Listed below are the Winners of the 2024 Launch Pad Prose Competition. Congratulations to the winning writers and thanks to all for submitting!
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Here are the Winners:
Book Winner
Hemingway Slept Here by Brett Block
When Catherine Thatcher’s brother dies and leaves her a boat in Key West, the 55 year-old thinks this is the answer to her financial woes after a messy divorce and putting their mother in a facility for dementia. But the boat is actually a dilapidated trawler and a handsome buddy of her brother’s is living on-board and refuses to leave. Key West is south of her normal. But if she wants to unravel the mystery of the boat and her brother that’s exactly the direction Catherine needs to go.
Short Story Winner
Swamp Girl by Ruth Knafo Setton
When a cynical half-Mexican teen girl with a closely guarded secret meets Rubberman, the bitter headliner of a county fair freak show, sparks and secrets explode.
Scott Glassgold VIP Producing Partner Prize Winner
My Taylor Era by Debbie Trecek Volkens
At a Taylor Swift stadium tour concert, overly cautious seventeen-year-old Ali Woods experiences a true Cinderella moment. But when her Prince Charming disappears without so much as a phone number to contact him with, she and her friends must piece together the clues he left behind to find him–and her fearless side–again. (Book Manuscript)
Shadowboxer Films Development Prize Winner
All Good Quests by Joe Graber
Journalist Brogan Quint is, according to his editor, “the quintessential vagabond.” He’s also broken, haunted by a tragedy that took place half his life ago. When tech mogul John Breckon vanishes, Quint, like the rest of the world, is sucked in by the mystery. As he begins to investigate, Quint discovers an idyllic town, love, and a second chance at happiness. But Quint has a few things in common with Breckon, and his interest in the man spirals into an obsession that may cost him his life … (Book Manuscript)
Kronicle Media Development Prize Winner
Secret Fences by Zakiya Raines
Deeply unfulfilled yet still impassioned and lascivious, wife and mother, Naomi, decides to live by the same, controversial rules as her husband. (Book Manuscript)
Emily Hardy Mentorship Selection
Blood Quantum by Nicole Newman
In dire straits, Cheyenne searches for her long-lost father, linked to the Cherokee elite. Her quest reveals more than just tribal lineage or benefits – it leads to an Indigenous future set in a parallel world. Triumph? A new dawn awaits. Falter, and she’s forever trapped. (Book Manuscript)
Lameese Hassen Mentorship Selection
A Glimpse at the Eclipse by Susan Hahn
A GLIMPSE AT THE ECLIPSE is a novel told through nine, interlocking narratives where each short story illuminates a journey from darkness to light and reflects on the power of art and imagination as a catalyst for change. (Book Manuscript)
Sara Shepard Mentorship Selection
Corpse Flower by Allison Mick
A coming of age story about a professional lab rat and owner of an immortal cell line used for biomedical research (like Henrietta Lacks, but with equity) and how it consumes the planet. (Short Story)
Ken Atchity Mentorship Winner
The Bones of Hope by Maria Ostrowski
A mechanical engineer unearths a book of myths and the secret lives of her seafaring women ancestors as she races to save her ancestral home before climate change sweeps it into the sea. Through alternating timelines, THE BONES OF HOPE, weaves the tales of three women across a century, grappling with fertility, independence, and destiny, and explores how a past left unhealed threatens to wound the living. (Book Manuscript)
Our Guaranteed Signing Prize Winner will be announced at a later date following consultations with finalists.
