For those who aren't aware, Romance Writers of America (RWA) puts on the biggest published (RITA) and unpublished (Golden Heart) competition in the romance writing world every year. The deadline to enter for the 2010 awards ceremony was November 16, 2009 with materials due on December 2. The finalists will be announced in March, and the winners at the RWA National Conference, which will be held in Nashville, Tennessee this year.Members of RWA can sign up to judge the preliminary round of the competition, and for the first time ever and with some trepidation, I signed up this year to judge the Golden Heart entries.
I've been waiting anxiously for my packet to arrive. Waiting to see what category I'd been assigned to judge. (I had signed up for either paranormal or historical romance.)
And today, I got my packet! I feel like a kid opening a Christmas gift. How exciting--getting to read the work of other writers, who've submitted their very best efforts, hoping to get it in front of editors and agents, to get the wonderful publicity afforded by making the finals in the Golden Heart. Judging these entries is a large responsibility, and I feel honored to have the opportunity.
Have you ever judged a writing competition? How did you approach it? What were you looking for? How did the experience affect the way you approach your writing or the way you approach entering competitions?
