Frequently Asked Questions

  • The Alice Darlington Novel Award is our way of hearing from underrepresented voices and perspectives, and giving them a platform and the potential for further training, mentorship and insight into the publishing industry.

  • Any author who is currently unrepresented by an agent and is belonging to groups currently under-represented in publishing (including disabled writers, Black, Asian and Global Majority writers, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community).  

    • Writers must be from a group currently under-represented in publishing (including disabled writers, Black, Asian and Global Majority writers, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community)

    • Writers must be unagented

    • Writers may only submit one novel for consideration

    • At point of submission, writers must have at least 40,000 words of a manuscript available

    • Submissions must fall into one of the following categories:

      • Crime, Thrillers and Mystery 

      • Contemporary Romance 

      • Historical Fiction 

      • Book Club Fiction 

      • Science Fiction 

      • Fantasy 

  • For the application, please provide: 

    • In one document, a short pitch for the book, a synopsis, and the first 4,000 words of your manuscript 

    • In a separate document, the first 20,000 words of your manuscript 

    • A short paragraph about yourself and why you're applying for the award.

  • Submissions open on 23rd October 2026.

    Submissions close on 12th February 2027.

    The shortlist will be announced by the end of March and the two winners will be announced in May.

  • The 10 shortlisted authors will gain access to an invite-only online workshop series with leading industry professionals. This series is created to help further demystify the industry for shortlisted authors and give them a wider understanding of the publishing process so they can continue to develop their manuscripts for submission.

    The two winners will win a cash prize of £500 each and will be given one-to-one mentorship with one of our lead judges.