First 500 Novel Competition
We’re thrilled to announce the return of our First 500 competition
Find out how you can submit your first 500 words and be in with a chance to win an incredible prize and take part in our live final.
How it works
Unlike other novel competitions, as an entrant, you are also part of the judging process! All entries are read by our panel of Jericho Writers’ judges before being shortlisted for our online live finale.
Eight finalists will read their work live and online to a panel of agents and an online audience who will vote for their favourite entry live.
Premium Members are eligible to a free entry. Not a member? Keep reading to find out how you can enter the competition.
The Prize
Our eight finalists will read their work live in our online finale event at 19:00 GMT on December 12 to a panel of agents. The overall winner, chosen via audience poll during the event, will receive:
- A Manuscript Assessment from Jericho Writers (worth up to £1700)
- A lifetime Premium Membership (worth £150 per year)
- A 15-minute one-to-one with a literary agent (worth up to £70)
- Eternal glory (priceless!)
The Rules
Everything you need to know about how to enter without breaking any rules
- Entry is open to all Premium Members of Jericho Writers or those who have purchased an entry. If your Premium Membership expires during the competition period you must either renew your membership or purchase an entry to remain eligible.
- The deadline for entry is 10:00 GMT on Monday 2 December, 2024. Late entries will not be considered.
- You may only enter the competition once.
- To give a chance to new writers, finalists from last year are not eligible. Please take this into consideration before entering.
- You must be available to record a video of yourself reading your entry and attend the live online event on 12 December, 2024.
All entries must:
- Be your own unpublished work.
- Be in a word document or PDF.
- Contain the first 500 words of your manuscript in any genre (to the nearest sentence end).
- Not contain your name, as judging is done blindly.
- We encourage everyone to enter the First 500 Novel Competition, no matter your background or where you are in the world. However, if you have already have an agent or are traditionally published at the time of entry, we ask that you leave this opportunity for those who could most benefit from it. This also includes any writer who has a contract with a traditional publisher but their book has yet to be published.
- If you have been previously self-published you are eligible. If you have previously been represented by an agent but are no longer represented, you are eligible for entry.
The Judging Process
Find out how we shortlist entries and how the winner is decided.
All entries will be read by two reader judges on the Jericho Writers’ Team. The entries are each given a score out of 10. This takes into account, the quality of the writing, the initial shaping of your plot, and how much your opening captivates the reader.
The longlist will be made from the entries with the highest overall mark across both readers.
Finalists will be contacted on 9 December, 2024.
Finalists will be required to make a video of themselves reading their entry on camera. Please consider whether you are comfortable with this before entering – but do not be put off by your recording abilities as we will help those of you less technical!
All finalists will attend the live online event on 12 December, 2024 at 7pm GMT and have their video recordings played to a live audience. Each finalist will receive feedback from our panel of agents. The audience will vote for the favourite entries via a live poll. This live poll will decide our winner.
If you have any further access needs or requirements, please do get in touch with our events team who will be happy to help.
Entry Tickets & Membership
PREMIUM ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP (Pay Monthly)
Premium Annual Membership
We’ve helped hundreds of writers launch their careers through our competitions
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Last Year’s First 500
We received over 1,500 entries for our 2023 competition. We were impressed and very proud of our entrants for the outstanding quality of their work. Keep reading below to find out where our entrants placed. You can also watch a replay of the live finale to see how it all works.
2023 Live Final
Come and watch last year’s finalists wow us with their first 500 words and find out the style of feedback our agents give.
It’s well worth the watch if you want the inside scoop on the type of writing that excites us and makes us vote ‘yes!’
Winner of the First 500 Novel Competition 2023
If I Close My Eyes by Monique Olowu
The 2023 Finalists
Miss Markle and the Ming Beques by Graeme Coulam
The Return by Hannah Drennan
The Thief Of Faces by Todd Feely
And Then There Were Three
by Maya James
The Taigh by Claire Jenkins
The Botanist’s Daughter by Karen Mulligan
If I Close My Eyes by Monique Olowu
Proof Of Guilt by Inge Van de Plas
The 2023 Shortlist
Esther Valentine by Karin Bennett
Lily by Annie Cooper
Evening Table by Alexandria Faulkenbury
Dark Waters by Julie Holden
Silverine by Rozzie Joyce
A Wynter’s Tale by Lisa Kemp
Without Which by Jonathan Livingstone-Banks
Sensing Darkness by Cathy McGarvie
Keep Me Safe by Allison Meldrum
The Brighton Vanishing by Robin Newbold
The Library Keepers by Jeffrey Nicholas
Lost In Thought by Ceri Ohana
Apprentice Detective by Grahame Pitts
Ingression by Johnathan Reid
We Were Gods by Greg Sachrajda
Dewey Decimal Is My Friend by Kirsti Sinclair
The 2023 Longlist
The Last Bridge To Memphis by Jim Condelles
Flicking Cigarettes At The Sun by Arthur Collin
The Extraordinary Incident by Erica Smith
Life After Henry by Carole Pollard
Girl Fractured by Nat Bawarchi
Life Knocks by Craig Stone
The Battle for the Blue Marble by Ian Jones
Unfinished Business by Roe Lane
The Cursed Portrait by Hayley King
A Temporary Madness by Sharon Penna
The Outcast Of The Nine Worlds by Jake Colman
Making A Scene by Elizabeth Keane
Headless Angels by Stephen Gardner
20 Minutes Til Hometime by Sue Saunders
Two Boys and a Dog – A Year in Kosovo by Judith Hampson
Dark Garden by Martin Montague
The Everyworlds by Noel Smaragdakis
Winter’s Children by Eleanor Capper
Riddlemoser by Elizabeth Hendrickson
Dread by Alison Armitage
Sad Birds Still Sing by Sue Cooper
Crossroads by Carol Light
White Death by Glenda Cooper
Psychopomp by Mateo Oxley
The Great Sheep Swap by Natalie Rutherford
This Is The Way To The Skies by Helen Newdick
Samskara by Ruth Stalker
Misinterpretation by Nicoletta Weselka
Lammie and Ramy by Ansa Hussain
Tell Me Your Story by Marie Ashurst
The Couple at the Party by Rachael Carter
Death an Unexpected Life by Helen Humphrey
The Mother Law by Monica Cardenas
Vestiges by Christine Whittemore
The Leaving by Catherine Clark
Learning To Sing by Stephanie Buick
Novus by Marie Davies
The Motel by Kate Rhein
Frequently asked
questions
When are the key dates for the First 500 Novel Competition?
- The competition opens for entries on Thursday 8 August, 2024.
- The competition closes at 10:00 GMT Monday 2 December, 2024
- The finalists will be contacted on Monday 9 December, 2024.
- The live finale will be held at 19:00 GMT Thursday 12 December, 2024.
Can I enter the First 500 Novel Competition if I was shortlisted/a finalist for Friday Night Live?
Yes – You can enter the First 500 Novel Competition even if you entered or placed in the Friday Night Live competition at the London Festival of Writing.
Can I enter the First 500 Novel Competition if I was shortlisted/a finalist for last year’s First 500?
You can enter First 500 if you have previously entered or been shortlisted before, however, if you were a finalist last year you will not be eligible to enter this year to allow the opportunity to other writers.
Will agents be in attendance?
Yes. Two agents will join the panel. Although they don’t choose the winner (that’s up to the audience) they will give feedback on each entry! It’s a great chance to get your work heard by industry experts and hear their feedback.
I am terrified of speaking on camera, help!
We’ll invite you to a practice session before the live event so you can get familiar with the tech. However, if this still sounds scary, you can submit a pre-recorded video or a member of the Jericho Writers’ team can read your work on your behalf.
I want to enter but can’t afford the entry fee. What can I do?
We try to make everything we do as accessible as possible but totally understand that for some people, paying to enter a competition isn’t financially viable. If this is the case for you, please get in touch at info@jerichowriters.com and we will try our best to make things work.
How do I make my entry stand out?
Take a look at our opening pages resource pack which will provide guidance on writing a winning opening page. This is available for free in the Jericho Writers Vault (you need to create a free account in order to access).
Also, watch the replay of last years final (on this page), for an idea of what has wowed us previously!
What format should my entry be?
500 words in an easy to read font such as Times New Roman, ideally double spaced. You can submit either a word document or a PDF.
Does it have to be from the opening of my novel?
Yes, it should be your opening 500 words. If you have a prologue, it should be the first 500 words of that prologue. When it comes to prologues, we always advise that if it’s not strong enough to enter into a competition and you’d rather enter Chapter One, you should consider whether you need the prologue at all.
Can I enter with a memoir / non fiction/ etc etc?
Yes, we will accept entries from all genres including memoir, non-fiction and children’s.
My Premium Membership ends before the competition closes – can I still enter / be shortlisted etc?
No. You must be an active Premium Member at the time of the live final on 12 December, or have purchased a £10 entry. If your membership expires before the final and you have not purchased a £10 entry, you will no longer be eligible, even if you’ve been shortlisted.
What are the benefits to joining as a member instead of paying for entry?
Joining as a member not only gains you access to this and other competitions, but you will also gain instant access to 280+ hours of masterclasses, our AgentMatch database, video courses for writers, opportunities for feedback from the Jericho Writers team and our monthly live online writing events.
How does the judging process work?
The Jericho Writers team will judge all entries anonymously, reading the 500 words only with no identifiers. We’ll be judging based on the following criteria:
- Does this opening grab me?
- Does this opening make me want to read on?
- Is this opening well written?
- Does this opening set the scene and introduce us to the protagonist, without info-dumping?
The shortlist will be decided according to who has the highest score, but didn’t quite make the cut to be a finalist.
Who is eligible to enter First 500?
We encourage everyone to enter the First 500 Novel Competition, no matter your background or where you are in the world.
However, if you already have an agent or are traditionally published at the time of entry, we ask that you leave this opportunity for those who could most benefit from it.
This also includes any writer who has a contract with a traditional publisher but their book has yet to be published. If you have been previously self-published you are eligible. If you have previously been represented by an agent but are no longer represented, you are eligible for entry. Please check the rules section for the full details.
