Entries open now
The 2025 CALEB Award offers a unique opportunity for unpublished Christian writers across Australia and New Zealand to receive valuable feedback on their manuscripts. Entries open in April.
Are you an aspiring author looking for impartial feedback on your unpublished manuscript? Are you worried about the way other competitions might treat faith-related content? The 2025 Caleb Award is for you!
What is the CALEB Award?
The CALEB Award is a competition run by Omega Writers. It supports excellence by recognising and rewarding great Christian-worldview writing, regardless of genre. In even years, the competition is for published books and in odd years the competition is for unpublished manuscripts. Omega Writers also awards a Barnabas Award, recognising writers who go out of their way to support and encourage others in their writing journey.
The CALEB Award is for both fiction and non-fiction, though each section may be divided into specific genres if there is a sufficient number of entries in each genre (e.g. romance for fiction and memoir/biography for non-fiction). Find out more at the CALEB Award page website.
This year, the CALEB Award will run a competition for unpublished manuscripts.
Entries are open until 1 May
Why enter the 2025 CALEB Award?
Constructive Feedback: All entries are judged anonymously. Entrants receive impartial feedback from three different judges, providing diverse perspectives to help refine your craft. Find out how valuable this was to past winner Suzie Peace Pybus.
Encouragement and community: Past winners and finalists have found the CALEB Award to be an amazing opportunity to share the writing journey with others. See how this worked out for past winner Kate Mackereth.
Pathways to publication: For some authors entering the CALEB Award becomes the first step on a path to publication. Find out how this worked for 2022 Unpublished Non-fiction winner Stephanie Walters.
Award prizes: Finalists and winners are provided with digital award stickers for use when promoting their work. Other prizes are determined year by year.
Fantastic prizes in 2025!
One manuscript from among the finalists will be offered a grand prize thanks to sponsors Tabor College and Green Hill Publishing Services.
This includes mentoring through Tabor College’s Creative Writing Mentor Program together with a book design and print readiness package through Green Hill Publishing.
The winner of the Early/Middle Grade category will also receive a mentoring support package from award-winning children’s author Penny Reeve, aimed at helping the recipient grow as a children’s writer and make real progress towards their writing goals.
Can’t enter? Why not be a judge?
Whether you are a published author or an avid reader, we invite you to be a judge of the 2025 CALEB Award. It can be a fabulous learning experience and way to support other Australian Christian writers. You can choose how many entries you read. Find out more and sign up here.