September 25

The Andromeda Award

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Celebrating Excellent Literature

The Andromeda Award was launched in 2024 by UTA and C&W to seek out and support the best new emerging science fiction and fantasy writers.

Our judges from both sides of the Atlantic appreciate all types of science fiction and fantasy. From grounded speculative thriller to spicy romantasy, action-packed epic fantasy to universe-spanning space opera, they are excited to read your work.


The award is open to anyone based in the UK or USA who has a full-length science fiction or fantasy novel. Key submission dates are below; further information can be found in our official rules.

Prizes

  • First Prize - $5,000

  • Second Prize - $3,000 + a place on Curtis Brown Creative’s nine-week Writing Fantasy course

  • Third Prize - $1,000 + a place on the six-week online Curtis Brown Creative course of their choice (courses include Writing Science Fiction, Writing Gothic & Supernatural Fiction and many others)

Key Dates

Submissions Open

September 25, 2024

Submissions Close

December 18, 2024

Longlist Announced

March 25, 2025

Shortlist Announced

April 22, 2025

Winner Announced

May 6, 2025

Judges

  • Susan Armstrong

    Susan Armstrong

    Agent

    Susan Armstrong loves discovering new voices and helping debut writers launch their careers. She is interested in grounded SFF, speculative and genre-bending fiction, contemporary stories, family dramas, gothic and folkloric tales, crime thrillers, and literary fiction. She has a particular soft spot for novels with an edge of ‘otherness.’ Susan proudly represents the New York Times, Sunday Times, and award-winning writers such as ML Stedman, Joanna Cannon, Jess Kidd, Claire Kohda, Miranda Cowley Heller, C.E. McGill, and Jo Callaghan.

  • Brandi Bowles

    Brandi Bowles

    Agent

    Brandi Bowles began representing authors in 2007, including authors of science fiction, thrillers, and upmarket genre fiction, particularly those focused on STEM, magical realism, or psychological/scientific themes. Her clients include Syfy writer Damien Ober (Voidverse, coming 2025); award-winning crime writer Jo Callaghan (In The Blink of an Eye, 2024); Bridget Foley (Just Get Home, 2022; Hugo and Rose 2018); science writer Kate Biberdorf; Amy Green (The Prized Girl, 2022, You Started This, 2025); and Alex Hirsch, bestselling author and creator of Disney's "Gravity Falls.”

  • Clare Conville

    Clare Conville

    Agent

    Clare Conville co-founded Conville & Walsh in 2000 after working as an editor at Random House. She loves literary and commercial novels, memoirs, and exceptional non-fiction, with a special interest in history, nature, and art, and her clients have won numerous major literary prizes. Claire is proud to represent authors such as Matt Haig, Dolly Alderton, Rachel Joyce, and Antonia Hodgson.

  • Ciara Finan

    Ciara Finan

    Agent

    Ciara Finan joined Curtis Brown in 2018. She is drawn to books with decisive voices, unforgettable characters, and unexpected stories. She seeks fantasy, rom-com, book club fiction, psychological thrillers, historical fiction, and commercial non-fiction, especially from underrepresented backgrounds. She loves stories that subvert conventional narratives of love, friendship, family, loss, and coming-of-age.

  • Gráinne Fox

    Agent

    Gráinne Fox joined UTA in 2023 from Fletcher & Company, representing award-winning, bestselling novelists, journalists, and academics. She has a passion for Irish, British, and European literature and is always looking for smart debut literary voices for an international audience. She is drawn to writers who delight and entertain their readers with every single line, especially in genre-bending, uncanny fiction that creates new worlds and new ways of telling love stories.

  • Byrd Leavell

    Byrd Leavell

    Agent

    Byrd Leavell is the Co-Head of UTA Publishing and co-founded the Waxman Leavell Literary Agency in 2012. Over his 20-year career, he has represented numerous New York Times #1 bestsellers. He is proud to represent authors such as Cebo Campbell (Sky Full of Elephants), Scott Sigler (Infected), and Drew Magary (The Postmortal).

  • Peter Steinberg

    Peter Steinberg

    Agent

    Peter Steinberg is at United Talent Agency, joining from Fletcher & Company in 2021. He has represented many New York Times bestsellers, with clients nominated for prestigious awards such as the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He is proud to represent writers such as R.M. Grey (Nightweaver), Damien Ober (Voidverse), and Keith Donohue (The Boy Who Drew Monsters).

Sponsors

United Talent Agency Company Logo

United Talent Agency

UTA Publishing partners with authors through every step of the publishing process, from initial concepts to expansion into other media and platforms. Their clients include writers of bestselling and award-winning fiction, nonfiction, cookbooks, poetry, memoirs, and more. Their authors have won or been shortlisted for major prizes like the National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, the Booker Prize, the Women's Prize, and more.

Conville & Walsh Company Logo

Conville & Walsh

C&W is a dynamic London-based literary agency with a team that has a stellar reputation for championing talented new voices and nurturing established authors with the passion and dedication every writer deserves. Their authors have won or been nominated for just about every prize, including the Booker Prize, the Nobel Peace Prize, The Women's Prize for Fiction, the Costa Book of the Year Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the NSW Premier's Literary Award, and many more. 

Curtis Brown Creative

Curtis Brown Creative (CBC) is one of the UK’s most successful writing academies, running courses online and in London. It’s the only creative writing school to be owned and run by a major literary and talent agency (The Curtis Brown Group). Since CBC was founded in 2011, over 240 students have become commercially published authors, including Bonnie Garmus (Lessons in Chemistry), Emilia Hart (Weyward) and Sean Lusk (The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley). CBC frequently runs free courses, scholarships and mentoring for under-represented writers through their Breakthrough Writers’ Programme.

Submit Your Creation: The Andromeda Award Awaits!

Please read competition rules and disclosures before submitting.