Donna Gillespie Novel Excerpt Prize Category
First Prize: $100
Second Prize: $50
Third Prize: $25
Category Details
Please send me the first 20 pages of your novel. Submissions must be single-sided, and double-spaced. Both unpublished and self-published novels are eligible.
I believe an author should create a strong sense of anticipation in the opening pages: Convince the reader that the protagonist faces a formidable problem. Your story can begin at once when conflict and environment evolve together. Whether your prose style is lyrical and atmospheric, or clear and direct, it’s more powerful when the prose serves the needs of drama.
About Judge
DONNA GILLESPIE (San Francisco, CA) is the author of two novels set in first-century Rome: The Light Bearer (Berkley/Putnam) and Lady of the Light (Berkley/Penguin). The Light Bearer was an immediate international bestseller, and received a starred review in Publishers Weekly. The novel was translated into German, Dutch, Russian, Lithuanian, and Italian, and the United Kingdom purchased rights. In 2002, Hallmark Entertainment optioned Light Bearer for a miniseries. Lady of the Light is the second book of a trilogy, and is available in German and Italian as well as English. In 2022, Gillespie renewed her contract with Mad Dog Productions, an independent film company that is working to produce the Light Bearer trilogy as a miniseries.
Judge’s Website
About Sponsor
DONNA LEVIN (San Francisco, CA) is the author of the novels, He Could Be Another Bill Gates, There’s More Than One Way Home, and Extraordinary Means. Her nonfiction titles include Get That Novel Written! and Get That Novel Started! Donna is a frequent guest at writers’ conferences, and she led University of California-Berkeley Extension’s Novel Writing Workshop for twenty years. Learn more about Donna at her website.
2021 Winners
- First Prize: Sarah Collins Honenberger of Tappahannock, VA
“Minding Henry Lewis” - Second Prize: Amy Mitchell of Windermere, FL
“A Cunt’s Affair” - Third Prize: Michael J. Manz of Northampton, MA
“The Glass Tree”
2021 Honorable Mentions
James Gregory Kingston of Remsenburg, NY for “The Girl From Potter’s Field”
Francis Flavin of Sparks, NV for “Fireweed in Autumn”
Hardy Griffin of Ithaca, NY for “Broken Kismet”
Erin J. Kahn of New York, NY for “Concord”
Marcia Peck of Minnetonka, MN for “The Unattended Moment”
Tanya Bomsta of Columbus, OH for “Interlude”
Hardy Griffin of Ithaca, NY for “Detective Qasym”
Glen Wood of Hixson, TN for “Awake the God of Day”