First of all, Congratulations!

As soon as you hear, watch, or read that announcement, you’ll have to prepare to be an “award-winning author!”

Whether this is your first award as a writer, or your… well, even if you’ve won more awards than you can count, there’s still work to do.

First and foremost… Spread the Word!

• MWSA normally makes the initial announcement of the awards finalists via a live video broadcast.

  • Look for the details on our website—the Season Page or the News Section.

  • Now that we have our own dedicated Facebook page, that’s where we’ll be making the announcement for the foreseeable future.

  • Once you know where to watch for the announcement, let your family and friends know so they can also watch live.

• Within a few days, the awards finalists’ names and books will be posted to our website and announced via press release.

  • Links to both of the above can be put on your own website, or in your own social media announcements.

    • You should be proud, and share your pride with others.

Start making your travel plans

• Once you know you’ll be winning some kind of award from MWSA, you’ll also have an excellent reason to join us during our general membership conference and especially our awards banquet (which always caps off the event).

  • Having a photo of that MWSA medal being hung around your neck is a tremendous marketing tool… don’t miss out!

Make sure your awards package includes what you want

• Make sure your name appears as you’d like it to appear on your awards certificate.

  • Unless we hear otherwise, your award certificate will include the author name you provided when you first submitted your book.

• Our normal awards package is designed for one author (i.e., includes one medal, one certificate, etc.), so if you have (or would like to add) another author (or authors, editor, etc.):

  • we need to know, so we can add/change the author(s) listed

  • you’ll need to purchase any additional awards packet materials from our online store.

• If you’re unable to join us during the awards banquet, we’d be happy to mail you your packet. All we ask is that you pay for the postage—which you can do on our online store.

YOUR REVIEWERS’ COMMENTS

• Starting with our 2022 season, every MWSA author has automatically received their reviewers’ comments.

  • Even gold-medal-winning books may have an error or two that you (or even your editor) may have missed.

  • Some of the comments and suggestions might also be beneficial—even if only for your next effort.

  • However, to avoid the risk of “spilling the beans” on which award you might have won, we don’t release those comments until after our awards banquet.