Hello Members! Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers has opened up their selection committees for the Writers of the Year nominations. The WOTY will be open to those traditionally published, and the I-WOTY will be for those independently published.
If you are a member of PAL or IPAL, and you published in 2016, please check out the website HERE and look for the guidelines and entry forms. If you know an RMFW member who would be great for this, but not enter themselves, you are welcome to enter them for consideration.
We will be accepting entries from February 3 through March 11 at 12:00 am
How the work is judged:
Each work is reviewed a couple of times before three finalists for each recognition are selected. After you have submitted your work, a quick review is made to be sure you’ve entered for the appropriate Selection Committee. As all basics have been checked, your application will be forwarded to a panel of judges. Each judge on the panel is responsible for reviewing your application and reading a couple of sample chapters from the work you submit. Every entry will receive approximately one hour of evaluation by each judge (for a minimum of five hours of review on your work). The judges will score all of the works and candidates to determine who they think represent the best in RMFW writing.
In March, the Selection Committees will meet and determine the three finalists for each award. These judges have several years’ experience writing and working with RMFW writers, and are well-qualified volunteers who want the best for not only RMFW as a whole, but all of the individual members. Still, only three finalists are allowed for each recognition, so please remember that whether or not your name is selected this is not a reflection on you or your talent as much as it is an effort to find an author to best represent the writing values of our organization. It’s a challenge to narrow down the finalists to only three with the quality of writers found in our organization.
Starting soon after April 30th open voting begins among the finalists. This is your opportunity as a member to voice your opinions on who our WOTY and I-WOTY should be. We try to give everyone plenty of time (and reminders) to select the two writers they think should be recognized as RMFW’s Writer and Independent Writer of the Year. Voting lasts until late April.
The Summer Party
Each summer RMFW gets together for our summer party, and part of that celebration includes the announcement of recognition for our Writers of the Year. There will be announcements for this event in our news emails, on our blog, and on the Yahoo groups set up for RMFW members. Keep an eye out and be sure to join us.
WOTY & I-WOTY Panel
One of the highlights of the WOTY & I-WOTY selections is the chance to visit with all of our finalists at the Tattered Cover bookstore. This annual event also marks the start of the Colorado Gold celebrations and is a fun evening of interviews, prizes, and a chance to socialize with your writing tribe.
If you’re thinking of entering your work for consideration, that’s a sign. You should! We are looking forward to seeing your applications!
To find out more about the elibility requirements, please visit the website for more information.
Lisa Manifold
LS Hawker
IPAL & PAL Chairs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lisa Manifold is a fantasy and romance writer living in Colorado. She wrangles kids and dogs when not glued into her office chair. The author of the Sisters of the Curse series, the Heart of the Djinn series, the Realm series, and the new Aumahnee series launched in 2017, Lisa is the RMFW IPAL Chair. She was also extraordinarily humbled to be selected as the 2016 Indie Writer of the Year.
LS Hawker is the author of the thrillers THE DROWNING GAME, BODY AND BONE, and END OF THE ROAD, published by HarperCollins Witness Impulse. THE DROWNING GAME is a USA Today bestseller and finalist in the ITW Thriller Awards in the Best First Novel category.
Visit LSHawker.com to view her book trailers, listen to her podcast with daughter Chloe, The Lively Grind Cafe, and read about her adventures as a cocktail waitress, traveling Kmart portrait photographer, and witness to basement exorcisms.