Awards Main — Military Writers Society of America

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Review/Awards
Book Submission

The link for submitting your book appears at the bottom of this page. You will be asked to verify that you have read all the information on this page when you submit your book.

Blue Subheadings below contain recommended details about our system. Click on each blue heading to expand hidden text underneath.

Who Can Submit

  • Authors must be MWSA dues-paying members in good standing.

  • Authors may enter each book—or any part of an anthology—into our review and awards system only once.

  • Authors are limited to two books per season. However, if submitting two books, both will be considered provisional (see explanation below)

Acceptable Content, Publication Status, Format, Genre

Content

  • MWSA specializes in books that honor our military but accepts books covering a wide variety of subjects. However...

    • Books that disparage our country or military are not accepted into our program.

    • MWSA is oriented toward the military family. If your book is primarily focused on violence and/or sexual situations, it might not be suitable for this organization.

  • MWSA reserves the right to decline to review—or list in our online library—any book it deems inappropriate for our website.

Publication Status

  • Your book must be published, have a valid ISBN (or ASIN for Kindle), and available for purchase before you submit it.

  • Your book must have been published within the past five calendar years.

Format

  • Manuscripts, word processing document files, spiral-spine books, audiobooks, advance reader copies, and PDFs are not acceptable.

  • MWSA accepts both paper and eBook formats for review.

    • Hardcover or softcover of any dimension is “paper.”

    • eBooks have slightly different evaluation criteria.

      • See our eBook page for more details—all authors submitting eBooks for review are required to read this page!

    • If you offer both formats for evaluation, you increase the odds of reviewers signing up to assess your book.

Genre

  • MWSA only accepts books in genres/categories for which we’ve created a scoring form. Click here for a current list of genres

  • If you have any doubt about which category MWSA should use to evaluate your book, contact the awards directors. You must choose ONE category when you fill out the submission form.

  • If we think your book could score better in a different genre, we will let you know before we finalize our evaluation.

MWSA Book Submission System

Timeliness, Types of Submissions, Season Rollover/Refund

MWSA strives to complete each submitted book’s evaluation in a timely manner. We also make every effort to complete our evaluation and review in the same year the author submits a book. We have two types of submissions: normal and provisional. All submissions require that authors submit an online form and pay the $45 submission fee.

Normal Submissions

  • The first 60 books submitted will be completed during the current awards cycle unless there are unusual circumstances.

    • If an author submits two books, both will be considered provisional—even if among the first 60 books.

  • If a Normal Submission is not completed during the current season because of an error, omission, or failure on MWSA’s part, we will refund the author’s submission AND roll over the book to the next season (i.e., your review and award consideration will be first in line next year and cost-free).

Provisional Submissions

  • After we receive 60 Normal Submissions, we will accept an unlimited number of Provisional Submissions until the window closes on June 1.

  • Provisional Submissions are NOT guaranteed to be completed during the current season.

  • If a Provisional Submission is not completed during the current season, the Refund/Rollover options depend on the amount of progress made.

    • If the author has NOT sent us any review copies (i.e., we have not yet identified three reviewers for your book), the author can choose either a full refund OR a rollover to the next season. Rollovers will be first in line for the following season in the order in which they were submitted.

    • Once the author HAS sent the review copies, reviewers will finish scoring the book after the season ends. The review will be posted upon completion, but the book will be rolled over to the following season when its award status will be revealed.

Scoresheet, Criteria, & Feedback

Scoring Philosophy

MWSA uses a system in which books receive a medal based on how well they meet industry standards. This means the books do not compete against each other for a single winner of a gold, silver, or bronze medal, but rather are measured against specific standards.

  • If a book attains the score required for a specific medal, the book receives the medal.
  • If all books attain a score required for a specific medal, all the books will receive that medal.
  • Conversely, if no books qualify, no medals will be awarded.

We employ a three-person reviewing/judging panel for each book. They individually score the book based on twenty questions covering four areas of judgment, to calculate a numerical value that represents how well a given book meets the standards. If the scores of the three reviewers diverge, the reviewers hold a conference to iron out any differences.

SCORING DETAILS

The four areas of scoring are content, style, visual appeal, and technical mechanics of writing.

  • Content questions focus on plot, characters, message or theme, believability, intent of book, storytelling, and in the case of nonfiction, accuracy and impact of information.
  • Style questions evaluate readability, book structure, language, and percentage of active to passive voice.
  • Visual questions evaluate cover art, cover design, interior layout, font size and serif, and use of illustration.
  • Grammar questions focus on spelling, sentence structure, word choice, verb tense usage, punctuation, and capitalization. If a book doesn’t conform to standards like Chicago Manual of Style or AP—or if the book mixes them inconsistently—it will be marked down. An author is only allowed so many grammatical or spelling mistakes before the score is affected. These are the issues that a professional editor can help you avoid. They make the difference between a well-crafted, impactful book and an amateurish difficult-to-read one.

Our scores are based on a two-fold system of analyzing the book.

  • First, an overall score is determined by adding the four areas for each reviewer. The total scores are then averaged to determine if the book has earned enough points to win a medal.
  • Second, a book must attain a certain score in the grammar area in order to receive a medal. MWSA feels that the grammar score is the most reliable indicator of competence.
  • For example, the averaged overall score could place a book in the gold medal range, but if the averaged grammar score is in the silver medal range, the book will receive a silver medal based on the grammar score. We refer to this as the grammar torpedo. Again, the best way to avoid this scenario is to hire a competent editor before publishing your book.

Reviews

After the book is scored, one reviewer writes the official MWSA review.

  • The review is posted on our website.
  • The author is notified.

We are happy when our reviews help authors sell their books, and we try to provide as much information and publicity as possible. However, book promotion is NOT our primary mission.

  • To ensure that MWSA reviews are credible, if a book’s numerical evaluation (the combined average scores of all three reviewers) fails to reach a certain threshold, our MWSA review is required to mention the shortfall(s).
  • All authors have the option of refusing their MWSA review—for any reason.
  • Our program focuses on education. We want to help our writers produce better books.

MWSA does not negotiate with authors with respect to the content of the review.

  • No matter how well or how poorly a book scores, authors retain the right to have their book and/or MWSA review removed from our website.
  • MWSA will not refund a submission fee after the reviewers have scored a book. Once our review is posted to the website, authors may use reviews in any way they wish.

Author Feedback

In addition to evaluating your book using our scoring system, reviewers provide comments on each of the four areas of judging.

Reviewer comments (but not scores) will be shared with authors as follows:

  • If your book does not qualify for an award, you’ll receive your reviewers’ comments shortly after we announce our finalists.
  • Award-wining authors will receive their reviewers’ comments after the awards banquet. This avoids the possibility a possible sneak preview of your medal before we announce medalists at our awards presentation ceremony.

If you are unclear on what it takes to become an MWSA award-winning author, a good way to get more information is to volunteer as an MWSA reviewer before entering your book in the system. Click here for more information and a sign-up form.

Milestones & Timing

  • Submissions are accepted between January 2 and June 1 each year.

  • Based on the information you provide in your submission, MWSA creates a page on our website for your book. We’ll let you know when that happens.

  • Once a team of reviewers is assigned to your book, you will be notified to send your review copies. DO NOT SEND ANY BOOKS BEFORE WE REQUEST THEM. Do not include notes, messages, or promotional material of any kind when you send review copies.

    • Assigning reviewers can take a few days or several weeks for Normal Submissions. Provisional submissions might take longer.

  • Once all three reviewers have read and scored your book, one of the reviewers will write your review, and we will notify you that your review has been posted on our webpage.

Ready, Set, Go
Submitting your book

Step 1: Are you sure your book is ready?

  • MWSA’s system will evaluate your book against industry-standard criteria—including the areas of punctuation, usage, grammar, and spelling.

    • If your book has too many errors, a low grammar score will “torpedo” your chance of winning an award.

    • You only get one submission for your book, so make sure it’s your best.

  • We strongly urge you to get a professional editor if you haven’t already. See our Resources page for a list of MWSA members offering editing services.

  • If you’re not sure, try using our Beta Readers program to line up a few MWSA members to give it an honest look.

Step 2:  Fill out the form

  • The ONLY way to submit a book is our online submission & purchase form.

    • We do not accept submissions via letter, phone, or email.

    • The submission form is visible/available only when our submission window is open (Jan 2—June 1 each year).

  • The cost of the program is $45

  • Make sure you double-check your submission

    • Provide a working link to a website (normally Amazon.com) where your book can be purchased. If you’re unfamiliar with links and URLs for your book, read our article on how to use your Amazon link. Click here to read that article.

    • Resolve any author name issues

      • If your book has more than one author, tell us who the MWSA member is.

      • If you use a pen name, use your real name as a point of contact when submitting your book.

  • After we've received all the required information, we will add your book to the current season’s page and send you the link.

  • When submitting a book for review and/or award consideration, authors must affirm that they've read all the above information.

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Updated 1/9/2025

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