entry deadline.

If you have a question about whether your publisher is a non-Subsidy, non-Vanity Publisher, please e-mail contests@rwanational.org.

The entrant’s manuscript title and page numbers shall appear in the headers on the complete manuscript, partial manuscript, and synopsis.

Other than the author’s name, which may (at the author’s discretion) appear in the header on the full manuscript, partial manuscript, and synopsis, no other personal identifying information (such as address or phone number) may be included on the entry.

Previously entered manuscripts may be entered again, but no previous winning manuscript shall be re-entered, even if revised.

Entrants in the Golden Heart contest may not use a pseudonym in the first round of the contest, but pseudonyms may be used by finalists when the finalist list is released.

The entry shall consist of six printed copies of the partial manuscript, six printed copies of the synopsis, and one copy of the complete manuscript. The complete manuscript may be supplied as a printed copy, a computer diskette or CD. If submitting on a diskette or CD, the entire manuscript shall be saved as a single computer file formatted as .doc or .rtf file that preserves all aspects of the written copy. The diskette or CD must be labeled with the entrant’s name and title of the manuscript. If for any reason the staff is unable to open or read the electronic file, the entrant will be contacted via guaranteed delivery and will need to provide a printed copy of the manuscript, postmarked within two business days of the receipt of the letter.

The partial manuscript shall consist of consecutive pages beginning with page one, typed, and with at least the general body of the manuscript and synopsis double-spaced. The synopsis shall not be more than 15 pages. The total partial and synopsis shall not exceed 55 pages combined. The complete manuscript shall have at least the general body of the manuscript double-spaced.

If an entrant sends more than 55 pages of partial and synopsis, a synopsis of more than 15 pages, does not send the required six partial copies, does not include the one copy of the complete manuscript, or does not meet all of the guidelines, the entry will be disqualified and the entry fee shall be forfeited.

All Golden Heart entrants are required to sign the Golden Heart Contestant’s Agreement located on the entry form or check a box on the Web site indicating their acceptance of terms.