Faber launches the Action! Prize in direct response to research from the National Literacy Trust that reveals children’s reading enjoyment is at its lowest level in almost two decades, and that the problem is most acute for boys.

The prize will be launched in conjunction with Literary Manager and Film/TV Producer Eddie Gamarra, who will be judging the prize alongside Kieran Larwood, author of the World of Podkin One-Ear series, and with the support of EmpathyLab.

The Action! Prize, now open to agented and unagented writers in the UK, Ireland and US, calls for fast-paced and filmic, action-packed adventure stories, and offers a publishing contract to the three winners. Entries to the prize need to feature a diverse cast of fully rounded characters in any one of these four age bands: 7–9, 9–11, 12–14, 14+. We welcome submissions from all genders.

Entry Criteria:

• Fiction only.
• For readers in one of these four age bands 7–9, 9–11, 12–14, 14+.
• We welcome submissions from all genders.
• Comprising: The first 5,000 words and a full synopsis of the novel in 500 words maximum.
• The winning entries will be fast-paced and filmic, nail-biting, high-octane adventure, action-packed and full of heart, and may feature mortal danger and/or daft humour!
• The prize is open to fiction and graphic novel submissions only, not nonfiction.

Prizes:

FIRST PRIZE – A worldwide publishing contract with Faber with a £12,000 advance (subject to contract)

SECOND PRIZE: A worldwide publishing contract with Faber with a £9,000 advance (subject to contract)

THIRD PRIZE: A worldwide publishing contract with Faber with a £6,000 advance (subject to contract)

Eligibility:

Agented and unagented writers resident in the UK, Ireland and US (who may or may not already be published). Our sole stipulation is that you are resident in the UK, Ireland or US and over 18 at time of submission.

Schedule:

Entries open: 30th October 2024
Closing date for entries: 30th January 2025
Winners announcement: 30th April 2025

How To Apply

Please check the Terms and Conditions below and then submit your entry and any queries to: [email protected].

Terms & Conditions

• In the unlikely event that the judges determine that none of the entries are suitable to take to acquisition for contract, or appropriate for the specified readership, the judges shall nonetheless select the best three entries in accordance with these terms and conditions, and award alternative cash prizes, such prizes to be determined at the sole discretion of Faber. The prizes are not negotiable or transferable. The decision of the judges will be final and no correspondence or discussion will be entered into.
• The competition will run from 00:00 on 30th October 2024 and will close at 23:59 on 30th January 2025. Any entries received outside of this time will not be considered.
• Entrants must be 18 years or over, the work of human endeavour, not AI, and entrants must be resident within the UK, Ireland or US. Faber reserves the right to disqualify any entry that does not meet these criteria.
• This prize is not open to employees or contractors of Faber, their immediate families, nor to any other person connected with the Prize.
• Entries are limited to one entry per person and must be submitted via email only either as a Word document or as a PDF to [email protected].
• By entering this competition entrants agree to abide by and be bound by these terms and conditions. Faber reserves the right to amend these terms and conditions at any time as well as exclude entrants or withhold prizes for any violation of these terms and conditions at Faber’s sole discretion.
• Entrants retain all rights to their entries, except in the case of the winners to whom publishing contracts will be offered. There is no obligation to enter into a publishing agreement with Faber.
• All offers and publishing agreements will be based on Faber’s standard terms.
• By entering into this competition, the entrants confirm that they are entitled to do so and to enter into an agreement with Faber for the worldwide rights in their entry in all languages and all formats and such rights have not been previously assigned or pledged or otherwise encumbered. The entrants further confirm that their entry does not contain anything libellous or otherwise defamatory or obscene and does not infringe any copyright or any other proprietary right of any third party or any right of privacy or duty of confidentiality or any right of publicity or any moral right of any third party and that any and all statements in the Work purporting to be facts are true and that any recipe, formula, instruction or advice contained in the Work is not injurious to a user thereof and that the Work is not in any other way unlawful.
• If the winner chooses to accept the competition prize and signs a publishing contract with Faber, they will retain the copyright to their works and shall licence the sole and exclusive rights in their entries to Faber throughout the world and in all forms and languages.
• The winners will be contacted as soon as practicably possible after the deadline period ends. Faber will make reasonable efforts to contact the winners. If a winner cannot be contacted or is not available or has not claimed their prize within 30 days of the date above, we reserve the right to offer the prize to the next eligible entrant at our sole discretion.
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