There's good news for writers looking for that first big break. A major new publishing initiative has been created to provide a venue to discover talented, unknown fiction writers and help them get the recognition they deserve.

This innovative program will evaluate each manuscript submitted, offer editorial feedback and, ultimately, award cash prizes ($100,000, $25,000 and $10,000) and representation to the winners.

Open to unpublished and un-agented fiction writers, the entries can be submitted to the Sobol Literary Enterprises, Inc., on the Internet through the Web site, www.sobolaward.com, from September through December 31, 2006.

To qualify for the award, the writers must never have been published before and their manuscript must be a work of fiction, of any genre, in English. The user-friendly Sobol Award Web site can handle up to 50,000 submissions electronically. Authors pay an entry fee of $85 when registering for the award.

Founded by technology entrepreneur and investor Gur Shomron, the award was created to fill what he saw as a void in the publishing process.

"For many talented writers, finding a publisher is more difficult than writing their novel," said Shomron, who realized how difficult the process is for unknown authors when he tried to find a publisher for his first novel. "Most publishing houses have done away with the 'slush pile' of unsolicited manuscripts and refuse to consider unagented work. The agents themselves can handle only a fraction of the writers who approach them and often are not looking to take on new clients. I found this shocking-and then realized it was a real opportunity."

After finding investors, he created Sobol Literary Enterprises, Inc., a for-profit company, which will reward the winners financially, nurture their careers and act as their agent to get them published.

Prizes of $100,000, $25,000 and $10,000 will be given to the winners and $1,000 cash prizes will be awarded to each of the other seven finalists at a gala awards event next year.

The Sobol Literary Agency will present all 10 winners (as well as selected other works from among the top 50 submissions) to publishers and in some cases to movie producers. "As the winners' agent, we will nurture them, introduce them to publishers and negotiate the best deal for them," said Shomron.

For more information, log on to www.sobolaward.com. Gur Shomron, founder of the Sobol Award, invites all novelists to submit their unsolicited manuscripts for evaluation and competition for prize money and literary representation.

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