Electric Book Award
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About | Reading Period | Current Status | Prize | Submission Guidelines | Winners | Judging Process
About the Electric Book Award
The Electric Book Award is Alternating Current Press’ annual editorial book award to recognize an unpublished adult manuscript of literary fiction, short stories, poetry, plays, novels, long novellas, creative nonfiction, literary memoir, essay collections, or hybrid, as a full-length collection or as a full-length single work. We especially want to hear from marginalized and underrepresented authors, and we are an LGBTQUIA2+ safe-space. (Please note that we do not publish children’s, middle-grade, or young-adult books.) There is no separate submission process for the EBA. All books submitted through the book-length manuscript portals and the Little Pigeon chapbook portal automatically qualify for consideration for the EBA if accepted by our press. [Back to Top]
Reading Period
Submissions open: DEC 1, 2024
Submissions close: NOV 30, 2025
Winner announced: DEC 2025
Publication: 2027
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Current Status
The 2025 semifinalist longlist has been announced here, and the finalists and winner will be announced by the end of 2025. [Back to Top]
The Prize
The winner receives $300 (upon publication), our gold Electric Book Award digital medallion, a certificate**, 30 gold medallion seals**, and book publication on Alternating Current Press, which includes distribution through Ingram, Asterism, and all major online retailers. Publication is in hardcover*, paperback, and ebook formats, with possible audiobook publication, as well, and includes 5 complimentary hardcover copies*, 20 complimentary paperback copies, a complimentary digital copy in all formats, and 30% net royalties. Publication also features our standard publicity package, including a press kit, a book-club reading guide, a press release, a virtual book tour, multiple mailing-list email blasts, social media, review and contest copies, and more.
Runners-up may also be offered book publication and receive our silver and bronze digital medallions. All finalists receive a digital certificate.
(*Hardcovers are available for full-length books only; if a chapbook is selected as the winner, it will not be available in hardcover. **Print certificates and physical medallion seals can only be shipped to U.S. addresses; if a winner is selected with an out-of-U.S. shipping address, then certificates and medallions will be digital only.) [Back to Top]
Submission Guidelines
There is no separate submission process for the EBA. All books submitted through the book-length manuscript portals and the Little Pigeon chapbook portal automatically qualify for consideration for the EBA if accepted by our press. [Back to Top]
Past Electric Book Award Winners
- 2025: (Longlist)
- 2024: Cleavage by Wendy Mannis Scher | (Shortlist) (Longlist)
- 2023: Reliance by Julia Tagliere | (Shortlist) (Longlist)
- 2022: The Be-Everything! Brothers by Matthew Pitt
- 2021: River Weather by Cameron MacKenzie
- 2020: A Gospel of Bones by Suzi Q. Smith
- 2019: Wyatt Earp by Larry Beckett
- 2018: We Meant to Bring It Home Alive by Armin Tolentino
- 2017: What Shines from It by Sara Rauch
- 2016: A Room in Dodge City by David Leo Rice
- 2015: The Girl Wakes by Carmen Lau [Back to Top]
Selection & Judging Process
We subscribe to the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) Contest Code of Ethics: “CLMP’s community of independent literary publishers believes that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree to 1.) conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors; 2.) to provide clear and specific contest guidelines—defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and 3.) to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public. This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our integrity and dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests contribute to a vibrant literary heritage.”
- We take submissions through Submittable. The executive editor has access to the personal author information, but the submission readers do not. While the executive editor determines what is acceptable to be published on our press, she does not make judging decisions for awards.
- Staff members of Alternating Current Press may have pieces published on The Coil or submit pieces for submission consideration, but staff members are not eligible to win award prizes while serving on our staff. This includes volunteers while they are volunteering for our staff.
- For all awards, the executive editor compiles a spreadsheet of all the eligible manuscripts, makes sure everything is stripped of any contact information, and sends that spreadsheet to the award editors. The award editors rank the selections to choose the top finalists and winner. The incognito judging decisions are final.
- Editors are asked to recuse themselves from judging if there are any submissions that they may recognize as posing a personal conflict of interest. Should there be a conflict, the next finalist in line without conflict shall become the winner, or judges shall recuse themselves from the ranking tallies. Conflicts of interest are defined as: close friends, relatives, students, and former students of the judges. We do not consider workshops to be disqualifying factors, unless the judge personally feels there is a conflict there. We leave the discretion of conflict identification up to the judges. Submissions that pose a conflict of interest may still be eligible for publication, even if they are ineligible for prizes.
- The results are publicly posted online at The Coil and on the press website. [Back to Top]
