To enter the 2026 Awards, please complete the following application form. You may enter upto 4 books. Each entry must be in accordance with the Competition Terms and Conditions below. Each entry costs €40. The Carousel Aware Prize offers some sponsored submission places for writers who might otherwise not be able to afford to enter The CAP Awards. These places will be awarded to authors who meet a low-income criteria. All correspondence will be kept strictly confidential. Please apply to info@capawards.ie .Following successful payment, you will receive an email with instructions as to how to send us your entries.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
These Rules and Conditions are the rules and conditions of The Carousel Aware Prize for Independent Authors (The CAP Awards) for the year 2026.
- This competition is open to all Irish authors and illustrators on the island of Ireland, or those who have lived in Ireland for five years or more, with the exception of committee members, sponsors and anyone else connected with these awards.
- The submissions must be in the English or Irish language, and have been published since 1st of January, 2021. For the avoidance of doubt, a reprint of a book shall not be eligible unless the book was originally published within the period referred to. All entries must have an ISBN
- Submissions begin on Sunday, the 1st of February 2026, at 9am and close at midnight on the 31st of March 2026. No entries will be accepted after this time. (Books may arrive up until the 10th of April.)
- Submissions must be in print form. (eBooks and PDF’s will not be accepted).
- All entrants must be a minimum of 16 years of age at the time of entering.
- Authors can enter up to 4 books.
- The CAP Awards do not accept responsibility for books which are lost, stolen, otherwise mislaid or not received at the latest on the 10th of April 2026, nor shall any extension of time after this date be granted to facilitate the late entry for the Award of books so lost, stolen or otherwise mislaid.
- The winning books will be chosen by selected readers and judges.
- There will be awards for six different categories.
- The judges’ decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into.
- Longlisted and shortlisted authors will be notified via email and invited to the award ceremony in October.
- It is the responsibility of the winning author to arrange for, and to bear all travel costs in respect of their presence at the prize-giving ceremony.
- The Carousel Aware Prize (The CAP Awards) will use any data submitted by entrants only for the purposes of running the competition, unless otherwise stated in the entry details. By entering this competition, all entrants consent to the use of their personal data by The Cap Awards for the purposes of the administration of this competition and any other purposes to which the entrant has consented.
- Canvassing judges in any manner either before or after the entry of any book for the Award will render the said book ineligible for the Award.
- A book shall not be rendered ineligible by reason of having been nominated or shortlisted for, or having won, any other award or prize.
- Copies of submitted books when received, shall become the property of The CAP Awards and shall not be returned to the relevant authors as they are distributed around Ireland to readers and judges.
- The decision of The CAP Awards as to the eligibility of any book shall be final and no correspondence shall be entered into in relation to eligibility.
- The decision of the Judges as to the winning books shall be final and conclusive and no correspondence shall be entered into concerning the judging process.
- The CAP Awards may at any time and without notice alter the Rules and Conditions governing the Award or defer or discontinue it.
- By entering the competition each entrant agrees to be bound by these terms and conditions.