HOMER AWARDS

Official Rules & Constitution

1. Purpose

The Homer Awards exist to recognize excellence in fiction writing through a reader-led nomination process and a jury-based final evaluation system. The awards are designed to promote discovery, literary merit, and fair competition across independent and small-press publishing.

2. Definitions

For the purposes of these Rules:

“Work” means a full-length fictional book submitted for consideration.

“Author” means the legally recognized creator or co-creators of a Work.

“Nomination” means a verified reader review or community vote meeting eligibility requirements under Sections 5 and 5A.

“Longlist” means the set of Works selected based on aggregate valid nominations and community votes.

“Jury” means the appointed panel responsible for the evaluation of Longlisted Works.

“Submission Period” means the official period during which Works are eligible for consideration, as defined in Section 4.

3. Eligibility of Works

3.1 A Work must meet all of the following conditions:

Be originally written in the English language.
Be first published between 1 October 2025 and 1 October 2026. * Except the Penelope Award submissions.
Be available in print or digital format at the time of nomination.
Fall within the eligible publishing categories defined herein.

3.2 Eligible publishing categories depend on the award:

(a) Indie Thriller Awards — Hermes Open only to Works that are independently published, self-published, small-press, or hybrid-published.
(b) Publisher-submitted awards — Odyssey, Circe, Athena, Aristofanis, Aphrodite, and Herodotus. Open to all publishers, including major publishing houses, independent presses, and small presses.

3.3 Works published by major multinational publishing houses and their imprints (“Big Five” and affiliated entities) are not eligible for the Indie Thriller Awards (Hermes). They remain eligible for the publisher-submitted awards listed in 3.2(b).

3.4 Co-authored Works are eligible. Any award recognition shall be shared equally among all credited Authors.

3.5 Translated Works are eligible only where the English-language edition meets the eligibility period defined in 3.1(b).

3.6 Revised or reissued editions shall be ineligible unless the Work constitutes a substantially rewritten and materially new edition.

3.7 Works authored or co-authored by a founder of the Homer Awards, by an organizer, or by a sitting member of the Jury are not eligible for any reader-nominated or jury-evaluated award. This does not apply to the Markos Synodinos Award (Section 19), which is a private founders’ designation, nor to the Penelope Award judge’s professional selection (Section 18).

4. Submission Period

4.1 The Submission Period shall run from 1 September 2026 to 31 December 2026 inclusive.

4.2 No submissions or nominations shall be accepted outside the Submission Period, except where otherwise specified for special categories under Section 18.

4.3 The Awards reserve the right to extend, shorten, or amend the Submission Period under Section 16 (Force Majeure).

5. Nomination Mechanism — External Platforms

5.1 A Nomination via external platform is valid only when it is derived from a publicly accessible reader review of not fewer than fifty (50) words.

5.2 Valid review platforms include:

Amazon (regional domains permitted)
Goodreads

5.3 A single qualifying review constitutes one (1) Nomination.

5.4 Authors shall not be permitted to nominate their own Works.

5.5 Paid, incentivized, or artificially generated reviews are strictly prohibited and shall be invalidated.

5.6 A review used as a Nomination must have been written by the nominating member. Nominations submitted using another person’s review shall be invalidated.

5A. Nomination Mechanism — Community Voting

The Homer Awards operate a two-path nomination system. External reader reviews (Section 5) and community voting (this section) are parallel and complementary pathways. Both contribute to Longlist formation.

5A.1 Community Voting Period

A dedicated community voting phase is conducted between 1 January 2027 and 14 February 2027.

5A.2 Eligible Voters

Voting is open to registered members of the designated Homer Awards communities:

Thriller Book Retreat (Facebook Group)
Solo Travel To Greece (Facebook Group)

Each eligible member may cast one (1) vote per award category during the voting period.

5A.3 Voting Platform

In the inaugural year, community voting is conducted via Typeform. The Awards reserve the right to migrate voting platforms in subsequent years with advance notice to the community.

5A.4 Vote Integrity

All community votes are subject to integrity verification. Coordinated, fraudulent, or automated voting activity shall be invalidated in accordance with Section 11.

5A.5 Combined Longlist Formation

The final Longlist is determined by a combined weighting of verified external nominations and community voting results. The precise weighting methodology is determined and published by the Awards prior to the close of the Submission Period.

6. Longlist Selection

6.1 The Longlist shall consist of Works receiving the highest number of valid Nominations and community votes during the applicable periods.

6.2 The precise number of Longlisted Works shall be determined by the Awards and published prior to jury review.

6.3 In the event of a tie at the final qualifying position, all tied Works shall be included in the Longlist.

7. Jury Composition

7.1 The Jury shall consist of appointed members, including:

Reader Voice Representative
Genre and Community Representative
Lead Judge Panel

7.2 The Reader Voice Representative is elected annually from the Thriller Book Retreat community and receives a complimentary retreat stay in connection with the award gala. Flights and travel insurance are not included.

7.3 Jury members must act independently and impartially.

7.4 No Jury member shall evaluate a Work in which a conflict of interest exists.

7.5 The Penelope Award (Section 18) is not evaluated by this Jury. It is a professional publishing selection made by a single named judge, governed entirely by Section 18.

8. Conflict of Interest

8.1 A conflict of interest includes, but is not limited to:

Familial relationships
Personal relationships
Editorial involvement
Publishing representation
Financial or commercial interest
Co-authorship or collaboration

8.2 Any Jury member with a conflict shall recuse themselves from evaluation of the affected Work.

8.3 Failure to disclose a conflict may result in removal from the Jury.

9. Judging Process

9.1 The Jury shall evaluate all Longlisted Works based on:

Narrative execution
Originality
Emotional impact
Genre effectiveness

9.2 The Jury shall determine:

Shortlisted Works
Final winning Work(s)

9.3 All Jury decisions are final and binding.

10. Shortlist and Winner Determination

10.1 The Shortlist shall consist of Works selected by the Jury from the Longlist.

10.2 The number of Shortlisted Works shall be determined at the sole discretion of the Jury and published prior to announcement.

10.3 The Winner shall be selected from the Shortlist by majority or consensus decision of the Jury.

10.4 In the event of a tie, the Jury may:

Declare joint winners, or
Conduct an additional review round.

11. Voting Integrity

11.1 The Awards reserve the right to investigate any irregular activity, including:

Fraudulent reviews
Coordinated voting campaigns
Bot or automated activity
Artificial inflation of nominations

11.2 Any Work found to be involved in manipulation may be disqualified without notice.

12. AI-Generated Content

12.1 Works substantially generated by artificial intelligence without meaningful human authorship shall be ineligible.

12.2 The use of artificial intelligence as a supporting tool — including editing, research, or proofreading — shall not constitute ineligibility, provided the Work remains primarily authored by a human.

13. Withdrawal of Works

13.1 Authors may request withdrawal of a Work prior to the close of the Submission Period.

13.2 Following publication of the Shortlist, withdrawal shall only be permitted under exceptional circumstances and subject to approval by the Awards.

14. Disqualification

The Awards may disqualify any Work found to:

Contain false or misleading information
Violate applicable copyright or publishing law
Interfere with nomination or voting integrity
Breach the principles of fair competition

All disqualification decisions shall be final.

15. Appeals

15.1 No appeals, requests for reconsideration, or challenges to judging outcomes shall be accepted.

15.2 All decisions of the Jury and the Awards administration are final and binding.

16. Force Majeure

The Awards reserve the right to amend timelines, procedures, or formats in circumstances beyond reasonable control, including but not limited to:

Natural disasters
Public health emergencies
Technical failures
Legal or regulatory constraints

17. Governing Principles

The Homer Awards shall operate under principles of fairness, transparency, and integrity. All procedures shall be interpreted in alignment with these principles where ambiguity exists.

18. Special Category: Penelope Award (Unpublished Works)

18.1 The Penelope Award is a distinct category within the Homer Awards, open exclusively to unpublished thriller manuscripts submitted directly by their authors.

18.2 Manuscripts submitted for the Penelope Award are not subject to the review-based or community-voting nomination requirements defined in Sections 5 and 5A. Submissions are made directly via official entry forms published by the Awards.

18.3 The Penelope Award is a professional publishing selection, not a jury or community evaluation. It is judged by a single named judge: Jonas Saul, founder of Imagine Press. The judge reads all qualifying submissions, longlist manuscripts, requests full manuscripts from longlisted authors, and selects the winner alone. A publishing deal is a professional editorial judgment, not a democratic decision.

18.4 Prize

The winner of the Penelope Award receives a full publishing deal with Imagine Press. Details of the publishing agreement, including rights, royalties, and timelines, shall be provided to finalists prior to the announcement of the winner.

18.5 Submission Deadline and Entry Fee

Submission deadline: 31 December 2026
Entry fee: as published on the Awards website at the time of submission. The entry fee is non-refundable regardless of outcome, including in the event of withdrawal.

18.6 All other provisions of this Constitution apply to the Penelope Award except where explicitly overridden in this section.

18.7 Because the Penelope Award is expressly a professional publishing selection by a single named judge who is a founder of the Awards and of Imagine Press, this relationship is disclosed openly and the impartial-jury and recusal provisions of Section 8 do not apply to it. The judge shall not, however, select any manuscript authored by a founder of the Awards or by a member of the judge’s immediate family.

19. Special Designation: Markos Synodinos Award

The Markos Synodinos Award recognizes outstanding literary service to Greece. It is not open for public submission or nomination. This designation is awarded privately at the sole discretion of the Homer Awards founders and is not subject to jury evaluation, community voting, or appeals.

20. Data Protection

The Homer Awards collect personal information (including names, email addresses, social media or community profile links, and review links) solely for the purpose of administering nominations, voting, the Reader Voice election, and award submissions. This information is stored securely, retained only as long as necessary for these purposes, and is not used for marketing without the separate, explicit, opt-in consent of the individual. Participants may request access to or deletion of their data by contacting the Awards.

21. Limitation of Liability

By participating, entrants, nominators, voters, and attendees agree to release and hold harmless the Homer Awards, its founders, organizers, volunteers, jurors, and affiliated individuals from any claims, losses, or liabilities arising from participation, inclusion, travel, attendance at the gala or any associated event, or award outcomes.