Entries open for the $30,000 ARA Historical Novel Prize

1 May

The starting gun has sounded for the ARA Historical NovelPrize contest to begin! The submission period opens today and will close on 30June 2020. Authors, agents and publishers can download the rules and nominationform from our ARAHistorical Novel Prize page.

Why enter?

Major sponsor, ARA Group, is joining with HNSA, in association with the New England Writers Centre,to reward and recognise excellence in writing, depth of research, and readerappeal in this increasingly popular genre. Australian and New Zealandhistorical novelists now have a chance to be recognised in a class of theirown, with the most significant prize money for any genre-based prize inAustralasia in the sum of $30,000.

About the Prize

The prize is open to all authors, whether traditionally or self published, who are citizens or residents of Australia or New Zealand. Books published between 1 January 2019 and 30 June 2020 are eligible. Books may be submitted by authors, publishers or agents. The definition of the genre set by HNSA will ensure a breadth of talented writers can enter with historical fiction defined as a novel written at least 50 years after the events described, or by someone not alive at the time of those events who therefore must approach them only by research. Sub-genres included in the definition are historical mystery, historical romance, alternate history, historical fantasy, pseudo histories, time-slip, multiple-time, and parallel narrative novels. For the purposes of the Prize, historical novels written for children and young adults are also deemed to be a historical sub-genre.

About The Judges

Our panel consists of our Chair, Linda Funnell, co-editor of theNewtown Review of Books, freelance editor and publishing consultant; Paula Morris historical novelist,academic and founder of the Academy of New Zealand Literature; Kirsty Murray historicalnovelist, Creative Fellow of the State Library of Victoria and AsialinkLiterature Resident in India; and ColinFalconer, author of over two dozen novels of historical fictiontranslated across 23 languages.