E. J. Corbett Mentorship Eligibility & Rules

The E.J Corbett Mentorship contest is open biennially to previously unpublished authors of Young Adult Historical Fiction who are citizens or residents of Australia and New Zealand. The next contest will open on 4 November 2026.

What is Young Adult Fiction

There is no hard and fast definition of young adult (YA) fiction but for the purposes of the contest, the novel is aimed at a readership age group between the ages of 12 and 18. Books generally explore themes and issues relevant to young readers including coming of age stories, interpersonal and/or family relationships etc and can cover mature and complex themes. The main character is usually of similar age to the targeted YA audience but there can be older characters in the story.

However, despite the guidelines above, it’s hard to lock down a genre that can cross over age groups from 12 years and onwards. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak or Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant are great examples. Only after a book has been published will you know if it is popular with young adults or any age group! Our Mentor, Dr Wendy J Dunn, has written a piece on young adult fiction which may be of help if you are considering entering the contest. Your book may well qualify even if you hadn’t originally thought of it as being young adult fiction!

Definition of Historical Fiction for Young Adults

An historical novel is one in which the majority of the narrative, namely, more than 50% of the events described, has taken place at least 50 years in the past.

Historical subgenres considered to be historical fiction include historical mystery, historical romance, and historical fantasy and alternate history. Time-slip novels, multiple-time period novels, and parallel narrative novels are also considered historical fiction with flexibility to crossover between eras stretching from 50 years or more in the past until contemporary times provided more than 50% of the events described in the narrative take place at least 50 years before publication.

Eligibility & Rules for 2026 Contest

    1. Authors must be citizens or residents of Australia or New Zealand at the time of entry.

    2. Manuscripts must be historical fiction written for young adults as per the definition set out in the rules.

    3. The manuscript must be at least a first draft of a completed manuscript of no less than 20,000 words.

    4. All forms of non-fiction including narrative non-fiction and memoir are ineligible.

    5. Picture books and graphic novels are ineligible.

    6. The books do not have to be set in either Australia and/or New Zealand, or feature the history of those countries.

    7. Books must be in English.

    8. Co-authored books are ineligible.

    9. Entries must be entirely the work of the entrant and must not at any time have been published, self-published, broadcast, or published online on any website or forum (save for a closed private forum), or have won or been placed in any other contest.

    10. The entrant must not have published any prior novels or novellas (whether historical fiction or not) either by self-publishing or through a traditional publisher. Short stories and/ or essays are exempted.

    11. Entries that do not meet the eligibility criteria will be removed from contention and not sent to the judge.

    12. Entries that do not strictly meet the entry format guidelines will be removed from contention and not sent to the judge.

    13. Current members of the HNSA Management Committee, contest administrators, sponsors, and judges are ineligible to enter.

    1. Entrants must submit a max 500 word synopsis and the first 10,000 words of the manuscript together with a coversheet.

    2. A non-refundable entry fee of $25 per entry is payable. Payment must be cleared by 5pm on 16 December 2026 AEDST.

    3. Entrants may only submit one entry.

    4. By submitting an entry, the entrant agrees to be bound by the rules of the contest.

    5. HNSA welcomes all entries submitted in good faith and reserves the right to refuse entries for any reason  including those that may harm the reputation of HNSA.

    6. Requests for confirmation of receipt of entries will not be answered.

    7. Worldwide copyright will remain with the author.

    8. Where First Nations characters and/or history is depicted in the manuscript, the author should seek advice from appropriate First Nations cultural advisers.

    9. The HNSA will take all reasonable steps to ensure the judging will be fair and unbiased. The judge’s decision is final and no debate or correspondence will be entered into.

    10. The judge will not comment on individual entries.

    11. The judging criteria are excellence in writing, compelling storytelling, potential and clarity of the project, and skilful use of historical research.

    12. The entrant warrants:
      a) their manuscript is their original creation;
      b) their manuscript has not previously been published (see Eligibility Criteria 9)
      c) their manuscript has not been wholly or substantially created by the use of generative AI technologies (AI grammatical and spelling tools are acceptable);
      d) their manuscript is not defamatory;
      e) their manuscript does not infringe any existing copyright or licence or any other third-party rights;
      f) their entry form contains true and accurate information; and
      g) their manuscript does not use or disclose the personal information of a living person for the purposes of the Privacy Act 1988

    13. Each entrant agrees to indemnify HNSA for any loss or damage resulting from any breach of the warranties above and acknowledges that HNSA may, in its absolute discretion, not award the mentorship in the event of a breach of the warranties above.

    1. The 10,000 word manuscript excerpt must be in English, typed in a separate Word (.doc or .docx file) document, A4 format, 12 Point, Times New Roman font, double spaced, with pages numbered.

    2. A 500 word synopsis and cover sheet specifying a word count, book title and the author’s name must be included in the same Word document containing the manuscript excerpt.

    3. The file should be named with the protocol ‘authorsurname_title.docx eg Atwood_AliasGrace.docx

    4. If the narrative involves multiple time periods, a word count must be provided for each time period on the coversheet. If majority of the narrative is not set 50 years or more in the past then the manuscript is ineligible.

    5. The title must appear at the top of each page of the manuscript excerpt.

    6. Entries will not be returned, so please keep a copy.

    7. No corrections can be made after receipt.

    8. Work must be presented professionally, formatted according to the contest rules and spell-checked.

    9. Entries that do not strictly follow these guidelines will be eliminated immediately.

    10. Tickets are non-refundable

Please refer to the criteria and rules below to ensure you are able to enter.

In honour of Young Adult historical fiction novelist, Elizabeth Jane Corbett, the HNSA is offering the chance for a previously unpublished author from Australia or New Zealand to receive a mentorship with Wendy J Dunn to develop a completed first draft of an unpublished historical fiction manuscript for young adults.

Wendy will read and assess the novel in its entirety, then meet with the mentee via Zoom, initially for 1-2 hours, to discuss the winner’s inspiration and goals, and to identify ‘roadblocks’ requiring Wendy’s assistance. She will provide in-depth feedback on plot, characterisation, pacing, dialogue, world building and effective use of research. Recordings of the Zoom sessions will provided together with Wendy’s comments and notes via a shared GDrive.

Three further 1-hour sessions, followed by a final 1-2 hour session, will then be arranged to track progress and provide encouragement and support together with providing advice on the way forward.