Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel

The Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel was established in 1946. Only debut novels written by authors with United States citizenship are eligible and may be published in hardcover, paperback, or e-book. If an American author has published a novel of any genre or under any name previously, they are ineligible for the award, unless the novel was self-published. Authors ineligible for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel may be eligible for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel or the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Paperback Original. Winners for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel are listed below.

From the Wikipedia article “Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Check the official rules of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel for the current eligibility window, accepted formats, residency or language requirements and any entry fee. For most established prizes the publisher submits on the author's behalf, often with a limit on entries per imprint.

If you are self-published, look for an explicit statement that independently published books are accepted, and budget for entry fees and copies for judges.