Emirates LitFest Writing Prize

Attention all aspiring novelists! The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature’s writing competition for unpublished authors is now open for 2021.

Submit your entry between now and 19 December, 2020 for a chance to have your writing judged by an international literary agent.

The Emirates LitFest Writing Prize has produced nine internationally published authors in just seven years with 24 books between them.

About the Prize

The winner of the prize will have the chance to discuss their manuscript with Luigi Bonomi, an international literary agent and founder of Luigi Bonomi Associates (LBA). 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.

All entries will judged by Bonomi.

The Emirates LitFest Prize was formerly known as the Montegrappa Writing Prize.

Rules of Entry

• Only residents of the GCC (UAE, Oman, 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 19 December, 2020.

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 19 December, 2020 to be considered eligible.

Click here to pay your entry fee and start the submission process.*

*If you have not received the link to upload your entry within 12 hours. Please contact the festival.

For tips from Luigi Bonomi himself on crafting a winning novel, click here.

Terms and Conditions

• No part of a 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
• By entering the Prize, the winner agrees to participate in such promotional activity and material as Emirates Airline Festival of Literature may require.
• While the Literary Agent will give advice to the author at their luncheon, the Literary Agent will be under no obligation whatsoever to represent the winning entry.
• The judge’s decision is final and he cannot engage with entrants for future editorial work or respond to email communications.
• The winning entrant 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 2021.
• The winner must be available to attend the prize-giving event in Dubai between February 4-6, 2021.
• 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 Bonomi Associates
• By entering the competition, entrants confirm that they are willing to be represented by LBA. All top five winners agree to not approach any other agents before a conversation about representation has been concluded with LBA.