RITA Awards: Contest Rules

Purpose
Contest Eligibility
Entry Requirements
Entry Category Eligibility and Descriptions
RITA Contest Categories
Category Descriptions and Judging Guidelines
Finalist Announcement and Return of Scores

E-mail questions to contests@rwanational.org.

Purpose

The purpose of the RWA RITA Contest is to promote excellence in the romance genre by recognizing outstanding published romance novels and novellas.

Contest Eligibility

The RITA Contest is open to members of RWA as well as non-members. Any lapse in membership during the course of the contest (from the time of entry until the winners are announced at the Awards Ceremony) shall result in the entrant being required to pay the higher non-member entry fee.

If an entry is the result of collaboration, all collaborators must be RWA members in good standing in order to qualify for the lower member fee.

Entrants must be 18 years of age by December 1, 2009.

Neither employees of RWA nor members of their immediate families will be eligible to enter any RWA Contest. “Immediate family” is defined as spouse, parents, siblings and children. Adopted, foster and stepchildren are included in this definition.

Any publisher applying to be an RWA Eligible Publisher or an RWA non-Subsidy/non-Vanity Publisher for the purposes of the RITA Contest must be approved by September 15, 2009, for books to qualify for the upcoming contest.

Completed entry forms and appropriate fees must be received at the RWA Office no later than 5 p.m. Central Time, December 1, 2009. All forms and fees received after the deadline will be returned to the entrant.

The RITA Contest is limited to the first 1,200 paid entries. If entries in excess of 1,200 are received by December 1, 2009, excess entries will first be returned to those who did not volunteer to judge, and second in reverse order of receipt.

If a check is returned or a credit card charge denied, the replacement money must be in the RWA Office by December 1, 2009, or the entrant will be disqualified.

Books must be received by RWA at 14615 Benfer Road, Houston, Texas 77069 no later than 5 p.m. Central Time, January 4, 2010. Entrants who fail to meet this deadline will be disqualified, and the entry fee will be forfeited. The person who submits the entry and pays the fee (nominator) will be responsible for mailing the books to RWA.

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.

Entry Requirements

Books entered in the 2010 RITA Contest must:

• Be a work of original fictional narrative prose in the romance genre.

• Have an original copyright date of 2009 (During the 2010 transitional contest year, those books with BOTH a 2008 original copyright date and a 2009 North American printing date or 2009 first printing date may be entered.)

• Not have been previously entered.

• Be submitted 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. Text and formatting must be identical to published version.

• Be published by a non-Subsidy/non-Vanity Publisher.

• Be in English language editions.

• Meet the requirements for the category in which it was entered.

• The author must not participate financially in the production and/or distribution of the work.

• 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 will 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) will 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 will be paid for each entry.

Five additional books are required for the final round. RWA will contact only the author regarding the additional books, regardless of who nominated the book. These books must be received at the RWA Office by 5 p.m. Central Time on April 9, 2010. Entrants who fail to meet this deadline will be disqualified, but entrants will retain finalist status. No fees will be returned to disqualified finalists.

If a finalist qualifies for the Best First Book category, he/she must provide an additional five books by the April 9 deadline.

Entry Category Eligibility and Descriptions

The entrant selects the category for entering the work. Entrants may designate a second category for the work in the event the first-choice category does not receive the required number of entries to be judged.

Entrants may not enter a single book 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 Best First Book category is the only exception to this rule. Entrants must indicate on the RITA entry form that the book is eligible for Best First Book—separate entry form and fee are not required.1

There is no limit to the number of eligible books that may be entered for each author in each category. If any category has fewer than 25 entries (defined as all copies of required work to be judged, not just the entry form) received by the deadline, the category will not be judged and the entry forms and fees will be returned. No category changes can be made after the entry deadline, with the exception of entries in a canceled category.

The RWA staff will send confirmations to all entrants and nominators.

RITA Contest Categories

For the purposes of the RITA Contest: A “Novella” is a work of fictional narrative prose in the romance genre of 20,000–40,000 words as determined by computer word count. Novella entries with word counts less than 20,000 or more than 40,000 will be disqualified.

A “Novel” is a work of fictional narrative prose in the romance genre of at least 40,000 words as determined by computer word count. Novel entries with word counts less than 40,000 will be disqualified.

“Series” is defined as those books issued under a common imprint/series name that are usually numbered sequentially and released at regular intervals, usually monthly, with the same number of releases each time.

All categories may have varying levels of sensuality, ranging from sweet to extremely hot.

Category Descriptions and Judging Guidelines

Contemporary Series Romance
Series romance novels that focus primarily on the romantic relationship.

Judging guidelines: In this category, the love story is the main focus of the novel, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying and optimistic.

Contemporary Series Romance: Suspense/Adventure
Series romance novels that focus primarily on the romantic relationship but may have more complex suspense or adventure subplots.

Judging guidelines: In this category, the love story is the main focus of the novel, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying and optimistic.

Contemporary Single Title Romance
Romance novels that focus primarily on the romantic relationship, released as individual titles, not as part of a series.

Judging guidelines: In this category, the love story is the main focus of the novel, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying and optimistic.

Historical Romance
Romance novels set in any time period prior to 1945, and taking place in any location.

Judging guidelines: In this category, the love story is the main focus of the novel, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying and optimistic.

Inspirational Romance
Romance novels in which religious or spiritual beliefs (in the context of any religion or spiritual belief system) are a major part of the romantic relationship.

Judging guidelines: In this category, religious or spiritual beliefs (in the context of any religion or spiritual belief system) are blended with and form a significant part of the love story, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying and optimistic.

Novel with Strong Romantic Elements
A work of fiction in which a romance plays a significant part in the story, but other themes or elements take the plot beyond the traditional romance boundaries.

Judging guidelines: Novels of any tone or style, set in any place or time are eligible for this category. A romance must be an integral part of the plot or subplot, and the resolution of the romance is emotionally satisfying and optimistic.

Paranormal Romance
Romance novels in which the future, a fantasy world or paranormal happenings are an integral part of the plot.

Judging guidelines: In this category, a futuristic, fantasy, or paranormal element is blended with the love story, which is the main focus of the novel, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying and optimistic.

Regency Historical Romance
Romance novels in which the majority of the story is set against the Regency period of the British Empire.

Judging guidelines: In this category, the love story is the main focus of the novel, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying and optimistic.

Romance Novella
Novellas that focus primarily on the romantic relationship.

Judging guidelines: In this category, a love story is the main focus, and the ending is emotionally satisfying and optimistic. Typically, the word count is 20,000–40,000 words.

Romantic Suspense
Romance novels in which suspense, mystery, or thriller elements constitute an integral part of the plot.

Judging guidelines: In this category, a suspense/mystery/thriller plot is blended with a love story, which is the main focus of the novel, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying and optimistic.

Young Adult Romance
Novels with a strong romantic theme geared toward young adult readers.

Judging guidelines: In this category, the love story is an important element of the novel, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying and optimistic.

Best First Book
A full-length book entered in any of the other contest categories. To be eligible, the author (or authors in the case of a writing team) shall not have had any other novel or novella previously published in any format.

Finalist Announcement and Return of Scores

A complete list of finalists will be made public no later than March 25, 2010.

On March 25, the RWA staff shall send finalists an Official Letter of Notification via two-day delivery.

The top 10 percent of each category’s entries (based on the number of qualified entries received), with a limit of eight (nine in case of tie), will advance to the final round, provided the minimum total score for each finalist equals 80 percent of the total possible score. The 80 percent rule does not apply to the Best First Book category.

Ghostwritten books will be restricted for qualification in RWA’s Hall of Fame and use of RWA service marks. The authors will be provided appropriate disclaimers with respect to their finalist or winning status.

Only preliminary-round scores are reported to the authors.

Preliminary-round scores and percentile ratings will be mailed to RITA non-finalists within four to six weeks after the finalists are announced, if a request is indicated on the entry form(s). Scores are reported to author(s) only.

Preliminary-round scores will be mailed to RITA finalists after the Awards Ceremony if a request is indicated on the entry form(s).

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

The identity of judges is confidential. RWA discourages any communication between judges and entrants.

Entered works will not be returned, with the exceptions of hardcover books, which shall be returned if the entrants provided SASEs.

1 For the Best First Book category, the top 10 percent, but not less than three nor more than eight of all declared First Books entered, regardless of category, shall be finalists.