New York City small press Black Balloon Publishing has launched the Horatio Nelson Fiction Prize, an award for completed, unpublished manuscripts no less than 50,000 words. The winner will receive $5,000 and a book deal with Black Balloon.
Black Balloon Publishing, self-proclaimed champion of "the weird, the unwieldy, and the unclassifiable," named the prize after Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, who died at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, for his "relentless creativity and perseverance against all odds." Titles previously published by Black Balloon Publishing include Maverick Jetpants in the City of Quality by Bill Peters and Our Man in Iraq by Robert Perisic.
Writers over the age of 18 are eligible for the contest, and may submit a novel or short story collection written in English to Black Balloon Publishing after April 1. The contest has no submission fee. More detailed instructions can be found here.