The Sheila Contest
Rules & Registration

ELIGIBILITY

Participation is open to all authors who are unpublished, self-published, or traditionally published. Affiliation with any writing group (romance or otherwise) is not required to enter The Sheila Contest.

The entry must be the author’s original work, unpublished in any format (including author’s website, self-publication, eBook, mass market, etc.) and not under contract as of the contest’s closing for entries on Sunday, June 4, 2023.

Entries must contain a Central Love Story, where the main plot centers around individuals falling in love and struggling to make the relationship work, and an Emotionally Satisfying and Optimistic Ending.

 

CONTEST DATES AND REGISTRATION DEADLINE

  • April 16, 2023 at 12:00 am EST (Eastern Standard Time): The Sheila Contest opens for registration.
  • June 4, 2023 at 8:00 p.m. EDT (Eastern Daylight Time): All submissions must be received electronically by this date/time. Entries received after the deadline will be returned and the entry fee will be forfeited.
  • June 11, 2023: Entries will be sent to first round judges.
  • July 22, 2023: Judged entries due back to VFRW.
  • August 5, 2023: Finalists announced.
  • September 25, 2023: Category winners announced.
  • October 30, 2023: Best of the Best winner announced.

 

HOW THE SHEILA CONTEST WORKS

  • Authors will submit an electronic copy of each entry according to the format listed below. (See ENTRY FORMAT.)
  • Three (3) trained judges will be assigned per entry. The average of all three scores will be used for final judging.
  • The top 3 entries in each category will be announced as finalists. A minimum combined score of 240 points (out of a possible 300 points) is required to become a finalist.
  • Category finalists’ entries will be judged by at least one agent/editor to determine category winners.
  • Category winners and the Best of the Best winner will be announced, with additional prizes awarded to the winners.

 

CATEGORIES

  • Contemporary
  • Fantasy, Futuristic, & Paranormal
  • Historical
  • Romantic Suspense

 

All heat levels, ability levels, backgrounds, and sexualities are welcome in all categories. Stories featuring LGBTQ+, multicultural, and diverse characters of varying backgrounds and abilities are not only accepted, but also encouraged. Diversity is accepted, welcomed, and all-inclusive.

 

ENTRY FEE

  • $35 for each entry
  • Payment must be made by electronic payment via PayPal.
  • All entry fees must be received by VFRW by 8:00pm EDT on June 4, 2023 or the entry will be disqualified.
  • All entry fees are non-refundable except in the case of category cancellation. (See ENTRY.)

 

FINAL ROUND JUDGES

Our Final Round Judges are:

  • Contemporary – Scott Eagan (Greyhaus Literary Agency)
  • FF&P – Treva Harte (Changeling Press)
  • Romantic Suspense – Tina Schwartz (The Purcell Agency)  & Michelle Jackson (Olswanger Literary)
  • Historical – Nicole Payne (Copps Literary Agency)

[Additional judges will be posted if confirmation is received.]

 

BEST-OF-THE-BEST JUDGES

Our best-selling Best-of-the-Best judges for 2023 are:

  • Tanya Anne Crosby
  • Sara Donati
  • Lisa Kessler
  • Scarlett Peckham
  • Suzy Quinn
  • Rebecca Zanetti

 

AWARDS

All Category Finalists and Winners will not only receive certificates and pins, but also get the opportunity to submit and bypass the editors’ slush piles to be considered for publication by Oliver Heber Books.

In addition, Category Winners receive $25 and Best of the Best Grand Prize winner receives $100. Contest results will be announced through VFRW social media. 

 

ENTRY

Entries must include:

  • The FIRST 7500 words maximum of the manuscript
  • A synopsis is required and must be no longer than 1000 words in length (unjudged).

 

Previous Category and Best-of-the-Best Winners may not re-enter their winning entries, even in edited format. They may, however, enter other work. VFRW President and Contest Co-chairs may not enter. Category Coordinators may enter any category other than their own.

There is no limit on the amount of entries an author may submit, provided all of the entries meet the eligibility requirements.

The same manuscript may not be entered in more than one category.

Any entries submitted after the deadline will not be accepted; the entry fee will be forfeited.

The contest is limited to 35 entries per category. If fewer than 10 entries are received for a category, VFRW reserves the right to eliminate the category. If a category is cancelled, the author will be given the choice of switching the entry to another category, or having the entry dropped from the contest and their fee returned.

Entries deemed at the discretion of the VFRW Board to be plagiarized in part or total will be disqualified for content.

Entries deemed at the discretion of the VFRW Board to contain abuse, rape, bestiality, pedophilia, or other illegal, non-consensual, or objectionable practices will be disqualified for content.

The VFRW Board’s decision to disqualify an entry for any reason is final. If an entry is disqualified for content, no refunds will be issued.

ENTRY FORMAT

  • Entrants will submit one Microsoft Word .docx file per entered work.
  • Manuscript pages (maximum 7500 words) will be followed by the Synopsis (up to 1000 words) in the same file. The Manuscript and Synopsis may not exceed 8500 words.
  • The entire document will be double-spaced (for ease of reading).
  • The entire document will have one-inch margins.
  • The entire document will use Times New Roman font, 12-point.
  • Chapters must begin 1/3 of the way down the page.
  • All entries must be in U.S. page sizing. A4 will not be accepted.
  • Manuscript headers will include and be limited to the title of the entry and category in the upper left corner and the page number in the upper right corner.
  • The author’s name may not appear anywhere on the entry, including in the document properties.

 

Entrants who do not comply with the formatting rules or exceed maximum word counts as stated above will be contacted and given until the contest registration deadline to correct the infraction. Failure to comply by the deadline will disqualify the entrant. The entry fee will be forfeited.

 

JUDGING

Entrants will receive a detailed score sheet from three (3) trained, qualified judges. We strive to have each entry judged by at least one (1) published author. Judges will be encouraged to comment on the score sheet as well as throughout the entry, but VFRW cannot guarantee that all judges will comply with this suggestion.

CLICK HERE TO SEE OUR NEW SCORESHEET

To be eligible to judge for The Sheila, all potential judges must complete a training program, to include education on recognizing and eliminating bias from their judging.

Should a judge believe an entry to not be an original work, to have been previously published, to not contain a Central Love Story and an Emotionally Satisfying and Optimistic Ending, and/or to contain racism, discrimination, abuse, rape, bestiality, pedophilia, or other illegal, non-consensual, or objectionable practices, then the judge may flag the entry for potential disqualification. Entries will be reviewed by the VFRW Board, who will evaluate the complaint and rule on disqualifying the entry.

Contest Category Coordinators will review all judges’ comments and critiques for bias, abuse, insult, and unprofessionalism. Any comments they identify as below Sheila / VFRW standards will be forwarded to the Contest Co-chairs, who will determine if the comments will stand or be removed, up to and including removal and replacement of the judge’s entire critique, additional judge training, and disqualification of the judge from participating in The Sheila.

All three scores will count and be averaged to obtain the entry’s final score.

  • Any individual score below a 55 will be reviewed and evaluated for inclusion by the Contest Co-Chairs.
  • Should a difference of 18 points or greater between scores occur, the Contest Co-Chairs will have a 4th judge read and score the entry. The original outlying score will not be included in the calculation of the entry’s final score and may or may not be forwarded to the entrant at the Contest Co-Chairs’ discretion.

Should an entrant believe a judge’s comments to be biased, abusive, insulting, or unprofessional, a special committee of the VFRW President and no less than two VFRW members shall evaluate the complaint and rule on disqualifying the judge for future contests.

No entry from a Valley Forge Romance Writers member shall be judged by any other member. All member entries will be judged by non-member judges to ensure fairness to all entrants.

Judges may not judge in any category they have entered. VFRW President and contest co-chairs may not enter.

Questions or concerns? Please contact your Sheila Contest Co-Chairs, Maria Entenman and Mandy Greenfield, at thesheilacontest@gmail.com.

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