Aimed at creators of self-published comics and graphic novels/memoirs, art books, and five other genre categories, the North Street Book Prize offers cash awards to artists. Now in its eighth year, The North Street Book Prize values entries which portray lives underrepresented in traditional media; diverse characters and themes are especially welcome.
The Grand Prize is $8,000 and the First Prize in each entry category is $1,000. Grand Prize and First Prize winners also receive a marketing consultation with a book publicity expert, as well as other benefits. One honorable mention in each category will receive $250 each. The 2022 deadline is June 30th, and the entry fee is $70. It can be submitted online or by mail. All winning entries receive publication of an excerpt from their book on winningwriters.com alongside a critique from our judges.
Recent winners include Ingrid Pierre, for her graphic memoir Do Not Resuscitate, and Dmitri Jackson, for his slice-of-life comic Blackwax Boulevard. I reviewed the latter comic on High-Low here.
All entrants will receive free gifts from our co-sponsors geared towards the development of their self-publishing careers. This will include free access to paid subscription services such as Book Award Pro, a company that analyzes your book and finds the contests most suited to it, and Self-Publishing Mastermind, a workgroup for authors that covers every aspect of the self-publishing and book marketing process. The price of entry also includes free downloads of PDFs about self-publishing and marketing from experts like Book Launchers, C.S. Lakin, BookBaby, and Carolyn Howard-Johnson. Every entrant comes away with materials to help them develop their craft and career, not just the winners.
The North Street Book Prize is sponsored by the website Winning Writers in partnership with the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), a designation for "contests which are organized for the benefit of the author rather than the profit of the organizer." Winning Writers has been running writing contests for over 20 years. We are one of Writer's Digest's Top 8 Online Resources for Publishing and Marketing. We seek to be a welcoming place for diverse authors and stories, with a culture of listening to people of all genders, backgrounds, and abilities. We look for high-quality original writing that portrays under-represented perspectives with sensitivity, accuracy, and passion.
Please note that this post is sponsored by Winning Writers.