Build the award plan
Record eligibility, fees, copy requirements, and exact cycle
For each award, save the current official rules: eligible publication dates, category, fee at each deadline, copies required, who may enter, and the award year or cycle the entry belongs to.
Why it matters
A missed eligibility detail turns an entry fee into a donation. Recording the exact rule, from the official source, on a known date, is the only defense against a third-party list that is a year out of date or a memory of last cycle's rules. It also lets you compare programs honestly before choosing where to spend.
Your part
- What you do
- Do it. You normally do this yourself.
- Who normally owns it
- Author and Publicist. Author or publicist records; author keeps the master calendar
- When
- Before entering any program, and again when each cycle's rules are published (Build the award plan: twelve to six months before publication, because eligibility windows close early)
How to do it
The full walkthrough
Award rules are specific and they change. The cycle year, the eligible publication window, the fee at early and final deadlines, the number and format of copies required, and who may submit are all stated on the official rules page, and the version that matters is the one for the cycle you are entering. Record those details, with the date you read them, before you commit.
The eligible publication window is the rule most often misread. A program's "2027 awards" might accept books published in 2026, or books with a 2026 copyright date, or books published between two specific dates that do not line up with the calendar year. Enter a book in the wrong cycle and the fee is usually not refunded.
Traditionally published authors should record the same details for programs the publisher enters, so both sides know what was promised. Hybrid and self-published authors carry the whole record themselves. Either way, the awards calendar is where these details live, one row per program.
Copies deserve attention. Some programs want physical books shipped to an address, some accept digital files, some want both. Physical copies cost money and take time to arrive, and a postmark deadline is not the same as a received-by deadline.
Common mistakes
- Recording last year's deadline and assuming this year's will match.
- Reading the cycle year as the publication year.
- Forgetting the cost of shipping physical copies when budgeting the fee.
- Copying details from an aggregator site instead of the program's own page.
A template for this
Award submission information sheetOne sheet per award entry that captures the book details, the program rules for the cycle you entered, the fee, the copies sent, and the confirmation.
When to use it: Use this when you are entering a book award and want one record per program per cycle: fill in the top half before you enter, and the rest as you submit and ship copies. Do not use this when you are still deciding which awards to enter. Compare programs in the Awards directory first, and start a sheet once you have chosen one.
What done looks like
- One row per program in the awards calendar with cycle year, eligible publication dates, opens date, early deadline, final deadline, fee per tier, copies required, and format of copies.
- The official rules link and the date you read it beside each row.
- Who may submit, and any membership or residency requirement, noted.
- Postmark versus received-by deadlines distinguished.
- Rules re-checked once the cycle opens, because programs update pages between cycles.
Sources and last checked
- Official source
- No single official page for this step.
- Last checked
- Not checked against its source yet.
- How confident we are
- Verified