Name for Submissions: The 2025 Black Orchid Novella Award
Deadline: Might 31, 2025
Prize: Publication + Recognition on the Black Orchid Banquet in NYC
Thriller writers, take word: the distinguished Black Orchid Novella Award (BONA) is now accepting submissions. Sponsored by The Wolfe Pack and Alfred Hitchcock’s Thriller Journal (AHMM), this blind-judged competitors rewards an authentic, unpublished thriller novella that follows the custom of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe collection—witty, deductive, character-driven, and steeped in basic storytelling.
The winner will likely be honored at The Wolfe Pack’s Annual Black Orchid Banquet in New York Metropolis on the first Saturday of December.
What the Judges Need for the Black Orchid Novella Award
BONA seeks novellas which can be:
- 15,000–20,000 phrases in size
- Conventional mysteries with a powerful detective determine
- Plotted logically—no coincidences or random crimes
- Centered round relationships between characters
- Written with wit, intrigue, and a transparent decision
- Set wherever, in any time (up to date or retro)
Your detective could also be novice or skilled. Nonetheless, no express intercourse or violence, and no fan fiction or Nero Wolfe derivatives are allowed. You’re writing within the custom—not throughout the universe.
Need assistance sharpening your thriller voice? You may get pleasure from this information on how one can self-publish your novel.
Submission Tips for the Black Orchid Novella Award
This can be a blind contest. Observe these directions precisely:
- Format your manuscript:
- Occasions New Roman, 12 pt font
- Double-spaced
- Numbered pages
- Header with title and web page quantity solely
- No identify or contact data on manuscript
- Embody a one-sentence abstract of the story beneath the title on the primary web page (e.g., “A protection lawyer and her investigator tackle a shopper accused of poisoning the friends at her struggling mattress and breakfast.”)
- Put together three paperwork:
- Manuscript in .DOC/.DOCX format
- Manuscript in .PDF format
- A separate cowl sheet with: your identify, deal with, cellphone quantity, title, phrase depend, and the one-sentence abstract
- Submit by way of the Black Orchid Novella Award On-line Submission Kind
Incomplete or incorrectly formatted entries will likely be disqualified with out discover.
FAQs Highlights
- Sure, that is an worldwide contest.
- Your story stays your mental property.
- Winners and finalists are notified instantly; outcomes are additionally introduced publicly on the banquet.
- Nonetheless uncertain what a novella is, or how one can strike the appropriate tone? Learn really helpful quick tales on-line to get impressed.
The Black Orchid Novella Award honors sensible, trendy storytelling rooted in thriller custom. Should you’re crafting the subsequent nice whodunit with sharp characters and intelligent deductions, that is your likelihood.
Submit by Might 31, 2025, and be a part of the legacy of standout thriller writers.
