Read the rubric as a brief

If a contest publishes weighted criteria, it has told you where the points are. Print it. Score your own entry against it honestly, line by line, and fix the lowest score first — not the section you most enjoy rewriting.

Where a criterion mentions suitability for the prize itself — adaptability to audio, to film, to a game — answer it directly in the entry. Judges cannot award points for something you left them to infer.

What judges reward, nearly everywhere

An opening that starts in motion. Most entries are eliminated on the first page for warming up rather than beginning.

Clean copy. Errors do not merely lose presentation points; they cost you the judge's trust in everything after them.

A clear promise. The judge should be able to say what kind of book this is, and to whom, by the end of the first page.

Following instructions exactly. Word counts, formats, deadlines. Entries are disqualified on mechanics every single year.

Preparing a Drakenscroll Prize entry

The criteria are published on the Prize page before entries open, and every entry is read against them. There is no random element to game and no chance to hope for.

Use the free instruments as your preparation, not just your eligibility: the Reader's Clock and Vellum Bench for runtime and pacing, the First Page and Blurb Anvil for the opening and the promise, the Cast List and Pronunciation Roll for how the book will sound if it wins. That is 23 instruments' worth of homework already done in your entry's favour.

Entries close August 10, 2027; winners are proclaimed September 10, 2027, one in each tier.

Losing well

A rejection in a judged contest is information about fit and execution, not a verdict on your book. Keep the entry, apply the rubric's weakest score to the next draft, and enter the next season.

Asked and answered

Do judges read the whole manuscript?

Rarely at first. Assume the opening pages decide whether anything else is read, and build your entry accordingly.

Does a longer book have an advantage?

Not here. Every paid build is awarded up to 60,000 words, so a tight shorter novel is at no disadvantage whatsoever.

Can I enter a work in progress?

Only if the rules allow it. Read the eligibility terms of any contest before you pay, and never assume.