January and February are the "Now What?" months here at NaNoWriMo, the chance to dive back into your novel with the goal of revising, editing, and eventually publishing it. As an added bonus for our young writers (18 and under), we hereby present... the "Now What?" Young Writers Contest!

Submit your excerpt starting February 1!

How to Participate

1. Choose an excerpt (a piece) of your novel up to 400 words long. You can use the "Choosing an Exceptional Excerpt" activity from our novelist workbooks to help. Be sure to pick something where your conflict, characters, and writing style shine.

2. Revise and edit the excerpt so it demonstrates your best work. Check out the resources on our "Now What?" page for support.

3. Submit your excerpt by 11:59 PM PT on February 28. You can only submit one excerpt, and you can’t change anything after you submit it, so be sure it represents your best work. (Note: the submission form won't open until Tuesday, February 1, so don't try to submit until then! Use this time to revise and edit your piece instead.)

The Prizes

We will award one Grand Prize to a writer aged 14 to 18, and one Grand Prize to a writer aged 13 or younger. We'll also award at least three Runners-Up. All of these will be chosen from our Official Finalists and chosen by our special guest judge. We'll probably also shout-out some Honorable Mentions as well. There are so many great stories to love!

The Grand Prizes 

• Your excerpt published on the NaNoWriMo blog and on the Young Writers Program website, plus a shout out on our social media 

• A $20 gift certificate for the NaNoWriMo store

The Runner-Up Prizes

• A link to your excerpt on the NaNoWriMo blog, plus a shout out on our social media

• A $10 gift certificate for the NaNoWriMo store
  
  

Special Guest Judge

Tashie Bhuiyan is the author of Counting Down with You, and a New Yorker through and through. She recently graduated with a bachelor's degree in Public Relations, and hopes to change the world, one book at a time. She loves writing stories about girls with wild hearts, boys who wear rings, and gaining agency through growth. When she's not doing that, she can be found in a Chipotle or bookstore, insisting 2010 is the best year in cinematic history. (Read: Tangled and Inception.) Her newest book, A Show for Two, releases May 2022 and is available for pre-order.

A Word of Support

Most writers submit their work dozens of times before it gets accepted. Steven King's first novel was rejected thirty times by publishers. A Wrinkle in Time was rejected twenty-six times. The point is, whether or not your excerpt ends up getting selected, by revising it and sending it in, you're taking the first steps of an exciting journey. Just keep moving forward and we know you'll do great things!

Submit your excerpt starting February 1!

Any questions? Email ywp@nanowrimo.org.

Happy writing!

More Publishing Opportunities

Write a guest post for the NaNoWriMo blog — Got advice for other writers, young or old? Sign up for the chance to write a participant post on the NaNoWriMo blog. Fill out the interest form here, or read other YWP participant posts for inspiration. 

Self-publish your novel — Are you ready to publish your whole novel, not just an excerpt? Use Blurb's tools to print copies of your novel!