The deadline for the 5th Annual Charles and Wilhelmina O’Connor Author Competition was announced today. Entries must be postmarked by Dec. 31, 2015.

The competition is open to anyone who resides in Jefferson County, or is a member of the Jefferson County Historical Society, has not ever published a book before, and is in the final stages of writing a non-fiction or fiction book, play or children’s book about the history of Jefferson County.

The contest offers the winner a professionally published book, an e-book and marketing materials for the promotion of their book. The competition is being held in cooperation with Infinity Publishing of West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania and the Jefferson County (WV) Historical Society.

According to local author Bob O’Connor, the competition honors his parents who are both deceased. “My mother and father were huge supporters of my writing from elementary school on. This is a way for me to keep their legacy alive.”

The author said he wanted to encourage potential authors to submit.

“I am trying to find writers who may not know how to get their writing is published. Often they find publishing much harder than actually writing a book.” he said.

The author and his siblings who live in other parts of the country plus a member of the Jefferson County Historical Society Board of Directors will judge the competition. Manuscripts will be sent to the judges without the author’s name to insure impartiality.

The winning entry will be announced at the end of March 2016. The winning author will be allowed a whole year to complete his or her project prior to having it published.

O’Connor himself has published ten books. He has been named Finalist for four national book awards competition by the Indie Excellence Awards and USA Book News since 2006.

All rules and criteria for submission to the competition may be received by contacting author@boboconnorbooks.com.