1. General Eligibility. Eligible submissions must be full length completed literary works. Books must be written in English and be available for sale to the public prior to September 10th 2025. They should be entered in the appropriate category.
2. All books, must be the work of only one or two authors. Edited collections and anthologies with multiple authors are not acceptable.
3. Release Dates. To be eligible for the 2025 PenCraft Book Awards, nominated books should have a released (date of first availability) after or on January 1, 2021 and before September 10, 2025.
4. Previous Winners. No entry will be ineligible because its author has previously won a PenCraft Book Award or any other literary award.
5. Nominations. Book nominations may be submitted by publishers, authors, agents or by any interested party but awards and cash prizes are given only to the author/s of the book submitted.
6. Deadlines. Nominated books are accepted starting on September 11th, of 2024. The final deadline to receive books, and entry forms with payment is midnight, September 10, 2025
7. Limits. There is no limit to the number of books an author, publisher, agent or interested party can submit.
8. Eligibility Disputes. In the event of a dispute as to eligibility, the judges will decide whether a book is eligible, and their decision will be binding.
9. One special ($500.00 cash prize) will be awarded to the author of the book our judges consider to be the most unusual and most significant literary work received during the competition year. Entries from all Genres will be considered for this special award.
A $200 Cash Prize will be awarded to the winning author for Best Fiction and another $200 Cash Prize will be awarded to the Best Nonfiction winning author
The First, Second, and Runner-Up Awards will consist of a certificate and 24 gold seals given to the winners of each genre/category.
10. Judges Decisions. Decisions made by the judging panel will be final.
11. Confidentiality. All work of the judging panels is confidential.
Our goal and desire is the promotion of the books submitted to us during our competition and enhancing the popularity of winning authors and the recognition of their work. Winners of our competition will benefit in these ways:
