The McIlvanney Prize - Bloody Scotland Prizes – Entry Rules

 

·       The winner of The McIlvanney Prize – Scottish Crime Book of the Year will receive £1,000 and the winner of The Bloody Scotland Crime Debut of the Year will receive £500.

·      When considering the entries the judges will take into account quality of writing, originality of plot and potential durability in the crime genre.

·   We open for 2021 entries on Monday 8th February 2021 and entries should be submitted by 5pm on Friday 9th April 2021.

 ENTRY RULES:

·    Publishers may submit full length novels first published in the United Kingdom between  1st August 2020 and 31st July 2021 for the McIlvanney Prize. (Note the shortlist for The Bloody Scotland Debut of the Year will be drawn from the McIlvanney Prize entries.)

·   For the purposes of both prizes, a crime book is eligible if the author was born or raised in Scotland. If the author was not born or raised in Scotland, the book will still be deemed eligible if the author lives in Scotland and has done so for at least six years, AND the book submitted for the award is substantially set in Scotland.

·       Other novels may be deemed eligible at the discretion of the organisers.

·       Books published as hardback, paperback originals or exclusively as e-books are eligible, either published by publishers, or self-published.

·       The submission of an author’s work by the publisher will be taken as agreement by the author that he/she is willing for the submitted work to be considered and that they consent to share that book (in all formats) with readers, judges and the board in consideration for the prize.

·  It is a condition of entry that publishers will put the award logo and “Winner of The McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year 2021/Winner of The Bloody Scotland Debut of the Year” or “Shortlisted for The McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year 2021/Shortlisted for The Bloody Scotland Debut of the Year” including the name(s) of sponsor(s), on the cover of subsequent editions of winning/shortlisted books. We have designed roundels with this information on them if you’d like to use those.

·       Publishers will, on request, provide a cover image and author photograph with the necessary clearances for use on the Bloody Scotland website.

·       Publishers will make every effort to ensure that any shortlisted authors for either prize will attend the ceremony either virtually or in Stirling on Friday 17th September 2021, and will be available for media interviews before, immediately afterwards and/or on the following morning.

·       There is no charge for entering, but there will be a charge of £300 + VAT (if applicable) per longlisted title for the McIlvanney Prize, and £250 + VAT per shortlisted title for the Debut Prize, to cover promotion and marketing of the prize. By entering, publishers agree to pay this contribution. If a book is longlisted/shortlisted for both prizes, only the £300 fee will apply.

·       The longlist for the McIlvanney Prize will comprise up to twelve books. The shortlist for the debut prize is usually 3 or 4 titles. Publishers will be notified immediately after the organisers meeting early in June 2021 only if their book has been longlisted for the McIlvanney Prize or shortlisted for the Debut Prize.

·       Paper copies of all longlisted or shortlisted books should be made available upon request.

·   The judges’ decision is final. Neither discussion nor correspondence concerning any decision can be entered into.

·  A DRM-free digital copy of each entry (PDF or eBook) must be submitted to the Prize Administrators.

· Please submit your book to: bob@bloodyscotland.com with ‘McIlvanney Prize 2021 Submission_Book Title’ clearly stated in the subject line. Please indicate if the book you are submitting is a debut

 

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