Young Authors Lobby Dragonfly Awards for New Category

PHOENIX - June 5, 2013 - PRLog -- In response to suggestions made by published authors younger than 18 years old, Five Star Book Awards' Purple Dragonfly and Royal Dragonfly contests just added two new categories: Youth Author Fiction and Youth Author Nonfiction. Entrants in these categories must be 17 years old or younger and have a parent or guardian's permission to enter. In doing so, they are eligible for all the same prizes and paraphernalia as adult authors who enter. There are no restrictions on publication date as long as the books entered are still in print.

"I'm amazed at how many young authors there are out there," says Linda F. Radke, president of Five Star Publications, Five Star Book Awards' parent company. "Adding the two new categories to accommodate youths just made sense. It's one more way the contest has grown over the past few years. We've doubled our number of entrants and have international attention now. Along with the United States, we receive entries from England, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Israel, France, Canada, Dubai and others.

The Royal Dragonfly Book Awards honors published authors of all types of literature – fiction and nonfiction – in 52 categories, appealing to a wide range of ages and comprehensive list of genres. The Purple Dragonfly Book Awards is strictly for children's literature, offering 37 distinct subject categories, ranging from books on the environment and cooking to sports and family issues. Judges are industry experts with specific knowledge about the categories over which they preside.

In addition to award certificates, book stickers, free listings and news releases, each contest awards a grand prize winner $300, and lucky winners drawn from the first-place wins of each contest receive $100.

The next Royal Dragonfly Book Awards contest is already underway. Submissions postmarked Aug. 1, 2013 or earlier are eligible for the Early Bird reward: a free e-copy of The Economical Guide to Self-Publishing or Promote Like a Pro: Small Budget, Big Show written by Radke. Final deadline for submissions is Oct. 1, 2013. The Early Bird deadline for the next Purple Dragonfly Book Awards contest is March 1, 2014, and the final deadline is May 1, 2014. Winners of the 2013 Purple Dragonfly contest will be announced June 15, 2013.

For complete rules and submission forms for either contest, visit www.FiveStarBookAwards.com and click on the contest of choice. To learn more about Five Star Publications, celebrating 27 years in business in Chandler, Ariz., access www.FiveStarPublications.com, email info@FiveStarPublications.com or call 480-940-8182.