ASA/CA Award Mentorships

Please read the following terms and conditions carefully before submitting your work to the 2024 Award Mentorship Program for Writers and Illustrators, as submissions that fail to meet our requirements will not be accepted.

1. Entrants must be aged 18 or over when applying.

2. Entrants must be Australian citizens or permanent residents.

3. Entry is free for current financial members of the ASA. Non-members may enter but must pay an administration fee of $65 (inc GST) per entry.

4. In entering the competition entrants warrant that:

• The entry is their original work, which has not been published or made publicly available in any form anywhere throughout the world.
• The entry does not infringe any intellectual property rights, including copyright of any third party or any other rights of any person.
• To the best of the entrant’s knowledge, the entry contains no defamatory matter, or any matter that invades any individual’s rights of privacy.
• All statements in the work purporting to be facts are true.

5. Entries must be received by 5pm AEDT on the closing date (2 February 2024) of the competition. Late entries will not be accepted.

6. Entries must be written in English.

7. The program consists of:

• 12 Copyright Agency Cultural Fund mentorships consisting of 20 hours of mentoring over one year.
• A Paths to Publishing Program to help mentees to understand the business side of the publishing industry.
• A one-year free membership to the ASA
• A free ticket to present their work at a Literary Speed Dating event

Plus two highly commended awards consisting of 3 hours mentoring with an ASA mentor based on the first ten pages of your manuscript or portfolio and participation in the Paths to Publishing Program.

8. Entries will be accepted in the following genres for writers: fiction (both literary and genre), narrative non-fiction (including autobiography/memoir, essays and histories), journalism, poetry, illustrated and lifestyle non-fiction, young adult literature and children’s writing for all ages. Illustrator entries will be accepted for children’s picture books and graphic novels. The ASA’s assessors reserve the right to transfer a work into another genre if they deem it to be more suited to another genre.

9. Each entry must be submitted through a separate entry form and will attract a separate fee for non-members of the ASA. Only one manuscript or illustration project can be included per entry.

10. Entrants must have a complete draft manuscript available when entering the mentorship program that is not (a) the subject of current discussions or negotiations with a publisher; or (b) under contract to a publisher or agent. If a publisher or agent makes an offer on a submission prior to the date of the announcement of the mentorship winners, you must send the ASA an immediate withdrawal notice from this award.

11. The word length for submitted manuscripts in the genres of Fiction, Narrative Non-Fiction and Young Adult literature must be between 55,000 and 120,000 words. No manuscripts (in any genre) can exceed 120,000 words as they will exceed the scope of the mentorship.

12. Entrants must not have previously been awarded a Copyright Agency funded mentorship via the ASA in the last five years.

13. Entrants may submit no more than one application per genre. Entrants may submit entries in as many genres as they choose.

14. The assessors will determine the successful entrants who will be offered a mentorship. The assessors’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into either during or after the assessment process.

15. Entries will be assessed according to literary and artistic merit and developmental potential, originality of the idea and its execution.

16. Refunds will not be issued for entries that do not meet the terms and conditions and are deemed ineligible.

17. ASA board members and staff are not eligible to apply.

18. Successful entrants may only select their three preferred mentors from the ASA mentors register and must place their choices in order of preference. The ASA will do its best to match successful entrants with their selected mentors, in order of preference, but cannot guarantee your choice.

19. Successful entrants will have an opportunity to provide their mentor with an updated version of their manuscript at the start of their mentorship. If an updated manuscript is not supplied within 4 weeks of notification, the mentors will work on the manuscript provided in the mentee’s original application.

20. Receipt of entries will be acknowledged by email confirmation after submission. The ASA takes no responsibility for entries that have not been submitted correctly.

21. The ASA reserves the right not to offer all the mentorships and highly commended consultations if, in its reasonable opinion, it considers that the entered works are of insufficient merit.

22. The mentorships are not transferable to any other work other than the work entered and are not redeemable for cash or any other goods or services.

23. By entering the mentorships you accept the conditions of entry as prescribed and give consent for your work to be considered for the program.

24. The promoter is the Australian Society of Authors (A.B.N. 26 008 558 790), Suite C1.06 22-36 Mountain Street, Ultimo NSW 2007.

25. The successful entrants will be contacted by phone or email and announced on 20 March 2024 with the mentorships commencing April 2024 subject to contracting mentors.

26. Mentorships must be completed by April 2025.