The Palette Awards are open to League of Utah Writers members who have released a new cover in the past year.

Winners announced at the Quills Conference Awards Ceremony
August 8th, 2026

Entry Fee

$10 per entry.

Rules and Guidelines

Submissions open March 1st and closes April 25th, 2026.

Submissions claiming to be a member of the League of Utah will be verified for member eligibility. If membership will have lapsed or will be lapsed by September 2026, the submitter will be prompted to renew their membership. If a week goes by without their membership being renewed, the submission will be denied without their entry fee being refunded.

This cover contest is both for traditional and self-published texts. Artist/Designer must be credited if one was used. AI-Generated art/covers are not eligible.

Cover must have been released from May 2025 to May 2026 before the submission deadline.

NOTE: Only book editions published within the entry timeframe are eligible for the Palette Awards. If a book is published before that 2025-26 window, but is re-released under a different cover within that time frame, the cover is eligible for this contest.

Gold, Silver, and Bronze Palettes are given in each category.

The Lapis Lazuli Palette Award is given to the highest score among all entries.

Restrictions and Judging

A cover design may only be entered into one category.

Multiple entries are accepted from a single author, but each cover can only be entered once.

Judges are an anonymous third party from outside the League of Utah Writers.

Judges will know the author's name since it is impossible to redact names or other identifying information.

In no way does the League of Utah Writers share your personal information with any third party. Any information of such a nature is only for use in contacting the submitter or allowing Submission Manager to identify your account, should you need assistance.

Award winners will be announced at the Quills Awards during the Quills Conference. Please make sure your submission provides a valid MAILING ADDRESS, along with your email address. You do not need to be present at the awards ceremony to win. If you are not present and you place in a category, we will mail you your award, but can only do so with a valid mailing address.

Submission

Entries can only be accepted electronically via our Submission Manager.

If you made an account with our Submission Manager last year, you will need to make a new one this year!

Formats Accepted: PDF, JPG, and PNG.

Files will be deleted at the conclusion of judging.

Final Notes

Contacting a judge, editor, or agent regarding the contest (before, during, and after) will result in the contestant being disqualified from future participation in any hosted contests by The League.

Violation of the rules will result in a non-judged piece and forfeiture of entry fees.

The contest committee reserves the right not to award a prize in a category if entries do not meet the minimum scoring criteria.