2026 Award Categories

Writing Award ~ for unpublished, completed manuscripts

Automatic Sub-Categories

Each and every Writing Award submission can be automatically selected for the following sub-categories:

• Golden Writer Award ~ for writers 60+ which was recommended by Paul Michael Glaser himself ~ if this is your age bracket, you can select this for each submission.
• Young Writer Award ~ for writers aged between 18 and 25 if this is your age bracket, you can select this for each submission.
• Culture Award ~ for writers to submit cultural submissions from all cultures and communities.
• Phoenix Award ~ to honour the resilience and passion of writers who have overcome personal challenges, such as writing in a language other than their native tongue, navigating physical or mental challenges, facing traumatic life events, or overcoming minority issues.
• Prolific Writer Award (see below for details)

Writing Award Sub-Categories

• Writing Mentorship Award ~ for writers with an unfinished manuscript who want to win a writing mentorship to help finish the manuscript
• Most Intriguing Story Title ~ the most intriguing titles (You can't select to enter these because all entries are automatically selected)
• Best Written Genre ~ for the best genre stories from unpublished writers
• Best True Unpublished Story ~ In this sub-category, we accept True Stories and Based on a True Story. See our notes below for further explanatory information
• Best Illustrated Unpublished Manuscript ~ to showcase the best illustrated children's picture books
• Best Co-Written Manuscript ~ for unpublished submissions co-written by more than one writer.
• Story World Award ~ for writers who are exceptional world builders and want to celebrate the deepest, most intricate, and most original aspects of the story world they have built.

Fiction Genres

• All the main genres in fiction are included.

Please note that Genre Winners will be drawn from Finalists, Longlists and Shortlist. Not all genres will be included if they didn’t qualify on either list. Having said that, most genres will be honoured!

Fiction Book Award ~ for fiction authors with a published book, mainstream or independently published

Every Book Award submission can be automatically selected for the following sub-categories:

• Golden Author Award ~ for published authors 60+ which was recommended by Paul Michael Glaser himself ~ if this is your age bracket, you can select this for each submission.
• Young Author Award ~ for published authors aged between 18 and 25 ~ if this is your age bracket, you can select this for each submission.
• Best Book Cover ~ most interesting covers ~ our judges select the covers, you don't need to enter this sub-category because all Book Award submissions get automatically entered.
• Culture Award ~ for writers to submit cultural submissions from all cultures and communities.
• Phoenix Award ~ to honour the resilience and passion of writers who have overcome personal challenges, such as writing in a language other than their native tongue, navigating physical or mental challenges, facing traumatic life events, or overcoming minority issues.
• Prolific Author Award (see below for details).

Fiction Sub-Categories

• Best Book Genre ~ for published books, mainstream or independently published, and the best genre stories
• Best Book Series ~ most intriguing series in any genre (there must be at least 3 books in the series submitted)
• Best Co-Authored Book ~ for books published by co-writing authors, either two or three co-authors
• Best Debut Novel ~ for books published for the first time by an author (this does not include if a novelist is published and publishes a new book under a new pen name, it must be the very first book the author has ever had published)
• Best Illustrated Book ~ to showcase the best illustrated children's picture books
• Best Comic Or Graphic Novel ~ for books in a comic book format or a graphic novel format
• Most Intriguing Book Title ~ to showcase the most intriguing book titles
• Indie Author Award ~ to showcase the highest scoring Indie Authors
• Story World Award ~ for writers who are exceptional world builders and want to celebrate the deepest, most intricate, and most original aspects of the story world they have built.
• Book Adaptation Needed ~ for authors who want to win a book adaptation prize
• Audio Book Needed ~ for authors who want to win an audio book prize. Our judges are looking for captivating stories with the potential to be adapted to film. These can be novels, novellas, true stories and memoirs. This is an opportunity not to be missed! You can adapt your book yourself with our Book Adaptation Boot Camp, or you can get one of our screenwriting editors to adapt your book for you.

Fiction Genres

• All the main genres in fiction are included.

Please note that Genre Winners will be drawn from Finalists, Longlists and Shortlist. Not all genres will be included if they didn’t qualify on either list. Having said that, most genres will be honoured!

Fiction Book Award Judging Criteria

Each submission will be judged across three core elements of exceptional fiction writing. Winners in each category will be awarded:

• Storyteller Award - for the writer demonstrating the highest storytelling potential
• Wordsmith Award - for the writer achieving the highest writing quality scores
• Character Architect Award - for the submission with the most compelling characters

Each judge scores submissions on all three criteria, and the highest-scoring entries in each category receive recognition.