Emirates LitFest Writing Prize
Attention all aspiring novelists! The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature’s writing competition is now open to all aspiring fiction writers.
New for this year, the prize will be judged by a panel consisting of two agents and one publisher, offering an even broader range of expertise and insight to the winners.
About the Prize
The winners of the 2022 Emirates LitFest Writing Prize will get a one-hour one to one with each of the judges for feedback, and writing career advice.
All entries will be judged by international literary agent Luigi Bonomi, founder of Luigi Bonomi Associates (LBA) and literary agent for many of the competition previous winners, as well as literary agent Sheila Crowley from Curtis Brown, and Kira Jean, founder and CEO of The Dreamwork Collective, an independent publishing company that shares the Middle East’s most unique voices and powerful stories.
Although this doesn’t guarantee a book deal, a number of past winners have gone on to earn multi-book deals and become published authors.
Rules of Entry
- Only residents of the GCC (UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia or Kuwait) are eligible.
- All participants must be first-time novelists who’ve never had books professionally published.
- Entrants must not be currently represented by or working with a literary agent.
- Entrants may submit more than one entry to the Prize, but each entry must be original material, and must not have been submitted in the previous years’ competitions.
- Each entry must be submitted separately and is subject to the entry fee.
- Entrants must be 18 years and older to participate.
- All entries must be fiction and in English.
- The final date of submission is 12 December, 2021.
How to Enter
Entrants must first pay the AED 200 entry fee, after which they will receive a link through which they must upload:
- A 400-word synopsis of the book.
- The first 2,000 words of the almost completed manuscript in Arial, Courier, or Times New Roman font in 12 point size.
- The manuscript must be double-spaced with pages numbered consecutively, and the title must follow this format: ‘Manuscript Title – Your Name.’
If submitting more than one entry to the Prize, please note that each new entry will be subject to a new entry fee.
All entries must be submitted by 12 December, 2021 to be considered eligible.
Pay the entry fee and start the submission process.*
*If you have not received the link to upload your entry within 12 hours. Please contact the Emirates Literature Foundation team.
For tips from Luigi Bonomi himself on crafting a winning novel, click here.
Terms and Conditions
- No part of the Prize is exchangeable for cash or any other prize.
- The Prize will not be transferable to another person.
- The Prize is not open to employees (or members of their immediate families) of the Emirates Literature Foundation.
- Only residents of the GCC (UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, or Saudi Arabia) are eligible.
- All participants must be first-time novelists who’ve never had books professionally published.
- Entrants must not be currently represented by or working with a literary agent.
- Entrants may submit more than one entry to the Prize, but each entry must be original material, and must not have been submitted in the previous years’ competitions.
- Each entry must be submitted separately and is subject to the entry fee.
- Entrants must be 18 years and older to participate.
- All entries must be fiction and in English.
- While the contestant will receive dedicated one to one advice from the judges, the judges will be under no obligation to represent the winner.
- The judges’ decision is final and they cannot engage with entrants for future editorial work or respond to email communications.
- By entering the Prize, the winner agrees to participate in any promotional activity and material as the Emirates Literature Foundation and the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature may require. The winning entrant also agrees to the use of their name, country of residence and photograph in relation to related publicity material and activities.
- The winner will be announced during the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature 2022.
- The winner must be available to attend the prize-giving event in Dubai between February 3-12, 2022.
- Winners outside the UAE will be notified in advance so that they can organise their travel arrangements for the prize-giving event.
- All entries will be read by all judges.
Submit Entry
Pay the entry fee and take the first step of your writing career.
