We are pleased to announce the April 2025 Slush Pile Challenge, set by
Carolyn May McGlone of
May Literary Agency.
Carolyn May McGlone
As an award-winning publicist-turned-agent, Carolyn understands what makes the book trade sit up and listen, how to capture readers’ attention and how to best support authors through their publishing journey.
With a career that has spanned publishing, literary charities and bookselling, Carolyn has extensive knowledge and contacts within the book industry and has been lucky enough to work with some of the UK’s most renowned authors.
Carolyn takes great pride in nurturing author relationships, whether it’s supporting debut authors in their first forays into the public eye, or advocating for bestselling authors at the highest level.
A lifelong advocate of books and all they inspire, Carolyn is passionate about promoting voices that deserve to be heard. She values authenticity, honesty and loyalty above all else - being conscientious and empathetic is at the heart of everything she does and she prides herself on having a collaborative approach.
She holds two MAs with Distinction in both Children’s Literature and Publishing, as well as a Publishers’ Publicity Circle Award.
THE CHALLENGE
“I would like to see
a piece of fiction inspired by something real from your childhood - this could be an event, a person or even just a feeling or memory. Picture book, middle grade or YA texts all welcome, as long as they are part of a
finished piece of work. I’m looking for texts that are uniquely YOU.
Please submit one document containing:
• A short description of the idea/inspiration behind the text
• A short biog
• For picture books: Full text, approx 400-700 words, in 12 spreads
• For MG/YA: The first chapter and a brief synopsis”
THE REWARD
Carolyn will pick a winner. She will arrange to have a 30-minute meeting with the winner. It will be via Zoom or a phone call.
CLOSING DATE: SUNDAY 11th MAY 2025 – 23.59 PM (BRITISH SUMMER TIME)
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 can enter any other Slush Pile Challenges but not with the same manuscript.
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 for
picture books: a short description of the idea/inspiration behind the text, a short biog and the full text. For
MG/YA a short description of the idea/inspiration behind the text, a short biog, the first chapter and a brief synopsis 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' April 2025 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, it is necessary to generate a random selection 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 agent/editor/ judge requests to read more. When an agent/editor/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 agent/editor/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 by Zoom 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 ten years and loves to write picture books, middle-grade and teen books. She lives by the sea and has one dog.
Elaine is a member of the
Words & Pictures editorial team, managing The Slush Pile Challenge.
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