It’s Tommy Award Time!

First awarded in 2004, The Tommy Award for Writing Excellence recognizes and rewards excellence in full length literary works in adult fiction and nonfiction. Books must be published in the United States between June 1, and May 31 of the following year. Textbooks, e-books, children’s books, young adult books, poetry and audio-books will not be considered, nor will manuscripts. Judges will select one winner and may designate up to two honorable mention books in each of the following categories: • Fiction • Nonfiction • Short Story Collection. Books can be submitted by the publisher or the author. A copy of each book submitted should be mailed directly to: International Book Management Corporation, 3468 Babcock Blvd., Pittsburgh, PA 15237. Please send submissions as soon as possible after publication. No books will be accepted after May 21, 2011. There will be no extensions to this deadline. Winners and honorable mentions will be announced in August 15th. The awards presented in October. Winners receive a certificate and trophy. An author interview and book review of the winning submission will appear on WritersNewsWeekly. Entries will not be returned. International Book Management Corporation reserves the right to donate or dispose of entries. NO ENTRY FEE. For more information, contact International Book Management at: info@internationalbookmanagement.com.

11/03/2010 UPDATE: WritersNewsWeekly is proud to announce the winner of this year’s Tommy Awards: Ben Lieberman for his novel Odd Jobs. Honorable mentions for the Tommy Awards go to authors Dennis McKay, Catie Donnelly, Dennis Webster, Carl Brookins, and Paul M.Schofield. Thank you to everyone who submitted to this year’s award committee. We are now accepting new submissions for next year’s award. We look forward to reading more of your work in the future.

WritersNewsWeekly is bringing you a chance to have your book and/or short story recognized for excellence in writing. Here are the rules:

General Rules:

1. Multiple submissions will be accepted but must be submitted separately.

2. You must submit three hard copies. Electronic submissions will not be accepted. Submissions will not be returned. They will either be donated or given to the judges to thank them for their wonderful, selfless, noble, unpaid efforts.

3. Send your submissions to:

Tommy Award
WritersNewsWeekly
3468 Babcock Blvd.
Pittsburgh, PA 15237

4. A submission form must be completed for and included with each submission.

5. Don’t enclose an entry fee because this year, and this year only, it’s free.

6. Don’t contact us. If you win, place or show, we’ll be in touch. That means that you should include your contact information. We won’t show up at your house uninvited more than once a month; we promise.

7. We don’t disclose the judges’ names, so don’t ask. If you hear that Chris Stokum, Sarah Schiavoni and Elizabeth Milo are three of the judges, it didn’t come from us.

8. The Acquisitions Editor does not accept bribes. She’s offended that you asked.

9. The Editor-in-Chief is a different story entirely. He’s a man on the make, benter than a spring. The only thing you can’t buy from him is his dignity, but only because he sold it last week.

10. Just kidding. He doesn’t accept bribes either.

BOOKS:

1. Published work only. Self-published? No worries, it qualifies.
2. Must be published between January 1, 2009 and June 1, 2010.

If you win:

1. You’ll receive a super nice trophy and a certificate that you can frame.
2. And, your book will be reviewed in WritersNewsWeekly.
3. And, we’ll tell people where they can buy a copy of your book.
4. And, we’ll send press releases out to the trade announcing your success.
5. And, if you want, we’ll contact your mother and assure her that the award is real.

SHORT STORIES:
1. You must be 18 or older to submit a short story.
2. Your short story may not have been previously published in any medium (This includes the internet, literary magazines, newspapers, etc.).
3. Your story must be between 1,500 and 5,000 words.
4. WritersNewsWeekly will select one category finalist from each genre. One category winner and one runner-up will be selected from the finalists. A grand prize winner will be selected from among the category winners.
5. Submissions from the grand prize-winner and all category winners and runners-up will be featured in WritersNewsWeekly. If you’re chosen as a finalist but don’t get your story in, we’ll list your name and the title of your story. We’re good people like that.
6. This is a one-time publication, so you’ll retain all rights to your story. Do what you will with your award-winning piece. Sell it. Publish it. Frame it. Eat it. Really, it’s up to you.

If you win grand prize:

1. You’ll get a trophy and a certificate.
2. And, your winning story will appear in WritersNewsWeekly.
3. And, you’ll be able to tell your friends that you’re a published author.

Click Here to Download the Short Story Entry Form PDF.

Click Here to Download the Book Entry Form PDF.