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WANL’s 2021 Romance Writing Contest 

Only Love Can Break Your Heart

We were so excited about this year’s virtual Valentine’s Day Readings + Winner Announcements, held on Friday, February 12! 💖 📆 💖
There was a flurry of activity in WANL email inboxes on Wednesday, February 3, as our window of opportunity for submissions came to a close at 5 p.m. 💌 📩 💌
We had so many phenomenal submissions this year – our judges Debbie Robbins, Candace Osmond, and Kate Sparkes certainly had their work cut out for them, in whittling down the submissions list to a top five entries!
Our top five readings premiered on Facebook at 7 p.m. on Friday, February 12 – did you tune in for a swoonin’? 😍 🥰 😍

Congrats to our 2021 winners:
1) Kaya Dooley – $300
2) Stacey Oakley -$200
3) AJ Ryan – $100

Honourable Mentions:
4) Sarah Thompson – $50
5) Kelly Anthony – $50

2021 Call for Submissions

(February 15, 2021) – This year, the Writers’ Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador is presenting a virtual, socially distanced event to celebrate all the best parts of getting close to one another… really close.

Our 2021 romance writing contest is open to all WANL Members – established, published authors and emerging writers and poets of all genres.
We wanna know what love is… and we want you to show us!

Make us swoon, sigh, and maybe even blush by floating us down a tunnel of love or strapping us into the love rollercoaster!

How to enter the 2021 Valentine’s Day Writing Contest:

1) Write an original romantic scene
(excerpts from previously written or published works are OK too!)

2) Record yourself reading your original piece.
Please introduce yourself and the title of your piece.

3) Submit your recording to WANL staff.
Staff will forward your submissions to a panel of qualified judges.

Please note: Contestants are responsible for recording and submitting their own readings. Readings should be approximately 7-10 minutes each, with a minimum of 7 minutes. Videos should be recorded in a well-lit and quiet environment, at the highest resolution possible, in landscape mode (horizontally).  Please submit your video in mp4 format.

Send your steamy or sweet submissions to info@wanl.ca using the subject line “WANL Valentines Day Submission.”

Deadline for submissions is Wednesday, February 3 at 5 p.m.

WANL is ecstatic to announce this year’s prizes,
made possible by ArtsNL’s “Art in the Time of Covid” Fund:

🥇 1st place: $300 🥇
🥈 2nd place: $200 🥈
🥉 3rd place: $100 🥉
Honourable mentions for 4th and 5th place: $50 each 

This year’s contest judges are:
• Debbie Robbins:
Internationally bestselling author of the award-winning Highland Chiefs series

• Candace Osmond:
Award-winning screenwriter and #1 International & USA TODAY Bestselling Author of the Kingdom of Sand & Stars Series, Dark Tides Series, and A Touch of Darkness Series

• Kate Sparkes
USA Today bestselling author of Bound Trilogy and Into Elurien

We are SO EXCITED to announce that on top of all the AMAZING prizes listed above, WANL will also be offering a FREE Manuscript Excerpt Evaluation to our lucky first place winner!

About our Manuscript Excerpt Evaluation Program:
Publishers and agents typically give writers’ work about ten pages or so to make an impact. If you haven’t got them hooked by then, it’s a pretty safe bet that you won’t be asked for more material! Oh no!
To help writers grab publishers’ and agents’ attention, this limited-time-only program will provide evaluations on a 1-2-page synopsis and 10 pages of your work. Evaluators will identify specific areas that would benefit from certain changes and revisions and what those changes should entail.Please note: Evaluators will also be PAID for their work!
Learn more about what’s involved and how to apply HERE.

Show us how you love, WANL Members!