by Brenda Scott Royce

SCBWI-L.A.’s signature event, Writers Day, will be back in 2024—and with it comes the Writers Day Contest, an opportunity for all attendees to enter for a chance to win prizes and public recognition of their work.

Why enter writing contests? Prizes are awfully nice, and hearing your name announced as the winner is a definite thrill. A contest win can get you a step closer to publication. And just entering can be a reward in itself, providing the boost you need to polish your manuscript and send it out into the world.

“The contest for Writers Day gave me a chance to revisit a manuscript that wasn’t quite hitting the mark,” Patricia Toht, whose delightfully funny “Frank Pushes the Buttons” took top prize in the picture book category in 2022, wrote in an email. “I spent some time revising it, then submitted it to see how the changes might be received. It won the contest, which gave me the confidence to send it out on submission!”

In an email interview, repeat winner Nicholas Ponticello called the contest “a great chance to get some feedback from friendly readers.”

He wrote, “I was thrilled to win the Writers Day Contest for my young adult novel ‘The Sarafe Bride’ …. It was very affirming. I definitely recommend entering the contest, even if you are afraid to put your work out there.”

The 2022 middle grade award went to Vincent X. Kirsch for “Firefly: Act One.” Vincent wrote in an email that he nearly shelved the project before entering it into the contest. “During the pandemic summer of 2020, I wrote a middle-grade [novel] that combined two summer things I missed terribly: summer stock theater and Cape Cod. I finished the book and shared it with some readers. They all loved it. But it ended up buried alive in an iCloud file of completed longer book projects. When this contest came to my attention, I thought to myself to put my adventure-filled summer vacation of a book out there to see if anyone liked it as much as my friends and first readers.

“I did not expect anything. I expected someone to say, ‘But you can’t do this; you are a picture book illustrator.’ The best thing about entering this contest is that it inspired me to keep writing and not hide away the projects that brought me tremendous joy. When I won, I surprised myself with a thrilling new inner voice. It said clearly and boldly, ‘You can do this!’”

Whether you are seeking publication (aren’t we all?), friendly feedback, motivation, or a shiny certificate to hang on your wall, enter the Writers Day Contest! “Take a chance. Be frightened. Be hopeful. You might surprise yourself and hear a new, thrilling voice,” Kirsch said.

Take a chance. Be frightened. Be hopeful. You might surprise yourself and hear a new, thrilling voice.

Vincent Kirsch

The deadline to enter is January 15, 2024. More information about Writers Day (scheduled for March 9, 2024) will be coming soon. The contest is open to all who register for Writers Day, and there’s no additional fee to enter. Submissions will be accepted in four categories: picture book, middle grade novel, young adult novel, and other (which includes non-fiction and poetry). First-place winners will receive a free written critique from one of the Writers Day faculty members PLUS free tuition to the next Writers Day event (or an equivalent prize). Winners and runners-up will be announced at Writers Day and acknowledged in Kite Tales. 

Please see the SCBWI-L.A. Writers Day Contest page for more information and instructions on how to enter. Good luck!

For more fantastic content, community, events, and other professional development opportunities, become a member today! Not sure if there is a chapter in your area? Check here.

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Brenda Scott Royce is the contest coordinator for SCBWI-L.A. She has authored more than thirty books for children. Her latest, Angela & Lulingu: Two Gorillas, a World Apart, came out in September from Blue Sneaker Press.

Author images courtesy of authors.