The Penelope Award

The Penelope Award is a category within The Homer Awards, a new English-language literary awards program based in Tolo, Greece. Unlike the program’s other categories, which are reader-nominated awards for already-published books, the Penelope Award is open to unpublished writers, offering a full publishing deal with Imagine Press for the best unpublished thriller manuscript. The award is judged solely by Jonas Saul, a published thriller author (60 novels) and founder of Imagine Press.

Entrants must submit a completed, never-commercially-published thriller manuscript in English with no current literary agent attached, along with a synopsis (max 500 words) and the first three chapters. Jonas Saul longlists 10 manuscripts from the synopses and opening chapters, then requests full manuscripts from the longlisted authors. Three finalists are shared with the “Thriller Book Retreat” reader community before Jonas makes the final decision. The winner is announced live at the Homer Awards gala in Tolo, Greece, on 22 October 2027.

The winning manuscript is published by Imagine Press, the publishing house founded by judge Jonas Saul. Authors retain all rights to their work. Imagine Press takes a royalty for a fixed term in exchange for publishing services, after which all rights revert to the author.

Is this competition legit?Unknown – Based on our research it is not clear if this event is legit and if it’s hosted by a well established publisher. Please remember to do your own research and read the Terms & Conditions before submitting your work.

FAQ
If you are curious how writing competitions work, or it’s your first time entering one, we recommend reading our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page first.