I received this e-mail from the Serendipity Literary Agency about a contest – with most publishers accepting only agented submissions, this is a great way to get your book in front of YA editors at some impressive publishing houses. Here are the details, and good luck!

THE 5th ANNUAL

YA DISCOVERY CONTEST

LAST DAY to ENTER!

No query? No pitch? No problem!

Have a young adult novel—or a YA novel idea—tucked away for a rainy day? Are you putting off pitching your idea simply because you’re not sure how to pitch an agent? No problem! All you have to do is submit the first 250 words of your novel, and you can win exposure to editors and a reading of your manuscript by one of New York’s TOP literary agents, Regina Brooks.   Regina Brooks is the CEO of Serendipity Literary Agency and the author of  the award-winning book, Writing Great Books for Young Adults, now available in its second edition.   The top 20 submissions will be read by a panel of judges comprised of YA editors from Random House, HarperCollins, Harlequin, Sourcebooks, Scholastic, Feiwel and Friends, Kensington,  Candlewick, Bloomsbury, and Penguin.  From the top 20 submissions, judges will select their top five submissions and provide each author with commentary. These five winners will also receive a free ONE YEAR subscription to The Writer magazine. ONE Grand Prize Winner will win a full manuscript reading and feedback from Regina Brooks.

Please submit all entries via the contest website at www.serendipitylit.com. One entry per person; anyone age 13+ can apply. Open to the U.S. & Canada (void where prohibited). Entries for the YA Novel Discovery Contest will be accepted from November 1 12:01am (ET) until November 3011:59pm (ET).