Calling all Writers: Wattpad Kicks-Off the 2023 Watty Awards

The 2023 Watty Awards will give out more cash prizes than ever before, with over $50,000 in prizing as well as 10 adaptation opportunities from Wattpad WEBTOON Studios 

TORONTO - July 17, 2023 - Wattpad, a leading webnovel platform, is thrilled to kick-off The 2023 Watty Awards, the company’s annual global writing competition. Now in its 14th year, the 2023 Watty Awards will be the biggest to date, with a total prize pool of over $50,000 and adaptation opportunities for television, film and publishing opportunities from Wattpad WEBTOON Studios. 

This year marks the Watty Awards’ 14th anniversary, and with over 100 awards to be won, 2023 promises to be the most exciting to date. Attracting aspiring and established authors worldwide, the Watty Awards are one of the world’s largest and most diverse writing competitions, open to writers in nine languages across 11 genres. Grand Prize Winners will be selected from each language, each receiving $5,000 USD. In addition to cash prizes, one winner will receive a book deal from the Wattpad WEBTOON Book Group, and nine winners will receive adaptation opportunities with Wattpad WEBTOON Studios.

Writers can enter their work in a number of new and established categories, including Catchiest Hook, Most Engaging World, Best Characters, and Biggest Twist. New this year are the Fans’ Choice Awards and Best Ongoing Story categories. The Fans’ Choice Awards will allow readers to vote for their favorite new story among a shortlist from Wattpad’s content experts. The new Best Ongoing Story category will be open to stories with at least 20K words, that are regularly updated and ongoing. The Best Ongoing Story category reflects the company’s commitment to helping writers hone their craft, including helping authors develop writing and publishing schedules to grow and engage their audience. Wattpad recently released its new Publishing Scheduler tool, allowing authors to schedule when new chapters are published. 

"For fourteen years, the Watty Awards have celebrated new voices in fiction, launching careers and fandoms for a new generation of authors," said Nick Uskoski, Head of Content and Creator Development. “Like everything we do, the Watty Awards is about supporting authors so they can unleash their imagination and craft incredible stories. With more cash prizes than ever before, we’re thrilled to provide writers with the chance to showcase their work and help them connect with a global audience.”

Since 2009, the Watty Awards have helped launch some of the most exciting new names in fiction and webnovels, with winners regularly going on to success on screens and bookshelves. Watty Award-winning author Ariana Godoy has become a global sensation: her Wattpad hit A Traves de Mi Ventana (Through My Window) accumulated over 370M reads online and has been adapted into a hit series of films from Netflix and Wattpad WEBTOON Studios. Print publications of Godoy’s Wattpad webnovels have sold more than a million copies around the world.  

Other previous Watty Award winners include, Mercedes Ron, author of the Wattpad webnovel-turned-Prime Video streaming sensation, Culpa Mia; Beth Reekles, author of The Kissing Booth, which grew to millions of reads on Wattpad before becoming a global Netflix hit; Vic James, author of the The Gilded Cage; Taran Matharu, author of the New York Times bestselling series The Summoner; Claudia Tan, whose massively popular Perfect Addiction (86M reads on Wattpad) was adapted into a film from Wattpad WEBTOON Studios and Constantin Film that debuted in Prime Video’s Top Ten all over the world, according to Flixpatrol. 

”Winning a Watty Award was a pivotal moment in my writing journey,” said A Traves de Mi Ventana author Ariana Godoy. “The recognition and support I received not only boosted my confidence but it also opened doors that I had previously thought were inaccessible. The Wattys served as a powerful endorsement of my work, which truly launched my career as an author and set me on a path I had only dreamed of.” 

Writers can submit stories until 11:59pm EST on August 8, 2023. Winners will be announced on December 1, 2023. 

For more information visit: www.wattpad.com/wattys.

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