Award Guidelines

 

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES FOR THE
25TH ANNUAL LAMBDA LITERARY AWARDS

NOTE: The submission period for the 25th Annual Lambda Literary Awards is now closed. If you have any questions or wish to request an extension, email Kathleen DeBold at kdebold@lambdaliterary.org.

These guidelines focus on determining a book’s eligibility for the Lambda Literary Awards, the process of submitting a book for consideration by the judges, the parameters of the categories, and an approximate timeline for the awards cycle.

TIMELINE

• Submission period for books begins September 4, 2012 and ends December 1, 2012.

• Books shipped to LLF must be postmarked by December 1, 2012. (Authors/publishers of books released in December can email Kathleen DeBold at kdebold@lambdaliterary.org to request an extension.)

• A shortlist of up to five finalists for each category will be announced no later than March 15, 2013.

• Winners will be announced at the 25th Annual Lambda Literary Awards Ceremony to be held in New York City in 2013. Date, time and location to be announced by January 31, 2013.

ELIGIBILITY

• In determining whether a book should be submitted for consideration, it should be noted that the Lambda Literary Awards are based principally on literary merit and on significant content relevant to Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender (LGBT) lives.

• Lambda Literary Awards are open to all authors regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity except for three awards marking the stages of an individual lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender writer’s career: The Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award, the Jim Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize, and the Pioneer Award.

• The book must be published and distributed (i.e. available in bookstores or online) in the United States during 2012.

• Self-published books are eligible.

• Reprints of previously published paperback or hardcover books are not eligible. Second (or later) editions of a book are not eligible for consideration. A book that has been republished by a different publisher after its initial publication is not eligible.

• The book must be published in English. Translations from other languages into English are accepted, as long as the U.S. publication occurs during 2012.

• Books available in eBook format alone are not eligible.

SUBMISSION PROCESS

• Books submitted for consideration will be accepted between September 4, 2012 and December 1, 2012.

• Fill out our online submission form for each book you are submitting for consideration.

• If you have questions about which category a book should be submitted in, please e-mail the Awards Administrator, Kathleen DeBold.

• For multiple submissions, you can choose to download our Submission spreadsheet (Excel). Email the completed spreadsheet to admin@lambdaliterary.org.

• After you have submitted your books, complete the process by paying the submission fee of $40 per book ($35 per book for publishers submitting 11 or more books) via our online donation system or by check. Checks should be made out to “Lambda Literary Foundation,” and include the book’s title in the MEMO field.

• Send 5 copies of each submitted book to LLF no later than December 1st, 2012. (Authors/publishers of books released in December can email Kathleen DeBold at kdebold@lambdaliterary.org to request an extension.) Our address is:

Lambda Literary Foundation
5482 Wilshire Blvd #1595
Los Angeles, CA 90036

• For books being published in late 2012 (especially December), bound galleys or bound manuscripts are accepted in lieu of finished copies of the book. Please note: electronic versions of books (PDFs) are not accepted.

• Please note: All correspondence about the submitted book will be addressed to the contact person listed on the submission form.

2012 AWARDS CATEGORIES

• Each year, we survey Lambda Literary Award participants for suggestions on how to improve our awards ceremony, and we are told consistently the evening program is too long. We do not wish to eliminate vibrant categories, and even wish to expand the number of categories awarded in future years, but need to do so in a different manner. Beginning this year, we will have a separate advance-recognition process for a diverse group of award categories. These categories are indicated with an asterisk (*). Winners & finalists of these categories will be announced prior to the awards ceremony and will be acknowledged in the awards program and by a presentation slide during the ceremony. Winners of these categories will receive by mail a Lambda Literary Award.

• Lambda Literary Awards are presented in up to 23 categories (see below).

• A book can be submitted in only one category.

• If a category receives fewer than ten (10) submissions, the category will not be active in this awards cycle. The submitted books will be reassigned to another category if appropriate, and the administrative fee will be refunded if the book cannot compete in another category.

• The awards committee reserves the right to split a category along sexual orientation or gender if the number of submissions received in a category warrant such a distinction.

• If the Bisexual category receives ten (10) submissions of fiction and ten (10) submissions nonfiction, the category will be separated into Bisexual Fiction and Bisexual Nonfiction.

• If the Transgender category receives ten (10) submissions of fiction and ten (10) submissions of nonfiction, the category will be separated into Trans Fiction and Trans Nonfiction.

LESBIAN and GAY CATEGORIES (12)

LESBIAN: Books eligible for this category are those that feature a lesbian main character.
GAY: Books eligible for this category are those that feature a gay main character.

Gay Erotica*
Lesbian Erotica*

Anthologies, novels, novellas, graphic novels, memoirs, and short story collections whose content is principally of an erotic nature.

Gay General Fiction
Lesbian General Fiction

Novels, novellas, and short story collections. May include historical novels, graphic novels, cross-genre works of fiction, humor, and other styles of fiction. Anthologies are not eligible.

Gay Memoir/Biography
Lesbian Memoir/Biography

Posthumously published authors or those with co-authors are also eligible. Anthologies are not eligible.

Gay Mystery
Lesbian Mystery

Novels, novellas, and short story collections that adhere to the criteria of a “mystery,” as defined by the Mystery Writers of America: “A mystery is considered to be any novel in which a crime, or a series of crimes, are an integral part of the story.” Anthologies are not eligible.

Gay Poetry
Lesbian Poetry

Single volumes, selected and collected poems, and anthologies are eligible. Chapbooks are not eligible.

Gay Romance
Lesbian Romance

Novels, novellas, and short story collections that adhere to the criteria of a “romance.” As defined by the Romance Writers of America: “A romance is defined as a work of fiction with two critical elements: a central love relationship and a positive ending stating or implying a commitment between the two characters.” Anthologies are not eligible.

LGBT CATEGORIES (7)

These categories are non-gender specific.

LGBT Anthology*

Collections of fiction and/or nonfiction are eligible.

LGBT Children’s/Young Adult

Fiction, nonfiction, picture books, poetry, and anthologies—whose intended audience is young
readers—are all eligible.

LGBT Debut Fiction

Novels, novellas, or short story collections by authors who have not previously published a book of fiction. Anthologies are not eligible. Authors who have appeared in anthologies are eligible, as long as they have not published a volume identified as theirs alone.

LGBT Drama*

Plays that have been published in book/script form during 2012. Collections of plays and anthologies of plays are eligible.

LGBT Nonfiction

Books and subjects for the general reader, e.g. histories, politics, community organizations, humor, parenting, religion, spirituality, relationships, psychology, travel, etc.

LGBT Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror

Novels, novellas, short story collections, and anthologies are eligible.

LGBT Studies*

Scholarly work oriented toward academia, libraries, cultural professionals, and the more academic reader.

BISEXUAL and TRANSGENDER CATAGORIES (4)

Bisexual Fiction
Transgender Fiction

Novels, novellas, poetry, short story collections and anthologies. May include historical novels, graphic novels, cross-genre works of fiction, humor, and other styles of fiction.

Bisexual Nonfiction
Transgender Nonfiction

Books and subjects for the general reader, e.g. history, memoirs, anthologies, cultural studies, public policy, law, politics, poetry, community organizations, humor, spirituality, gender studies, parenting, religion, spirituality, relationships, psychology, travel, etc.

LGBT AUTHOR AWARDS

Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award

The Emerging Writer Award will be presented annually at the Lambda Literary Award ceremony. The award, made possible by Teresa DeCrescenzo, consists of two cash prizes of $1000. The awards will be presented to two LGBT-identified authors. Age is not a determining factor. The award will recognize LGBT content of importance to the LGBT community and with emergent LGBT authors who have written and published up to 2 books (fiction or nonfiction), or 1 book and substantial additional literary work such as short stories and essays.  A panel will be created to identify candidates & winners. Recommended winners will be reviewed by the Staff and Board of Trustees of the Lambda Literary Foundation

Jim Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize

The Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists’ Prize will be presented annually at the Lambda Literary Awards ceremony. The award, made possible by James Duggins, PhD, consists of two cash prizes of $5000. The awards will be presented to two LGBT-identified authors. Age is not a determining factor. The award will recognize LGBT content of importance to the LGBT community and with emergent LGBT authors who have written and published at least three novels, or two novels and substantial additional literary work such as poetry, short stories, and essays. A panel (or panels) will be created to identify candidates & winners. Recommended winners will be reviewed by the Staff and Board of Trustees of the Lambda Literary Foundation.

Pioneer Award

At least one Pioneer Award will be given each year to a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individual. Age is not a determining factor. The award will recognize LGBT authors who have made a significant contribution to LGBT literature and/or the lives of LGBT people. The LLF board of Trustees will determine the recipient.