ARA Historical Novel Prize now open

Have you written a historical novel? 

The ARA Historical Novel Prize is now open and the winner is set to receive $30,000 AUD! 

Who’s eligible?

From the Historical Novel Society Australasia website: “The ARA Historical Novel Prize is open to authors who are citizens or residents of Australia or New Zealand. Books published between 1 January 2019 and 30 June 2020 are eligible for entry. Entries may be submitted by authors, publishers or agents. Self-published books are also eligible.”

What counts as “historical fiction”?

The competition has a fairly broad definition of historical fiction, so here are the cliff notes:

Generally, anything set more than 50 years ago or a novel written by someone who was not alive at the time of those events.

What about my vampire hunting mystery novel set in ancient Rome? 

Good news! According to the rules, “Historical sub-genres considered to be historical fiction include historical mystery, historical romance, and historical fantasy. Alternate history, pseudo histories, time-slip novels, multiple-time period novels, and parallel narrative novels are also considered historical fiction with flexibility to crossover between eras stretching from 50 years or more in the past until contemporary times.”

Closing date for entries is 30 June 2020. A shortlist will be announced in October with the winner being announced in November 2020.

For more information and to enter, visit the Historical Novel Society Australasia website.