First Chapter Awards 2024

Publish your work and win! Exciting prizes for readers too!

Whatever your genre, we want to read your complete first chapter. Enter this global competition and win between $500 and $2000! Deadline is December 31st!

How do I enter the writing competition?

Sign up with your email and select your subscription.

Use the code “FIRSTCHAPTER” for 3 months free.

Create your writer profile and upload your chapter in EPUB format.

This needs to be done on the webpage version of Jotter, not the mobile app.

Add a “FIRSTCHAPTER” and genre tags to your entry.

Win one of 7 genre prizes of $500 and 2 grand prizes of $2000.

Win $10,000 split into 11 prizes!

Writer Awards

Reader Awards

7 GENRE PRIZES

$500

Win $500 for your entry in any of the following 7 genres. Judged by Jotter’s Writing Council.

Science Fiction, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Queer Lit, Romance, Horror, Thriller

2 GRAND PRIZES

$2000

Win $2000 for the following 2 grand prizes.

Global Award, judged by the Writer’s Council and Popular Choice Award, judged by number of reads.

3 READER PRIZES

$500

Win $500 for your compassionate and constructive comments on a piece of work uploaded on Jotter.

1 LUCKY DRAW

$1000

One avid reader on Jotter will be selected to win $1000.

How do I enter the reading competition?

Sign up with your email and select your subscription.

Use the code “FIRSTCHAPTER” for 3 months free.

Download the mobile app and create your reader profile.

You can read unlimited content and connect with other members.

Read First Chapter entries, and leave comments for the authors.

The 3 best comments win $500, and one lucky reader wins $2000.

Rules & FAQs

  • Deadline for first chapter uploads is December 31st.

  • All competition entries will be judged by Feb 15th 2025.

  • All award decisions are at the discretion of Jotter and are final.

  • You may use a writing name however you will need to provide Jotter with your legal name and information if you win a prize (you can choose to use your writing name/identity for public announcements).

  • You reserve all rights to the work you upload.

  • Jotter reserves the right to end or change the terms of this competition at any time, and reserves the right to use any content uploaded on Jotter for our social media channels.

  • If there are no entries deemed of sufficient quality in a particular category, Jotter reserves the right to not issue a prize and re-allocate the prize money into other categories.

  • No, this competition is open to our Jotter community only. Jotter members pay a minimal monthly subscription fee depending on their country of residence (USD4.99 / GBP 3.99 / INR 299) so that all the writers of our global community can be paid fairly for their work. As an early subscriber, we are offering 60% off the subscription fee for the first 6 months using the code “Jotter.”

  • Yes! You are free to share work that you've published elsewhere.

  • Yes, absolutely!

  • The First Chapter Awards are currently open only for fiction writings. You are welcome to upload non-fiction work, but it will not be considered for the awards.

  • If you have more ready, you are welcome to! However only the first chapter will be considered for the competition.

  • The minimum word count must be 1000 words and the maximum is 6000 words. Each entry will be read & considered as a first complete chapter of a book.

  • Jotter accepts submissions on the desktop app in EPUB format.

  • You are welcome to submit as many different first chapters as you wish under any genre.

  • Yes! Jotter is as much for readers as it is for writers. The number of reads from you will decide who wins “Popular Choice Award.” As a thank you, we also have one “Lucky Reader Award” and three prizes for the best comment or critique on a piece of writing uploaded on Jotter.

  • You will get an email once you’ve tagged your entry on Jotter with the tag “firstchapterawards.” If you forget to tag your entry don't worry, any first chapter you upload will be entered automatically into the competition.

  • No, you will be considered for the top prize first. If you win the Global or Popular Choice award, you will not win the genre category.

  • One entry will only win one genre award, even if the entry is eligible to be entered under two different genres.

  • Our writing council will judge the entries for “Global Award” and genre awards, and the number of reads and comments from our readers will tell us who wins “Popular Choice Award.” Learn more about them by following our Instagram & FB page.

  • Yes, all our winners will be featured on our social channels at the end of Feb 2025.