by Bethany Kaczmarek
We’re so excited about the 2016 Realm Makers contests. Behind the scenes, I’ve been working feverishly (or at least super diligently) to organize the details. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be introducing all of our contests: The Genre awards, The Realm Award, The Parable Award, and the Reader’s Choice.
Today, I give you…
The Realm Award
The new Realm Award is a big deal, because this is our Book of the Year Award.
Realm Makers is a relatively new conference, but the way we’re growing would lead people to believe there are actually writers and readers out there who love speculative fiction. We’re making noise, creating a disturbance. That’s awesome. We’re a tribe, an alliance, a realm. And this year, we’ll be awarding the first ever Realm Award.
You want it.
The three final judges are also big deals. They are the elite. The sages. The Jedi Masters. The coolest wizards of speculative fiction. Are you ready?
What! These three final round judges will be reading each of the five Genre Award winners. So, that makes the Genre Awards important.
Genre Awards
Think of the Genre Awards as a giant funnel of spec-fic amazement. All the books go in, and two rounds later, five genre winners come out.
Those are the only five books eligible to win the Realm Award (the Book of the Year).
Rules
The contest opens on January 1, 2016. Entries will be accepted for three weeks.
The deadline for submissions is Friday, January 22, at 12 midnight (EST).
The entry fee is $35.00 plus the published book in eBook format.
The five categories are: Debut, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, YA, and Supernatural/Horror.
Entries must have been published in 2015—either traditionally or indie-published. Only the author can enter. (Note: This means, if you’ve got a book you want to see win, TELL THE AUTHOR to be sure and enter. Since this is a new-ish award, we need your help getting the word out.)
Books can be entered in a max of 2 categories, but the entry fee must be paid twice.
Entries must be speculative fiction published by a Christian author. This is, after all why Realm Makers exists. Does that mean it must have an obvious Christian message? Absolutely not. It means the author will need to agree to our Statement of Faith. We’re looking for amazing speculative fiction written by Christians. That’s it.
So.
Spread the word. Tell your favorite authors. Tell your favorite authors.
(Did I say that twice?) Could be.
Authors, get ready to wow us. I’m looking forward to seeing your entries flood in.
Give me a tsunami of awesome.
Faith & Fantasy Alliance 
Soooooo excited about this!
Really awesome! Thanks so much for all your hard work in making this community exist. I hope to have a book to enter next year! And maybe, just maybe, I can come to the conference this year. Really interested to see the winner!
Reblogged this on Guts on the Page.
Fantastic! Where can I find your Statement of Faith?
AH! I want to enter this next year. (: What does the “Supernatural” in the Supernatural/Horror genre mean?