Introduction
The CALEB Award from Omega Writers recognises the best in Australasian Christian writing,
published and unpublished, giving Christian writers an opportunity to be celebrated for their
commitment to their craft.
CALEB stands for Christian Authors Lifting Each other’s Books. In the Biblical book of Joshua,
Caleb was one of two spies to go into the land of Israel and bring back a good report. Caleb said that
the Israelites would have success because God was with them, even though there were giants ahead of
them.
As Christian writers in the Australasian region, we can often feel dwarfed by the apparent ‘giants’ of
international publishing. However, God is still with us in our writing, and we can press on with
courage and encouragement in him.
The aim of the CALEB awards is to encourage and promote Christian writers from Australia, New
Zealand and the south Pacific who are courageously writing and publishing books from a Christian
worldview.
Thus, the CALEB Award:
● Supports excellence in Australasian Christian writing by encouraging and educating writers,
regardless of genre.
● Encourages excellence in Australasian books by recognising and rewarding our best writers
writing from a Christian worldview.
The CALEB Award has two streams – published and unpublished – which run in alternate years.
There is also a biennial Barnabas Award, recognising a writer who goes out of their way to support
and encourage others in their writing journey.
The CALEB Award is run by volunteer members of Omega Writers. Our judges are also volunteers,
and we welcome Christian readers and writers from Australia, New Zealand and the south Pacific to
contribute as judges.
The award is open to members and non-members to enter; however, the Omega Writers President and
CALEB Award Coordinator are not eligible to enter. Competitors may judge in the same year that
they enter, but they are prohibited from judging in the same category as their own entries.
The Barnabas Award is chosen on the merit of nominations received by the CALEB Committee.
Entry fees are discounted for current Omega Writers members. There is no fee to nominate for the
Barnabas Award.
CALEB Award – Unpublished Awards
Unpublished Awards
The CALEB Unpublished contest exists to support and encourage unpublished writers towards the
pursuit and achievement of excellence. In line with most other reputable writing contests, only
unpublished writers are eligible to enter the CALEB Unpublished Award.
The Unpublished Awards run in odd years.
All entries and judging are anonymous. Entrants will receive feedback from three judges at the
conclusion of judging. Anonymous feedback is a valuable gift, and is a common reason for entering a
contest for unpublished writers.
The awards are open to the following genres:
● Young Adult fiction
● General fiction (the award may be divided into specific genres if there is a sufficient number
of entries in each genre e.g. romance, fantasy)
● General non-fiction (the award may be divided into specific genres if there is a sufficient
number of entries in each genre e.g. memoir/biography, devotional, other)
General Rules (for all entrants)
1. Entrants must acknowledge the Nicene Creed, which is the Omega Writers Statement of
Belief (https://www.omegawriters.org/statement-of-belief/).
2. All entries should conform to a traditional Christian worldview, although Christian content is
not mandatory.
3. Entrants must be citizens or residents of Australia, New Zealand or the south Pacific.
4. The current President of Omega Writers and the CALEB Coordinator are not eligible to enter
the CALEB Award.
5. Entrants may not volunteer to judge in the same category as their own entries.
6. Entrants must follow all contest rules or their entry will be disqualified and their entry fee
forfeited. Omega Writers will not enter into any discussion on any issue.
7. Any entry found to contain plagiarised text (including insufficiently attributed quotations
from copyright material) will be disqualified and the entry fee forfeited.
1. Ghost written or AI generated books may not be entered. Any entry found to contain ghost
written, AI or plagiarised content will be disqualified, and the entry fee forfeited.
8. All entries must be submitted via the online entry form, available on the Omega Writers
website when the award is open for entries.
9. First round entries must include a synopsis. The synopsis will not be judged in and of itself,
but will be used by judges to understand the overall plot, context and character development
(if relevant) of the manuscript.
10. Entrants confirm they are the sole author of the entry. Where books are written by more than
one person, all contributing writers must be named on the entry form.
11. Late entries will not be accepted.
12. There must be a minimum of seven entries in each category for an award to be made in that
category. If there are not enough entries, those received for that category will receive a refund
of their entry fee and their manuscript will not be judged.
13. Full payment must be made before an entry is accepted for the award.
Unpublished Award Rules
1. The Unpublished contest is an electronic only contest.
2. The contest will be limited to fifteen (15) entries in each category.
3. Entrants may submit no more than one entry per category.
4. The following writers may not enter any unpublished fiction category:
a. Writers who have previously been published in long-form fiction (over 15,000 words) in
any format.
b. Writers who publish or have a novel scheduled for publication before the winners are
announced. This includes novels that are self-published, hybrid published, or published
by a traditional publisher.
5. Writers who have previously been published in fiction may enter the unpublished nonfiction
category.
6. The following writers may not enter any unpublished nonfiction category:
a. Writers who have previously been published in long-form nonfiction (over 15,000 words)
in any format.
b. Writers who publish or have a nonfiction book scheduled for publication in the year of the
award. This includes books that are self-published, hybrid published, or published by a
traditional publisher.
7. Writers who have been previously published in nonfiction may enter either of the unpublished
fiction categories.
8. Word counts for each category are:
a) Young Adult Fiction entries must be between 40,000 and 100,000 words, as determined
by computer word count.
b) General Fiction entries must be between 40,000 and 120,000 words, as determined by
computer word count.
c) Non-fiction entries must be a minimum of 20 000 words, as determined by computer
word count.
d) All entries must be a maximum of 120,000 words, as determined by computer word
count, unless prior exemption has been requested. Email: caleb@omegawriters.org
9. Entrants should not discuss any details of their entry (e.g. title, plot, characters, themes) online or
in person, to protect the integrity of the contest.
10. Writers may enter a non-winning manuscript a maximum of two times across all categories,
subject to meeting all other entry criteria.
11. Submissions to the Unpublished Award may have been professionally edited, but this is not a
requirement.
12. Manuscripts must be complete at the time of entry.
13. All entries must be submitted in Word (doc or docx) format.
14. Writers will submit two documents:
a) The first 10,000 words plus a synopsis of up to 1,000 words, saved as one file using the
file name: CALEB-Category-Title-File1 (eg. CALEB-YAfiction-TheCraving-File1)
b) The complete manuscript of up to 120,000 words, saved as CALEB-Category-TitleFullMS (eg. CALEB-YAfiction-TheCraving -FullMS)
c) Manuscripts not saved in this file name format will not be read, and the entry fee
forfeited.
15. The following formatting guidelines must be followed:
a) Times New Roman or Courier font.
b) 12-point font size.
c) Double line spacing.
d) Each new paragraph should have a 1.27 cm (1/2 inch) indent. Set indents using the Indent
function, not the Tab key or the Space bar.
e) Chapter headings and scene breaks should be centred.
f) The header should contain the manuscript title and category on the left-hand side, and the
page number on the right-hand side.
g) The author’s name should not appear anywhere on the manuscript.
16. Entries which are not formatted correctly will not be judged. Our volunteer award organisers do not have the time to reformat entries for judging. If you have trouble with formatting, please seek advice or help to do so prior to entering.
17. The judges’ decisions are final and no correspondence will be entered into.
