Rules and Submissions for entering the Man Booker Prize 2013

Closing Dates:
- Entry forms: 1 April 2013
- Finished books: 1 July 2013

Download an entry form as a pdf (right click and choose Save As)

If you cannot open this file please contact Lucy Hinton at Four Colman Getty who handles all submissions, on lucy.hinton@fourcolmangetty.com

1. The Prize

a) The prize is worth £50,000 to the winner. It will be awarded to the author of the best, eligible full-length novel in the opinion of the judges.  The prize may not be divided or withheld.

b) The judges will be responsible for compiling a longlist of 12 or 13 books – ‘The Man Booker Dozen’ - followed by a shortlist of six outstanding books submitted for the prize. For inclusion in this shortlist a title must have the full support of at least one judge in whose opinion it is a valid contender for the prize. Each shortlisted author will receive £2,500 in addition to a hand bound copy of his or her own book.

c) The panel of judges is chosen with the advice of the Booker Prize Foundation Advisory Committee, appointed by the Booker Prize Foundation. The prize is administered by Ion Trewin, Literary Director.

2. Conditions of award

Any eligible book which is entered for the prize will only qualify for the award if its publisher agrees:

a) to contribute £5,000 towards general publicity if the book reaches the shortlist

b) to contribute a further £5,000 if the book wins the prize

c) to comply with Rule 4g

if the book reaches the longlist, to provide within two weeks of the longlist announcement an electronic text version to the RNIB (or, if requested by the Booker Prize Foundation, to any other approved body) for the purposes of producing and distributing on a not-for-profit basis accessible copies to visually impaired persons. All the italicised words and phrases used here are as defined in the Copyright (Visually Impaired Persons) Act 2002. Please also note that the Booker Prize Foundation funds the production (currently by the RNIB) of shortlisted books into editions for the visually impaired. Should one of your submissions be on the shortlist, please inform rights owners that accessible copies are being produced and distributed

publishers must use their best endeavours to ensure that authors whose books are submitted make themselves available for publicity from longlist stage on

3. Eligible books

a) Any full-length novel, written by a citizen of the Commonwealth, the Republic of Ireland or Zimbabwe is eligible. Such a book must be a unified and substantial work. Entry for books is dealt with in Rule 4.

b) Authors must be living at the time of the award.

c) No English translation of a book written originally in any other language is eligible.

d) Self published books are not eligible where the author is the publisher or where a company has been specifically set up to publish that book.

e) Online submissions will only be accepted from an established imprint and on the condition that seven copies are downloaded for the judges’ consideration. In the event that an online book is shortlisted, the publisher must undertake to produce hard copies and make these available for sale within 10 days of the announcement of the shortlist.

f) All shortlisted books will be made available by publishers as e-books within two weeks of the shortlist announcement. Extracts from the e-books should be freely accessible for downloads.

g) Children’s books will only be accepted on the condition that they have also been published by an adult imprint within the specified dates.
 
h) All entries must be published in the United Kingdom between the required dates (Rule 4a) but previous publication of a book outside the UK does not disqualify it.

i) The decision of the Literary Director as to whether a book is eligible shall be binding and no correspondence shall be entered into.

j) No entry shall be ineligible because its author has won either the prize or any other prize previously.

k) All submissions are made on a confidential basis.

4. Entry of books

a) UK publishers may enter up to two full-length novels, with scheduled publication dates for print editions between 1 October 2012 and 30 September 2013. In addition, any title by an author who has previously been shortlisted for or won the Booker or Man Booker Prize may be submitted.

b) Entry forms must be submitted by 1 April 2013. At that date all available books, whether or not already published, should be submitted to Four Colman Getty as a PDF as well as a finished copy or page proof. Proofs of any book published after 1 April 2013 should be submitted to Four Colman Getty the moment they become available, followed up by finished copies. Final texts must be submitted by 1 July 2013. The Literary Director of the prize in consultation with the Chair of the Judges reserves the right to reject any substantially revised proof or finished copy received after that date. Seven copies of each entry must be submitted to the judges of the Man Booker Prize, care of Four Colman Getty and not direct to the judges.

c) In addition to the entry form, publishers are asked to email, by 1 July 2013, a high res image (at least 1mb/300dpi) of the submitted book cover, a press release and author biog and picture.

d) Each publisher may also submit, by 1 April 2013, a list of up to five further titles. These should each be accompanied by a justification for the submission of not more than 250 words written and signed by the author’s editor. The judges will be required to call in no fewer than eight and no more than 12 of these titles.

e) The judges may also, no later than 1 July 2013, call in any book published between 1 October 2012 and 30 September 2013, even if such a book does not appear on publishers’ lists referred to in 4b or 4d.  In that event the publisher will be asked to submit seven printed copies of the book to Four Colman Getty and be required to conform to the conditions of the award as specified in the rules.

f) No book entered by publishers or called in by the judges will be returned to the publishers.

g) Each publisher of a title appearing on the longlist will be required to have no fewer than 1,000 copies of that title available in stock within 10 days of the announcement of the longlist. The publisher, publicist and agent of the longlisted author are strongly advised to attend a briefing meeting shortly after the longlist is announced.

h) Two copies of each shortlisted book in folded and collated form should be retained by the publisher. These must be delivered to a nominated bookbinder (of leather binding) within 48 hours of the announcement of the shortlist. If this should prove impossible, Four Colman Getty must be informed immediately. Four Colman Getty will supply shortlisted publishers with the name and address of the bookbinder to which copies must be sent.