…the smell of the crowd.

Or, why I love and hate contests.

I published as a result of a contest, when Dedication won the Beau Monde’s Royal Ascot and the final round judge asked me for a full. In fact Dedication has been a contest cow for much of its existence–it won the Best Regency category of the NJRW’s Golden Leaf contest a couple of weeks ago, to my delight. So contests have been good to me.

But I’ve never let them become too important in my life–I was smart enough as an unpubbed to realize that contests were their own thing. Here are my hard-earned nuggets of wisdom as a former unpubbed contest slut:

1. It doesn’t matter how you place. Finaling is the most important thing.
2. Editors will not care nearly as much about fonts, margins, or header styles as first-round contest judges do–they like legibility.
3. It’s possible to do very well with a ms. in contests but not be able to sell it.
4. Editors do not have nearly as rigid a view on what a romance is, should be, or can be, as contest judges.
5. The stronger your voice, the more widely divergent your contest scores will be (hint: enter contests where the lowest score is discarded or is sent for contingency judging).
6. It doesn’t matter if there’s a page missing in a final round entry. Honest!

All that said, I really urge any unpubbed writers to enter the Golden Heart. Once a finalist, always a finalist–you get on and off editors’ and agents’ desks fast (a mixed blessing) and you’ll make some good friends–Diane is one of my many 2003 GH finalist friends, aka The Wet Noodle Posse. That’s one way to crank up publisher interest in trads–particularly if you’re subverting the subgenre and going for the unexpected. Show them there’s life in the beast still–otherwise we may as well try to save unicorns.

Janet

Enter my contest all this month at roadtoromance.ca
DEDICATION~Winner, 2006 Golden Leaf Contest (Regency)

Overall, my own contest experiences have been wonderful.

I began my contest career with the Beau Monde’s Royal Ascot, a contest for unpublished writers of Regency era romance. After entering just to get some feedback, I won it in 1999 with what became my first book, LORD LANGDON’S KISS. Since then, my books have won or finaled in the Booksellers’ Best, the National Readers’ Choice Award, the Holt Medallion, the Award of Excellence, the Golden Quill and the Golden Leaf.

Which means that, good Risky that I am, I’m a contest slut and have done pretty well at it!

However, my results haven’t been consistent. Books that won one contest sometimes didn’t even hit the finals in others (and often the competition was the same). In the RWA contests, the Golden Heart and the RITA, I’ve had very mixed scores. With 5 judges, I usually get 3 very high scores and 2 that are low to abysmal. I once got a 8.2 and a 2.0 for the same book, out of 9 possible. (Don’t ask me why they don’t use a scale of 10, maybe to keep us from getting swollen heads?)

Taking off my contestant hat, I’m sometimes surprised that books I’ve loved haven’t always hit the finals. I mean, how could anyone not recognize Laura Kinsale’s FLOWERS FROM THE STORM as one of the best historical romances ever, not just of that year? Julia Ross’s historicals are amazing and have not hit the RITA finals either though they’ve won all sorts of accolades elsewhere. (It’s possible these books weren’t entered, though it seems unlikely.)

So how does one explain these discrepancies? I’ve got a couple of theories.

There’s the polarizing writer theory. I use it to console myself when I get the love/hate spray of scores. I’d rather be a polarizing than boring. But controversial books have sometimes won. Laura Kinsale’s SHADOWHEART is the best example I can think of.

Then there’s the category expectations theory–that a book that is well-written but doesn’t quite fit its category may also get mixed scores. I am guessing that some of my low scores have been from judges who don’t believe there should be sex in traditional Regencies. I entered LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE as a Short Historical due to length reasons, and though it didn’t final the marks were consistently high. (I’m taking this as a Good Omen.) OTOH sexy Regencies have won, including Sophia Nash’s A PASSIONATE ENDEAVOR and our own Diane’s A REPUTABLE RAKE. So it’s not a definitive theory either.

I honestly think it comes down to a combination of a good story and luck in getting the right panel of judges who appreciate it. I’ve heard debates on how to make judging more objective, but I doubt it’s possible because reading itself is so subjective. I think it’s best for a writer not to stress too much about contests, though that’s easier to say than do.

A final thought…without the luck factor, awards ceremonies would be much less exciting, wouldn’t they? So what are your opinions on contest judging? Do your favorite books usually win or not? Any ideas why?

Elena, proud contest slut
LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE, Desert Rose Golden Quill Best Historical Romance, 2006
www.elenagreene.com

So, what are your favorite Regency Rita winners? (Except for Diane’s book, of course. We all like that best. It says so in our contracts.)

To refresh your memory, here are a list of the Regency Rita winners over the years:

2006 — A Reputable Rake by Diane Gaston
2005 — A Passionate Endeavor by Sophia Nash
2004 — Prospero’s Daughter by Nancy Butler
2003 — A Debt To Delia by Barbara Metzger
2002 — Much Obliged by Jessica Benson
2001 — A Grand Design by Emma Jensen
2000 — The Rake’s Retreat by Nancy Butler
1999 — His Grace Endures by Emma Jensen
1998 — Love’s Reward by Jean R. Ewing
1997 — The Lady’s Companion by Carla Kelly
1996 — Gwen’s Christmas Ghost by Lynn Kerstan and Alicia Rasley
1995 — Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand by Carla Kelly
1994 — Deirdre and Don Juan by Jo Beverley
1993 — An Unwilling Bride by Jo Beverley
1992 — Emily and the Dark Angel by Jo Beverley
1991 — The Sandalwood Princess by Loretta Chase
1990 — The Rake and the Reformer by Mary Jo Putney
1989 — Brighton Road by Susan Carroll
1988 — Sugar Rose by Susan Carroll
1987 — Lord Abberley’s Nemesis by Amanda Scott
1986 — The Beauty’s Daughter by Monette Cummings
1985 — The Lurid Lady Lockport by Kasey Michaels

Have you read any of these? Which did you particularly like? Are there books by some of these authors that you like better than the ones which actually won the Rita?

All opinions welcome!

Cara
Cara King — www.caraking.com
My Lady Gamester — with 150 % more card playing than the leading brand

Here quick are two links to articles I’ve written about contests for the unpublished author. I forgot to include them yesterday but some of you might find them of interest.

Navigating the Contest Waters: Sail Your Career into Authorized Territory (Romantic Times, Nov 2004)

The Contest Empress Speaks (Washington Romance Writers Update, Dec, 2003)

Cheers, Diane

I started entering Romance Writers of America contests with my very first manuscript. Several of RWA’s chapters sponsor romance writing contests. I came in second in the very first contest I entered, Virginia Romance Writers Fool for Love contest, so I was hooked early. By the time 2002 came along, I was finaling in contests left and right, so often that my friend Kathy Caskie (How to Seduce a Duke, Sept 2006) dubbed me “The Contest Empress” and she gave me the sceptre to prove it.

That year my historicals came in 1st and 3rd in the Marlene Contest (my own Washington Romance Writers chapter) – the first place entry became my eHarlequin Daily Read (Jan 2006) The Diamond, and the 3rd place entry became The Improper Wife.

Above you see me with my Marlene Medallion, the prize for coming in first.

In 2003, I won RWA’s Golden Heart contest with the manuscript that became The Mysterious Miss M. There I am accepting the Golden Heart at the RWA conference in New York.

And as Amanda mentioned, this summer my A Reputable Rake won the 2006 RITA, RWA’s most prestigious award, for Best Regency Romance. Here I am accepting the RITA statue in Atlanta.

I made the decision to enter A Reputable Rake in the Regency category of the contest, first, because it fit the category. It was heavily grounded in the Regency time period, and had the right word count. I had always thought of this category as being meant for the TRADITIONAL Regency lines, but knowing those lines were ending, I thought I’d enter A Reputable Rake in that category, rather than short historical.

My decision turned out to be a very good one!

This year there will still be a Regency category for the RITA contest and I think any author whose book fits the guidelines ought to enter the book in the Regency category instead of Short Historical. I don’t have a Regency this year, so I can’t enter.

These are the guidelines for Best Regency Romance: Romantic historical novels with primary settings during the Regency period, typically 1795-1840. The word count for these novels is 40,000-85,000 words.
Judging guidelines: The category includes comedy of manners as well as darker stories, and the books may contain a variety of story elements, such as sexual content, paranormal elements, mystery, suspense, adventure, and non-traditional settings.

Consider this.
1.The Regency category usually has fewer numbers. Fewer numbers equals less
competition. ( but we have to get at least 25 entries!)
2. The competition for all our non-Regency historicals is decreased, because the Short Historical category is not filled with Regencies.
3. Regencies will be judged against other Regencies, which honors the special quality of our time period.
4. RWA will learn that the Regency set historical is still going strong with wonderful, talented authors writing great books.
5. Who knows whether there will be this category again after the contest is revamped. This may be the best chance to reach the finals!
6. I’ll get to stand up there and present some lucky author a RITA!! I already have a dress to wear.(I bought two for this year’s Award ceremony, just in case.)

So, what do you think? Do you think the Regency period deserves a contest category all its own?

Cheers!
The Contest Empress