SLUSH PILE CHALLENGE October 2019




We are pleased to announce the October 2019 Slush Pile Challenge, set by Chloe Seager, Literary Agent (Children's and YA) of Madeleine Milburn, Literary, TV and film agency.

Chloe Seager



Chloe began her career at Titan Books where she developed an interest in sci-fi/fantasy, and it was working with V.E. Schwab that made her realise her true passion was in YA and children’s. She joined Northbank Talent in 2015 where she built a children’s and YA list from scratch, selling rights in the UK and internationally. Whilst there she worked with Carnegie-nominated author Emily Critchley, the children’s tie-in titles of Rachel Wells’ bestselling Alfie series, and discovered many debut authors including Anna Fargher, Ben Oliver and Inky Willis.


Chloe is also a writer. She penned the Emma Nash books, a YA series published with HQ, and is currently collaborating on a new middle-grade series. She runs #bookclubYA, the bi-monthly sister event to #drinkYA, and co-hosts YaOughta!, a podcast about UK YA books.



The Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency is a dedicated, passionate and successful literary agency based in the heart of Mayfair, London. With a fierce reputation for launching authors’ careers, we are a literary agency always looking for new writers for whom we will negotiate significant deals in the UK, US and foreign markets. We have close ties with publishers around the world, and work directly or in partnership with film agents in London and LA, to option Film & TV rights to leading production companies and film studios.



We work with authors across all genres, and have had notable successes in upmarket fiction including crime, book club and psychological suspense. We also handle children’s books, teen, young adult, New Adult and cross-over fiction, as well as exciting new non-fiction authors with a focus on narrative non-fiction, history, self-help, memoir and biography.

THE CHALLENGE

I would like the first chapter, synopsis and pitch of a YA romantic comedy. 



Manuscripts do not have to be completed before entering the competition. 

THIS COMPETITION HAS CLOSED 


THE REWARD

Chloe will pick a winner. She will arrange to have a 30-minute meeting with the winner. It will be in person, via Skype or a phone call.



TERMS AND CONDITIONS

WHO IS ELIGIBLE?

You need to be an un-agented, current SCBWI member, and resident in either the UK or Europe.

If you win a challenge, you will not be able to enter any other Slush Pile challenges.

To join SCBWI and take advantage of the many opportunities to raise your profile, market your work, meet fellow writers, artists and the gatekeepers to publication, while being supported in the development and pursuit of your craft, visit scbwi.org

If, between submitting your entry and the winner being announced, you gain representation from an agent, please contact us at competitions@britishscbwi.org

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO?

1. Check that you are a paid-up member of SCBWI before submitting your entry by going to scbwi.org. Any entries received where member's details cannot be found on SCBWI records will not be included as a valid entry. 

2. Send in your entry as a single Word Document to competitions@britishscbwi.org. Submissions to the Slush Pile Challenge should not be sent direct to the agent/editor/judge. 

3. The document should only contain first chapter, synopsis and pitch of a YA romantic comedy, the judge has requested. Do not include your name, address or email address in your word document or the document name. The word document should be named in the following format – 'your title' October 2019 Slush Pile.doc

4. Please do not insert a header or footer in your submission. 

5. In the email please write your full name as it appears in SCBWI membership records and your email address. Also include the title of your work.

6. Shortly after you have submitted your entry you will receive an email from the competitions email address stating, “Your entry has been received.” If you do not receive this message please send an email to competitions@britishscbwi.org. However, we cannot put entries through after the closing date unless your entry is received on or before the closing date. 

7. Only the first entry will be considered. Please do not send revisions, multiple entries or multiple attachments. 

8. Any entries received after the closing date will automatically be disqualified. 

THE PROCESS

As soon as the competition is closed, a random selection is generated using a computer program. All valid and verified entries received will be included irrespective of whether the entry was received on the date of the launch of the competition or on the closing date, or whether the entrant has previously had their submissions seen by an agent/editor/judge. This has to be done to ensure that there is no bias or pre-judging from SCBWI BI/SCBWI BI Words & Pictures editorial team when sending the entries for judging. The terms of the competition are that the judge agrees to read a minimum of fifteen entries from the number of submissions. In many cases the judge requests to read more. When a judge requests to read fifteen or another proportion of the total entries, those chosen as the first ones to be read by the computer will be sent to him/her. Sometimes the judge may request a further selection of valid and verified entries before making their decision. When this occurs, to avoid bias, the next group of entries from the initial computer generated random selection will be sent to the judge. There are times when the judge requests to read all the entries and these are then forwarded to him/her. 

The judge will pick a winner and also tell us why. Sometimes he/she may quote a few sentences or phrases from the winner's submission in the blog announcing the winner.  

The winner will be put in touch with the judge so they can arrange the 30-minute discussion, in person, by Skype, or on the phone.

Good luck everyone!


  
The Words & Pictures team are aware that our members write for different ages and genres. With this in mind, we endeavour to provide at least one Slush Pile Challenge a year that our un-agented members feel able to enter.


  

Elaine Cline has been a SCBWI member for over six years and loves to write picture books, middle-grade and teen books. She lives by the sea and has one dog and one cat. 

Elaine is a member of the Words & Pictures editorial team, managing The Slush Pile Challenge. 


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