Writing competition - first mystery novel

Writing competition - Best First Traditional Mystery Novel

 

 

Prize: $10,000.00. Entry fee: $0.00. Deadline: October 15, 2014

Minotaur Books and Malice Domestic, imprints of St. Martin's Press, are inviting mystery fiction writers to enter this year's Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition.

The judges will award a $10,000 standard publishing contract to the author who has written the best book-length story in the mystery genre.

Submission guidelines:

1. Submit one manuscript of over 65K words written in English.

2. The manuscript must be original, unpublished, and the work of the author.

3. The author must not have had a mystery book previously published.

4. Murder, mystery, and/or crime should be the core elements of the story.

5. The characters, both the innocent and the presumed guilty, should know one another. The suspects should display valid intentions and logical possibility to have executed the crime. The protagonist must be the "detective" who solves the crime.

The $10,000 prize is offered as an advance against royalty payments.

http://www.freelancewriting.com/freewritingcontests/FWC-mystery-novel-competition.php

I can’t enter as I fail on guideline 3, but I wish everyone who is able to enter the best of luck!