Submissions for the 2025 contest have officially closed.

 

Stay tuned for details on Round 3 of the JNC Original Light Novel Contest, coming soon!

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MEET OUR 2025 WINNERS

Natsuko has a two problems: One, Gacha characters like her are only paid based on how many people summon them. Two, because she was one of the first Heroes, power creep has left her a has-been no one wants to summon. All she has now is her crippling alcohol addiction and a wine bottle with the mysterious ability to knock anything into oblivion in one hit. No respawning. She's managed to keep it a secret so far, but it's only a matter of time before her stronger and more vicious competitors learn she's sitting on something that could change the game.

 

To be published as a J-Novel Club title!

 

In the near future, humanity has waged a decade-long war against the “wights;” horrifying eldritch monsters that push through from their shadow dimension to terrorize the globe. Humanity’s best defenders are magical girls; their tremendous power the only way to contain wight incursions without heavy casualties. Ordinary soldiers use 12-foot tall “CAV” mecha to patrol perimeter cordons, eliminate wight cannon-fodder and mop up stragglers. But one CAV pilot isn’t content warming the bench while others risk life and limb on his behalf. He intends to fight on the front line, shoulder to shoulder with magical girls... even if they don’t want him to!

 

To be published as a J-Novel Club title!

When Damion wakes up in a luxurious apartment with no memory of getting there, he's immediately suspicious of the dazzlingly handsome guy who owns the place... even if he did bring Damion in from the cold after finding him passed out on the street. But Damion's right to be suspicious, because it turns out that said dazzlingly handsome guy is a vampire. And now he wants to make a deal with Damion. But it's not for blood. Or even for a one night stand. It's for something much weirder... it’s to enter a court of political intrigue that he may not be able to exit.

 

To be published as a J-Novel Knight title!

Reincarnated in a new world after a run-in with Electric-Scooter-kun, Joe is given a quest by the goddess Suyra to defeat the Demon Lord. Unfortunately distracted, it is without any gifts in his new world. Born to a merchant with too many sons, Joe gets the chance to join the Imperial Library and meets the Hero, Mace, who promptly recruits him to her party. When Mace goes missing on a mission to scout out a potential demon invasion force, Joe goes to rescue her, together with a noble assassin, a wolf-kin warrior, a mystical half-elven healer, and a neanderthal 'sausage' who would sooner kill him than party with him. Can Joe, a top-notch clerk but G-ranked adventurer, save the Hero, retrieve the sword, and stop the demon invasion? And, more importantly, will he make it back in time to submit the Guild's quarterly tax statement before things really go to ruin?

 

To be published as a J-Novel Club title!

For years, war and bloodshed was all knight Eirich ever knew; until he accepts an unlikely mission to escort an exiled princess back home. As the two journey onward, the people and places they encounter teach them more about the world—and themselves.

 

To be published as a J-Novel Heart title!

Sophia wakes up as a member of the villainess's posse in a typical otome-game. She vows to stop the villainess's execution, fated to occur within a year. At school, Sophia becomes the center of attention as her immense magical power is revealed. But her desires conflict with the desires of everyone around her and the situation spirals out of control: Sophia is madly in love with the villainess, who cannot reciprocate, as the villainess is not attracted to women. Sophia has resigned herself to being forever unhappy. However, her god-like magical power means everyone else wants her to be happy and satisfied. In all the chaos, what will the outcome be?!

 

To be published as a J-Novel Heart title!