Your work is read by two to three judges, and you receive at least one critique with supportive, constructive feedback. 1 deadline is quickly approaching, so polish up those first 20 pages and synopsis! We’re in full swing with the 2015 submissions, but the Feb. For you memoirists, historians and journalists, we’d love to see what you’ve got, because we can’t let the fiction writers get all the glory. In previous years, we haven’t received enough nonfiction entries to support an award, but we hope 2015 is the year we get to hand out two awards. And what writer wouldn’t want to add the accolade to their query letter? Just being one of the five finalists is worthy of bragging rights. The contest is a great opportunity to have your work read, critiqued and possibly delivered to the hands of an agent or publisher. As contest coordinator, I’m always thrilled to see the flurry of such high-caliber entries from all over the country, and awarding the winner his or her prize never gets old. The contest is open to published and unpublished authors, and you don’t need to be an NCW member to enter. I’m talking about the fourth annual Top of the Mountain Book Award, sponsored by Northern Colorado Writers. The audience includes agents and editors who may clamor to get their hands on your award-winning, potential bestseller. With it comes the added bonus of recognition at the Northern Colorado Writers Conference on March 27-28 and the chance to strut your stuff on stage to collect your hard-earned winnings in front of 150 participants. Why wait? Now may be the time, especially since you have the opportunity to score $1,000 based on the first 20 pages and a three-page synopsis of your newly polished novel or nonfiction manuscript. My guess is you’re waiting for the right time to dust it off and revisit it something to tinker with during retirement, perhaps? If you’re a writer, chances are you’ve got a finished manuscript tucked away in a drawer, hidden on your hard drive, or, dare I say, on a floppy disk.

Bobbing for Watermelons by April Moore