Manuscript Project Contest

Additional Information

To be considered for the contest, your manuscript must be:

• Unpublished
• Adult Fiction genre only
• Written by an Illinois resident
• Only one submission per author accepted
• Available in PDF file

Additionally, your submission must meet our guidelines. Failure to meet criteria below may result in disqualification for your entry.

• The Manuscript itself must be formatted as a PDF
  • 12 pt (Arial, Calibri, Times Roman)
  • 1.5 line spacing
  • Multiple files not accepted
• A Title Page with the following:
  • Title (Working)
  • Author Name
  • Word count number (entries must be no fewer than 50,000 and no more than 100,000 words)
  • A Synopsis on the title page (50 words or less)
  • An Author Bio also on the title page (100 words or less)

Prizes

The winner chosen by Illinois librarian judges will receive these valuable prizes:

• Professional line editor who will work with you to polish your novel.
• Professionally designed cover.
• Self-publishing guidance from past STBF winners and committee members.
• If the winner elects to self-publish the winning manuscript, the finished book would be entered as semi-finalist status in the 2025 Soon to Be Famous Illinois Author Project Contest.

If your manuscript meets the above criteria, please click below to get started.

Instructions for Converting a Word Document to PDF:
If you have saved your work as a Word document, there are a few ways to convert your file to PDF.

• Go to file, select “save as Adobe PDF”, or
• Go to file, select print, next select “Adobe PDF” as the printer, or
• Go to file, select Export, next select “Create Adobe PDF”