Enter our 25-4-25 Contest for 2022
and Get Vital Feedback on your First 25 Pages!
​

Here's your chance to get a developmental edit by published and soon-to-be-published authors of your first 25 pages, and it's only $25!

Our feedback can include tips on plot, pace, characterization, dialogue—whatever it might take to attract the interest of an acquiring editor.  The most promising manuscript will win our grand prize: a premium one-year subscription to Querytracker.net, to help you find the perfect acquiring agents and publishers for your project and keep track of your submissions.

Below, please find the 25-4-25 Contest rules with links to required disclaimer, and judging criteria:


Contest General Rules:

1. Hudson Valley Scribes Membership is NOT required to enter the contest
2. Cost is $25, nonrefundable, paid via PayPal. 
3. Entries will be limited to the first 50 received. All additional entries will be returned and the money refunded.
4. If you use Paypal please click www.paypal.com. The PayPal email address is hudsonvalleyromance@yahoo.com. Put 25-4-25 in comments.
5. All entries must be accompanied by the contest Disclaimer which must be copied and pasted in the body of the e-mail. Please also include the Paypal confimation in the e-mail.
6. Entries should be a word document (PDFs are not allowed) and should include the first 25 pages of your manuscript along with a cover page with your name, e-mail and title/genre of your unpublished, romance book-length novel or novella. The cover page should be your first page (which makes the entire submiission 26 page.). Do not send cover page as a separate attachment.
7. Manuscript should be professionally presented in 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, with one-inch margins all around. Any entries that do not meet this criteria will be reformatted and only the first 25 pages will be edited.
8. We run 25-4-25 twice a year. Entries must be sent electronically between January 1, 2022 -May 31, 2022, for winners to be announced by September. Entries sent between June 1-November 30th will have winners announced by March 1, 2023.
9. Send entries to contest coordinator: Liz Mattila at hudsonvalleycontest@gmail.com
10. For the purposes of this contest, the author’s name should not appear on the manuscript.
11. We will return manuscripts within 3 months with edits. Scoresheets will NOT be sent to authors; they are for internal use only.
12. Winners will be announced in September, 2022 and March, 2023. In the case of a score tie, manuscripts will be judged by a team of three published authors.
13. Editing by HV Scribes authors in no way guarantees agent/publisher interest or action. Opinions are those of the HV Scribes member/editor only.
14. The criteria on which your entry will be scored can be found here.
15. Please direct any questions to hudsonvalleycontest@gmail.com

​2022 Winner: The Countess Game by Deborah Cay Wilding!

After earning a degree in English Literature, Deborah Cay Wilding worked as a librarian and organized a
collection of archival photographs before turning her hand to writing. She was inspired to write and self-
publish her first British-themed historical romance, “The Making of a Lady,” after making several coast-
to-coast hikes across England and Scotland where she poked around in dusty old castles along the way.
The novel is a blend of history and fiction that won the 2021 Book Buyers Best Award in Historical and
Regency Romance. She lives in Hawaii, and when she’s not writing she enjoys hiking with her dog and
everything outdoors.

An Excerpt from The Countess Game (Prelude):

Every new beginning comes from other beginning & end.
—Lucius Annaeus Seneca, 4BC - AD65

The Prelude
September 5, 1715

On the day it all started, there just weren't many courses open to me away from
Court—that is, after I ruled out exile or an arranged marriage, to name the most objectionable.
But I started packing anyway.

Somewhere beyond the palace a clap of rolling thunder announced an approaching storm,
unless... Could it be more gunfire? The sound reverberated like a blast in the pit of my stomach
as if I, too, was under fire.

And wasn't I just. Under suspicion. Dismissed from the king's service.

"To be sure, Lizzy, you cannot remain at Kensington Palace any longer," my Aunt
Maude agreed when she sought me out in the privacy of my bedchamber. "Not if the king has
already ordered you from your rooms." She stopped pacing to lean on her cane and make note of
my open valise with interest. "Bear in mind that a quiet life in the country is entirely respectable
for a gentlewoman without title or fortune."

Her candor struck uncomfortably close to home, so I answered with a small nod and let it
go at that.

This she interpreted as encouragement to explain, in the most persuasive language
possible, that she had only just received a letter of accommodation and hospitality from a distant
relative. A nobleman of property in Northumberland whose sister would welcome property. My
aunt was about to travel there shortly and required a genteel companion for the long journey. It
seemed that I fit the bill.

After a darting glance toward the door, her face tightened and a cautionary plea rose in
her eyes. "It's not likely a more agreeable invitation will be put forward."

Now it's true I was unacquainted with any family members in the far wilderness of the
North Country, agreeable or otherwise. However, the opportunity to accompany my aunt was
particularly well timed, all things considered, and the distance I would have once found
unacceptable was now its first recommendation.

I squared my shoulders and took a deep breath. "We shall certainly make the best of
things,," I said and went back to packing my favorite gowns in the valise.

Now. How to get out of London in one piece?

***

Just beyond the palace gates a royal trainband trotted into formation, their muskets ready
to blow apart anyone who dared challenge the authority of King George on this, a night of fire
and riot.

Aunt Maude banged on the window of our hired post chaise with her cane. "Hurry," she
called up to the driver. "Faster!" she cried, only to be drowned out by shouting.

"No King George! No King George," the mob chanted as they streamed into the street
around us. "Long Live King James the Third."

That would be James Edward Francis Stuart they were hurrahing. The so-called Pretender
to the throne in exile. My cousin.

Were I suspected of supporting the rebels, it would be spectacularly difficult for me to
establish my innocence, though in fact, I'd never laid eyes on my royal kinsman in my life. Still,
I was out of favor with the king anyway, there being the small matter of my Stuart blood and all.
It could be worse. Why, Lord Oxford was kept locked in the Tower for his sympathies.
Bolingbroke fled the country ahead of impeachment and was rumored to have joined up with
James in France.

As for my own future...? Well, there'd be time to sort that out later.

Just ahead of us flames leaped from a burning building and smoldering timbers toppled
into the street, startling the horses and setting the carriage to sway wildly from side to side. A
woman screamed as a man pulled her out of our way, the red glow from the torches reflected in
their eyes as they took up the cry for King James.

Smoke stung my nose, caught in my throat.

"We should be out of danger soon," I rasped, my mouth too dry to manage more than a
whisper to comfort my aunt. Her fists were clenched around her cane, eyes tightly shut.

I cleared my throat and tried again. "We're nearing St. John’s Wood."

One more junction and we'd reach the Great Northern Road and be on our way to safety.
My hands turned clammy in my gloves. My heart was thudding like a runaway horse.
​
If only we could make it to the road...