The Joffe Books Prize 2022 for diverse voices in crime fiction has opened for entries with the winner getting £1,000 and a two-book publishing deal.
This is the second year of the prize, which was launched to encourage submissions from unagented authors from Black, Asian, Indigenous and minority ethnic backgrounds writing in crime fiction genres, including psychological thrillers, cosy mysteries, police procedurals, chillers, suspense mysteries, and domestic noirs.
Entries opened on May 1, 2022, and the closing date for entries is September 30, 2022.
Northumberland-based Christie J Newport won the inaugural prize last year and her debut novel is being published by Joffe Books this autumn. From the 2021 shortlist, three authors have gone on to receive agency representation and a fourth will also be published by Joffe Books in 2022.
The judges for this year’s prize include Oyinkan Braithwaite, best-selling author of My Sister, The Serial Killer; Ella Diamond Kahn, co-founder of the Diamond Kahn & Woods Literary Agency; and Emma Grundy Haigh, editorial director of Joffe Books.
Emma Grundy Haigh says, ‘I was overwhelmed by the outcomes of the first prize — it’s been truly wonderful to see how the careers of the shortlistees are already starting to take shape. The prize represents a small but vital step towards welcoming a far greater diversity of talent into crime fiction.’
In 2021, the prize judges first selected a long list of 10 books and then narrowed those down to a shortlist of four, with Christie J Newport winning for her work entitled Branded.
THE PRIZE
The winner receives £1,000, a two-book publishing deal with Joffe Books, a two-year membership to the Society of Authors and an editorial consultation with one of the judges. Shortlistees will receive editorial feedback.
HOW TO ENTER
Entrants are invited to submit their full-length manuscript, written in English, along with a synopsis of the book and author biography, to prize@joffebooks.com
All submissions must be sent by email with the entrant’s title and (pen) name in the subject heading to the designated email address: prize@joffebooks.com
Each submission should contain the following attachments, each marked in the file name with the author’s name and the title of the novel:
a. The full-length completed manuscript attached to the email as a Word document (full length is defined as 65,000 words or more), with the first page being the title page.
b. A synopsis of whole book*, including the complete plot and the story’s end (maximum 500 words); a one-paragraph summary of the book; and a short description of the main characters.
c. A covering letter that includes an author biography and information about their writing career thus far (including writing courses attended, publications, prizes won, etc.) and any blogs and/or social media information (maximum 1 page), as well as their full name, address and phone number.
* The synopsis of the whole book should outline the book’s themes and full plot, including spoilers.
THE JUDGES 2022
The full list of judges for the 2022 prize are: Oyinkan Braithwaite, Ella Diamond Kahn, Emma Grundy Haigh, Jasper Joffe and Kate Lyall Grant. The winner of the competition will be selected by these judges based on their work’s quality and commercial potential.
Joffe Books has become an indie publishing powerhouse since it was set up in 2014 by artist Jasper Joffe. In 2021, it hit the milestone of 10 million books sold. It specializes in crime fiction and has combined publishing backlists with discovering new talent, attracting established authors and running effective marketing campaigns.
You can find out further details about the Joffe Prize 2022 on the Joffe Books website and read the terms and condition also on the T&C section of the website.