Submission Form

Contest Summary

For the JNC Original Light Novel Contest, we are accepting your original English language light novel manuscripts for publication by J-Novel Club! This will be the first time that J-Novel Club or the larger Kadokawa Group is holding a contest for light novel writing in English! This is your chance to be published, get professional illustrations made for your work, and even have your work adapted into a manga!

Application Period

08/01/2024 12:00 AM~12/31/2024 11:59 PM (EST)

JNC Original Light Novel Contest Awards

Grand Prize: 15,000 USD & the winning work will be adapted by Kadokawa into a manga or published in Japanese by Kadokawa
First Prize(s)s: 3,000 USD
Runner- Up Prize(s)s: 1,000 USD

Notes on Awards

• The Grand Prize award will only be given out to a work which a Kadokawa editorial group wishes to adapt into a manga or publish as a Japanese edition.
• Multiple works may win the First Prize and Runner-Up Prizes. At least one of each of these prizes will be awarded.
• *All prize-winning works will receive original cover, color, and interior art commissioned by J-Novel Club, and will be published digitally by J-Novel Club.
• *Prize money will be deposited in USD into an account of your choosing upon the signing of a publication contract if your entry is chosen for an award. Exchange fees, other banking fees, and any applicable local taxes may be deducted from your prize money. Each prize winner is responsible for paying taxes on their prize money in accordance with their local laws.

Participant Benefits

• Participants who pass the first round of judging will receive an evaluation sheet, which will give you feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of your submission.
• Participants who pass the second round of judging will be able to participate in an online seminar with light novel editors from Kadokawa and other experts, who will give writing advice and tips for success!
• Participants who pass the second round of judging will also have a preview (no more than 30%) of their work made available on J-Novel Club's web and mobile platforms (at least until the final winning announcements but for no longer than 1 year) to collect community feedback on your submissions, which will be used as one element of the final judging.

Selection Process and Results Announcement

There will be 3 rounds of judging. A public announcement of the works which passed the first round will be made at the end of March 2025 on J-Novel Club's website. A public announcement of the works which passed the second round will be made at the end of May 2025 on J-Novel Club's website. The prize-winning works will be announced at Anime Expo, 2025. All participants will also be notified by email prior to the public announcement. All works will be anonymized for the judging process, with personal information hidden from the judges throughout.

Eligibility for Application and Prizes

• Anyone may apply regardless of experience or nationality, as long as their country is not under trade embargo with the USA and/or Japan.
• You must be of age according to the laws of your country of residence to sign a legally enforceable contract on or before July 1st, 2025.
• Current employees for Kadokawa Group companies are not eligible to receive monetary prizes, though you may submit your work.
• Participants may submit up to a maximum of two works, one in each respective category. Each entry should satisfy the submission requirements for their respective category.

Submitted Works Eligibility

• Submitted works shall be written in English, and consist of no less than 35,000 but no more than 100,000 words if submitted in the "complete story" category. For the "ongoing series" category, the manuscript must be at least 35,000 words, and will be judged on around the first 60,000 words.
• For the ongoing series category, you MUST include in the same file as your manuscript a plot outline and character summaries for the full story you plan to write. This should be no more than 10,000 additional words.
• Works which have previously been published for profit are ineligible for submission. This includes works that were self-published on sites which monetize the sale or streaming of the work.
• Works which have been published on free websites or websites where the author is not directly remunerated for the work can be submitted, however J-Novel Club may request that any versions of the prize-winning works be removed before being officially published under J-Novel Club.
• Upon submitting your application, you agree that your work does not infringe upon the copyrights, other rights, or interests of any third party of any kind.
• Works that include excessive sexual or cruel descriptions or depictions, infringe or are likely to infringe upon the copyright or other rights or interest (including parodies and imitations), slander specific individuals or groups, are offensive to public morals, violate the application guidelines, or are deemed unsuitable by the judges will be disqualified from the competition.
• If you submit your work to multiple contests at the same time, you are responsible for ensuring other contests and relevant agreements do not limit your ability to sign into an exclusive publishing agreement for said work, otherwise submitted material will be deemed ineligible.
• You may submit each work only once per each year's competition (resubmission of a work submitted in a previous competition is okay). Once a work has been submitted in this year's competition, it cannot be revised. If you submit a second application with a work which is substantially similar to a previously submitted work in this year's competition, both works may be disqualified.

Handling of Submitted Entries

Submitted works will be anonymized, with your personal information kept separately and securely, according to J-Novel Club's privacy policy. The rights to your submitted work shall remain entirely with you, and J-Novel Club shall make no claims to the rights to the works or any IP contained within, with one exception: By submitting your work, in the event it passes the second round of judging, you agree to allow J-Novel Club and its business partners to stream no more than 30% of the submitted work for free for a period of no longer than 1 year. No financial remuneration will be made for this free streaming, and this streaming shall not imply the transfer of any other rights to the work, including but not limited to the character or story IP.

Handling of Prize Winning Entries

Upon notification that a submitted work has been chosen for a prize, winners will be asked to sign an exclusive publication contract with J-Novel Club for the digital publication of the work. This contract will set royalties to be paid to the winner for the sale of the submitted work by J-Novel Club, and the prize money will be considered an advance on those royalties. In the event of a Grand Prize winner, the contract will also include the manga adaptation rights for the submitted work, and J-Novel Club will then enter into a contract with Kadokawa for the manga adaptation. This will be a standard exclusive publishing contract, with a term of 5 years, after which any rights to the submitted work will return to the original rights holder, unless renewed upon mutual agreement by both parties. Any subsequent sublicense or third party use will be subject to the terms and conditions of the contract with J-Novel Club. If a winner chooses not to sign the publication contract, the prize will be revoked and may be granted to another work instead. The rights to any illustrations commissioned by J-Novel Club and any secondary rights deriving from those illustrations shall remain with J-Novel Club.

Additional Legal Notes

In the event that any facts are discovered after the winners are selected that would disqualify a prize winner from the competition (including cases in which a minor has signed a contract without legal authority), the prize will be revoked and the prize money, along with any and all other prizes, must be returned to J-Novel Club. In the event that the applicant causes damage to J-Novel Club or any other third party as a result of violating these guidelines, the applicant will be required to compensate for the damages. J-Novel Club shall not be responsible for any loss or damages incurred by the applicant, unless the loss or damages can be attributed to J-Novel Club. In no event shall J-Novel Club be liable for any indirect damages, loss of profits, attorney fees or similar damages to the applicant, and shall only be compensated for damages incurred in direct connection with the competition, unless in the case of gross negligence on J-Novel Club's part. These Application Guidelines shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of the state of Texas, United States. Bexar County, Texas shall have exclusive jurisdiction of the first instance over all disputes arising out of or in connection with this agreement.

• Your work must be submitted in either Microsoft Word doc or docx, or Adobe PDF format.
• Handwritten works or works which are scanned from handwriting are not acceptable.
• Your work must consist only of text. Works which contain illustrations are not acceptable. Your work can only use black colored text.
• Please make sure that your work is easily readable. You may freely use any layout and typography you wish, but keep in mind that the winning works will need to be published as ebooks, and should not include typographic features which are not easily reproduced in that format.