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The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) is a contest sponsored by Amazon.com, Penguin Group, Hewlett Packard, CreateSpace and BookSurge to publish and promote a manuscript by an unknown or unpublished author.

2008 competition

Amazon introduced the Breakthrough Novel Award in 2007. The first competition began in late 2007 and ended in early 2008. A maximum of 5,000 manuscripts were accepted during the contest period, which ran between October 1, 2007 and November 5, 2007. In mid-January 2008, up to 836 authors were selected as semi-finalists and received a capsule review of their manuscript from Publishers Weekly. On February 19, 2008, 100 semi-finalists had their manuscripts read by Penguin editors.

On March 3, 2008, the top ten finalists were announced. All received a prize package from HP and a self-publishing package from BookSurge.

1. The Hellraiser of Hollywood Hills by Jennifer Colt
2. Casting Off by Nicole R. Dickson
3. Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan
4. The Wet Nurse's Tale by Erica Eisdorfer
5. The Butterflies of Grand Canyon by Margaret Erhart
6. Ring of Lies by Karen Laugel
7. Fresh Kills by Bill Loehfelm
8. Motherless Children by Randall Luce
9. The Prospect of My Arrival by Dwight Okita
10. Wrecking Civilization Before Lunch by John Ring

Amazon customers voted to pick the grand-prize winner. The top three received a trip to New York City. On April 7, 2008, Fresh Kills by Bill Loehfelm was announced as the first winner of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Loehfelm won a larger prize package from HP and a $25,000 advance on a publishing contract with Penguin.

See also

• Conclave: A Journal of Character, a literary journal formed by participants in the 2008 contest

External links

• Official homepage
• Fresh Kills on Amazon.com