Bath Novel Award
Literary competitionAbout
The Bath Novel Award is an international literary competition that offers emerging writers a significant opportunity to gain recognition and advance their careers. Established in 2013, it is open to unagented writers who are unpublished, self-published, or independently published without an advance. The competition accepts adult and young adult manuscripts across all genres, with a minimum word count of 50,000 words. Entries must be original work and not edited by AI creation tools. The competition provides a £5,000 cash prize and a trophy for the winner, announced in September each year. Shortlisted entrants receive feedback on their full manuscripts, while longlisted entrants receive feedback on their submitted extracts and synopses. One longlisted writer also wins a place on an 18-week online novel editing course. The competition is judged blind, ensuring fairness, and has led to many past winners securing literary agent representation and publishing deals.
