Deadline: October 15, 2022
About the competition
The publishing industry has been widely criticized for its lack of BIPOC voices. At She Writes Press and SparkPress, we are well aware of the need for more and broader representation of BIPOC authors on our lists.
In an effort to address this issue head-on we launched the She Writes Press and SparkPress Toward Equality in Publishing (STEP) contest in 2018 to offer two authors publishing packages (plus a 500-book print run), one author per season, to publish on either She Writes Press or SparkPress, which will be determined by the publisher based on genre and writing style. The purpose of this contest is to support inclusivity across our own lists, and to fortify our own mission to give voice to women writers.
Competition guideline
- You will be disqualified if you submit past the due date of October 15 ,2022.
- STEP is a fiction and nonfiction program only. No poetry, screenplays, or children’s books.
- Rewrites are not accepted. In other words, please be sure you are happy with your submission before you click “send” because we will not accept rewrites, follow-up emails, additional material, etc.
- Only one entry per person.
- We only accept material that is unpublished. We will not accept revised or new editions of previously published work.
- You agree to have your entry (exclusive of your contact information) shared with the She Writes Press and the SparkPress community, and to let us use it for promotional purposes.
- You must be at least eighteen years old to enter.
- You must be a person of color: people whose heritage is Hispanic or Latinx, Black or African American, Asian, American Indian or Native Alaskan, Middle Eastern or North African, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, or people of mixed racial heritage with one or two parents who fit into the above groups.
- Women only (trans/non-binary or genderqueer women welcome!)
- Submit your entry here.