Do you have an idea for a magical festive love story? Would you like the chance to write a bestselling novel? Well, Penguin Michael Joseph’s Christmas Love Story competition might be for you!

We’re thrilled to be launching an exciting competition to give new writers from the UK and Republic of Ireland the opportunity to have their novel published in the run-up to Christmas 2022.

We’re looking for your most festive, romantic and feel-good ideas for the perfect Christmas love story that readers can curl up with. 

If you can’t resist The Holiday, want to spend Christmas at the Island Hotel, fell in love on One Day In December, or simply just love Christmas, and think you can write a good festive story, then read on...

The winner will receive a publishing contract with Penguin Michael Joseph and we hope to publish your novel in the run up to Christmas 2022 in both paperback and eBook. We will also help connect you with an agent.

We’re looking for unpublished writers of all ages and backgrounds who are currently residents in the UK or Republic of Ireland. If you have a manuscript you are working on, or a Christmas love story idea ready to be put onto paper, we would love to hear from you.

At this first round submission stage, we’re asking for your Christmas Love Story pitch, which should be no longer than 200 words, plus 1,000 words of your manuscript.

Please email your entry to christmaslovestorysubmissions@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk
by midnight on 14 February 2021.

Your pitch can be included in the body of the email, but please attach the manuscript as a separate document (word or pdf). You should also include your full name, preferred email address and contact phone number.

• The submissions inbox is open from 23 December 2020 until midnight on 14 February 2021. All applicants will receive a response as to whether or not they are through to the second round during the week commencing 16 March 2021
• We will then ask all applicants who are through to the second round to submit a longer plot synopsis of no more than 1,000 words (or one side of A4) along with an additional 2,000 words of their manuscript by midnight on Sunday 18 April 2021
• After that we shall select the winner, who will be contacted in May 2021

The entries will be judged by a panel from the Penguin Michael Joseph editorial team, including Fiction Editor Rebecca Hilsdon, and London Evening Standard journalist, Phoebe Luckhurst, author of 2021’s most exciting romantic comedy The Lock In. 

Penguin Michael Joseph specialise in women’s fiction, crime, thriller, cookery, memoir and lifestyle books. Marian Keyes, Jojo Moyes, Liane Moriarty, Lesley Pearse, Dawn French: our novelists are recognised around the world as the finest storytellers anywhere.

We sign up and launch only those debut novelists whose stories we believe the world will fall in love with.

Find out more about Penguin Michael Joseph.

By entering this competition, all entrants agree to be bound by the competition terms and conditions and consent to the use of their personal data by the Promoter for the purposes of running the competition as detailed in those terms. Details on how we process the personal data of entrants can be found in our Privacy Policy.

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