By Mel Hughes
Many people write stories or journal entries that stay in a notebook or occasionally get read to a friend. But authors need to publish in order to get their words out to a wider audience. It’s easier to publish books now than ever before. But how do you get people to read what you wrote?
There are numerous ways to market a book to increase sales. But one strategy authors sometimes overlook is entering writing contests. In addition to ACFW’s Carol Awards and First Impressions awards, a couple of well-known contests are the Christy Awards (for Christian fiction) and the Realmies (the Realm Makers awards for Christian speculative fiction).
One contest you may not be as familiar with is the Editors’ Choice Award, sponsored by Christian Editors Association. This contest began seven years ago as the Excellence in Editing Award. It is open to any book written by a Christian author or published by a Christian publisher, released in the United States during the calendar year prior to the contest year. (The current contest is for books published during 2022.)
The ECA is a tough award to win. Judging standards are high. Like all book contests, we’re looking for page-turning novels with stories that keep readers up late at night and plots that would wring the emotions from a turnip. (We’re also open to powerful nonfiction.) But there’s one more thing ECA judges look for: books a professional editor can enjoy without wincing over errors. Winners of the Editors’ Choice Award are not only beautifully written books—they have also been carefully edited.
Understanding that it takes a team to create such a high-quality product, the Editors’ Choice Award honors the author, editor, and publisher of every winning book.
One great benefit of the Editors’ Choice Award is added publicity. Finalists are announced on the Christian Editors Association’s social media accounts and posted on the ECA website. In addition, each team member (author, editor, and publisher) will receive a digital Finalist emblem.
ECA winners are announced live during the PENCON editors’ conference in May, then posted on the Editors’ Choice Award website and the Christian Editors Association’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. Winning authors and editors are also interviewed for articles in the PEN Tips blog, the Christian Editors Association’s newsletter, and the Network News newsletter that goes out to all members of The Christian PEN.
In addition, each winning team member receives a printed certificate and digital ECA Winner emblem. Authors receive emblem stickers to place on their books.
And that’s not all! Each winning author and editor may select one of the following prizes from Christian Editors Association:
- Free entry in the following year’s ECA contest
- Free silver membership in The Christian PEN (or gold membership upon qualifying for Christian Editor Connection)
- One free webinar, lesson pack, or group course from The PEN Institute
- 10% off the next PENCON editors’ conference
Have you ever entered a contest and then wondered what the judges really thought about your book? Upon request, ECA winning authors and editors are provided with judges’ notes on their submissions to help them further improve their writing and editing skills and to make corrections to the e-book or a future edition of the print book. Authors whose books don’t win receive professional editorial advice on ways to improve their future writing.
Entries are accepted between June and December 31. December 31 will be here before you know it! So if you published a book this year, enter the Editors’ Choice Award contest today.
One-sentence Tweet: Did you publish a Christian book in 2022? Enter it in the Editors’ Choice Award for added promotion! christianeditorsassociation.com/eca/
Mel Hughes is an incurable editor. This is her second year serving the Lord through the Christian Editors Association and her first year directing the Editors’ Choice Award. She lives in Jacksonville, Florida with two oversized dogs and an oversized husband. Come to think of it, Mel is oversized, too!