Administered and awarded by the Romantic Novelists’ Association

The awards are open for entry from 15th July 2024 for RNA members and RNA associate members, and from 15th August for all other entrants. The awards will close no later than 30th October 2024 for all entrants.

PLEASE READ THESE RULES CAREFULLY. THE CONDITIONS AND RULES WILL BE STRICTLY ADHERED TO.

1. The reader-judged Romantic Novel Awards are open to members and non-members of the RNA and are given for the nine categories (see rule 17 below) which will be judged by our panel of readers. The winners of each category will be announced at an awards event in May 2025. Entries may be submitted by a publisher, agent, editor or author.

Admission fees are as follows:

Member/Publisher/Agent fee – £25 (Publishers and agents still pay £25 even if their entrants are non-members).

Non-member fee, entering independently – £80.

Non-members are welcome to enter the awards, but if entering directly rather than via a publisher or agent, they are required to pay the full non-member fee of £80.

NOTE: Full members and Associate members of the Romantic Novelists’ Association will receive a four week exclusive window of time from the 17th of July 2024 to make their entries, before the awards are opened to all entrants on the 17th of August 2024.

2. Entries must have been written by the author named on the entry. Where a book is ghost-written or co-written, all authors with significant input into the writing of the work must be listed as entrants. Any work that is found by the RNA to have been significantly written/generated/produced by any AI model will be instantly disqualified and no refund will be given.
3. All entries must have been first published in the English language.
4. All entries must be available for purchase within the U.K.
5. Entries are eligible only if first publication in English in any market takes place within the qualifying period, which is the twelve month period between 1st January 2024 and 31st December 2024 inclusive. Entrants will be required to provide the date of the first published edition. (For serials, the final extract must be published within the qualifying period). Entrants will be required to provide the date of the first published edition (or final extract). Republications of earlier editions (even if alterations have been made to the text or cover, or the work has been republished by new publishers) are not eligible. If an entry is found to have been published outside the qualifying period of January 1st 2024 to December 31st 2024, it will be disqualified and no refunds will be given. 
6. Entries may be submitted as PDF/EPUB files only (no paper copies) provided that first publication falls within the qualifying period (See rule 5 above). Serials may be submitted in electronic (digital) format. Any electronic entries that are not submitted in PDF/EPUB format will be disqualified and no refunds will be given. This rule is in place because many of our readers find other formats difficult to access. The text of the entry must not be watermarked.
7. No entry for the awards may be submitted more than once (e.g. after previous entry in a different format or under a different imprint or publisher (including self-publishers) or with a different title or a different author name). See also rule 12 below.
8. Entries are only eligible if the author is a citizen or resident of the U.K or Ireland, is a citizen of any other Commonwealth nation, or is a citizen of the United States of America. If first publication is global eg. through Amazon or other international platforms, entrants must also satisfy these conditions. Entrants may be asked to prove citizenship and/or domicile. Authors living outside the UK must be contactable by email. If an entry is found not to meet any of the above criteria, it will be disqualified and no refund will be given.
9. Publishers should inform authors that their book has been entered for an award. Equally, authors or agents should advise the publisher if they make an individual entry to avoid duplication. No refunds are possible if a book is entered twice.
10. Any non-member who enters the Awards claiming to be a member will be instantly disqualified and no refund given.
11. On all questions of eligibility of entries the organisers’ decision shall be final. No refunds will be given to any author or publisher who is disqualified for any reason from the Awards.
12. Authors may submit a maximum of two entries and publishers a maximum of twenty entries per imprint (no more than 2 per author). If any author enters more than two entries the additional entries will be disqualified and no refund will be given. The total number of entries over the nine award categories is capped at 500.

13.1. Each title may only be submitted to one of the Romantic Novel Award categories and must meet the criteria for that category as described below under rule 17. The reader-judges are not informed about which category an entry has been made in, and are asked to judge all entries by the same rubric. 

13.2. Once the entry is made, it may only move categories at the author or publisher’s request. If the author or publisher requests a category change, any scores gained by the entry to that point will be deleted and it will be treated as a new entry. 

14. Entries should be made on the online entry system as early as possible before midnight on 30th October 2024. If the PDF/EPUB of the completed manuscript or book cover are not available when making an entry, they may be uploaded later (by the 31st of December 2024) provided an entry has been made before the 30th September cut off date.

PLEASE NOTE: There is an entry cap of 500 entries for these awards. If this cap is reached prior to 30th October 2024, entries for the awards will be closed and no further entries will be accepted.

15. Each entry will go to a team of three readers, and a shortlist of potential winners for each category will be identified from the results of this assessment. The shortlists for each category will be announced early in 2025. The winner of each category will be announced at the Romantic Novel Awards event to be held in May 2025.
16. Shortlisted authors are requested to be available for publicity purposes and to attend the awards event if possible. Please note that the RNA does not undertake to pay for entrants, publishers, agents or individual authors to attend the awards event. It is the responsibility of the shortlisted authors and their agents/publishers to make sure they book tickets for the awards event in plenty of time. The RNA can not offer a livestream of the awards event.  
17. Publishers or authors of shortlisted titles will be expected to supply details of a publicity contact (if available) for each author, together with an author photograph, large digital image of the book cover, press release and any other relevant information. Two print copies of each shortlisted book must also be provided for PR purposes and the RNA archives. Publishers or authors should also be prepared to provide a reasonable number of additional copies of each shortlisted title for PR purposes if required.
18. Each book submitted must meet the relevant description for the category in which the book is entered:

PLEASE NOTE: Romantic fiction is a broad genre and the aim of these awards is to recognise excellence across all aspects of that genre and to encourage and promote diversity in romance. In order to be eligible for the awards, entries should have an exploration of romantic love as an overarching theme of the story. Eligible books can therefore range from a romance novel that focuses primarily on the developing relationship between two or more protagonists to novels that tackle a number of different themes but have a love story as one of their prime elements. We welcome entries from writers of all ethnicities, sexual orientations, gender identities, religions, disability statuses and income backgrounds. If you have any queries about whether a book you would like to enter is eligible for the awards, please contact the Awards Organiser at sharonibbotson@romanticwriters.co.uk.

The nine categories for the Romantic Novel Awards to be presented in May 2025 for books published in 2024 will be:

The Fantasy Romantic Novel Award: For romantic novels with elements where the reader needs to suspend disbelief, including magical realism, fantasy, science fiction, the paranormal, timeslip (in which a character moves between time periods) time travel novels and books with ‘ghostly’ elements.

The Romantic Thriller Award: For stories featuring a substantial thriller, suspense, mystery or crime story, alongside or fully entwined with a romantic story. The romantic element should still be very strong throughout but the main storyline may be less of a traditional love story. Novels set in any time period can be entered for this category.

The Debut Romantic Novel Award (as sponsored by Pro-Writing Aid): For the best romantic novel by a first-time author. Entries may represent any aspect of the romantic genre. This is an excellent category for new writers or unestablished to shine amongst their peers.

The Festive Holiday Romantic Novel Award: For the best romantic novel set in the winter festive season featuring Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yule/New Year etc.

The Shorter Romantic Novel Award: For shorter romantic novels, serials or novellas. These may range from magazine serials, short stories of no less than 30,000 words to shorter novels of no more than 70,000 words approximately. Entries may represent any aspect of the romantic genre and can be set in any time period.

The Romantic Saga Award: For novels predominantly set in the past (pre 1970), usually featuring characters overcoming social pressures or hardships alongside or fully entwined with a romantic story thread. These may be part of a series but must be able to stand alone for readers who won’t have read the ones that went before.

The Romantic Comedy Award: For romantic novels which are consistently funny. Can be set in any time period.

The Historical Romantic Novel Award: For stories set in the past showing historic worlds, where romance forms a substantive and crucial part of the story. Romantic novels predominantly set pre-1980.

The Contemporary Romantic Novel Award: For stories about the here and now, where romance forms a substantive part of the story; any novel set predominantly in the last 50 years. Please also consider the following categories to see if the book you are entering might fit into another more suitable one.

The winners and shortlists will be selected by our panel of volunteer readers.

Stories which feature sexual abuse, rape, or child abuse depicted in a romanticised fashion, or for the purposes of titillation, are not eligible for these awards. Any entries which are deemed to breach the ethics of the RNA will be disqualified and no refund will be given.