Sheila Bravo’s Immigrant Novel, Historically Inaccurate, Wins the Top Prize in the 2019 Watty Awards
Wattpad Books will publish the #OwnVoices story as part of its Fall 2020 list
TORONTO - September 30, 2019 - Wattpad, the global multiplatform entertainment company for original stories, today announced that Sheila Bravo’s (@thepurplerose) Historically Inaccurate has won the top prize in the 2019 Watty Awards. Wattpad Books will publish the #OwnVoices story as part of its Fall 2020 list.
Historically Inaccurate follows the story of Soledad “Sol” Gutierrez, as she attempts to keep her life together after her mother’s deportation. Even with her schoolwork, a part-time job, and the pressure of her family being broken apart, Sol joins The History Club, and soon finds herself embroiled in a number of adventures that ultimately change the course of her life forever.
Sheila Bravo is a 24 year old, US-based, writer from Texas, who immigrated from Mexico when she was twelve years old. She has been writing on Wattpad for nearly a decade, and started writing Historically Inaccurate in 2017. Her stories have accumulated over 52 million reads to date on Wattpad.
2019 marks the 10-year anniversary of the Watty Awards, the world’s largest writing competition. To date, more than 1.12 million stories have been submitted to the Watty Awards. This year, writers from around the world submitted more than 169,000 stories, of which Wattpad recognized more than 500 winners in 11 languages. A full list of winners is available on the Watty Awards website.
The Watty Awards showcase the best of Wattpad’s art and science approach to finding hit stories. The company uses its Story DNA Machine Learning technology to help sort and compare hundreds of thousands of Watty Awards submissions each year. Wattpad’s content experts are then able to review the most promising works and select winners.
Watty Award winners are also considered for high profile monetization opportunities with Wattpad, including Wattpad Studios development deals and space in Wattpad’s Paid Stories program, where writers make money from their work directly on Wattpad.
Some of Wattpad’s biggest success stories in publishing and entertainment started as Watty Award winners. Wattpad Books’ upcoming Cupid’s Match, by Lauren Palphreyman (in stores October 1, 2019); I’m a Gay Wizard, by VS Santoni (in stores October 29, 2019); and Given, by Nandi Taylor (in stores January 21, 2020) are all previous Watty Award winners. Other previous winners include Beth Reekles’ The Kissing Booth, Vic James’ Gilded Cage, Katerina E. Tonks’ Death is My BFF, and Kara Barbieri’s White Stag.
For more information visit: https://wattys.wattpad.com
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About Wattpad Books
Wattpad Books, a division of Wattpad, is the leader in data-backed publishing. Leveraging billions of daily insights from Wattpad’s global community of 80 million book-lovers, Wattpad Books combines the best of art and science, using human expertise and Story DNA Machine Learning technology to identify the trends, voices, and stories that are the future of publishing. By elevating the stories of diverse communities around the world, Wattpad Books is creating new space for writers and fans of every genre.
Visit books.wattpad.com for more information.
About Wattpad
Wattpad’s vision is to entertain and connect the world through stories. Using the power of community and technology, the global multiplatform entertainment company is unleashing the full potential of stories to the world – in any format. Wattpad’s flagship app is the world’s leading social storytelling platform, home to a community of more than 80 million people who spend over 22 billion minutes a month engaged in original stories. Wattpad’s Story DNA Machine Learning technology allows the company to understand and discover stories among the more than half a billion uploads that have been written on the platform. Wattpad Studios and Wattpad Books are transforming entertainment and publishing, using data-backed insights to turn Wattpad stories into books, films, TV shows, and digital projects. Wattpad Brand Partnerships offers a full suite of advertising products to help brands build deep engagement with Millennial and Gen Z consumers. Tap by Wattpad, the company’s second storytelling product, offers immersive interactive entertainment experiences in over a dozen languages. The company is proudly based in Toronto, Canada.