Eligibility

• Open to writers working in English.
• Writers should have meaningful ties to Texas (residence, upbringing, or significant connection).
• This prize is intended for debut novelists in literary fiction.
• Employees, Board of Directors and Board of Advisors, and their immediate families of Texas Book Festival are not eligible.
• Translations and previously published full-length manuscripts are not eligible.
• Individual excerpts may have appeared in magazines, anthologies, or chapbooks under 48 pages, but the manuscript as a whole must be unpublished.

Submission Guidelines

• Manuscripts must be anonymous (no identifying information in the manuscript file)
• Length: 40,000 to 110,000 words
• Format: Standard 12-point font; double-spaced
• Consecutively paginated
• Include a plot synopsis (max 250 words)
• A cover letter must include a publications list
• Submissions must be made electronically via Submittable
• A submission fee of $10 is required for each entry
• Multiple submissions are allowed if submitted separately, each with its own fee
• Simultaneous submissions are permitted; please withdraw the manuscript if it is accepted elsewhere
• Use of AI is prohibited

***PLEASE NOTE: Entries will be capped at 500. ***