Lansdowne, Ontario, Canada -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/27/2007 --The Ocean Cooperative Literary Agency, one of the online world’s oldest editorial services, has announced that Dan Whipple of Colorado is the winner of the agency’s Novel of Promise award for February. The winning submission was a chapter from Whipple’s novel, My Greatest Hits. The Novel of Promise literary awards program, established to encourage new novelists, awards the prize monthly on the basis of a single submitted chapter of an unpublished novel.

Whipple, a full-time freelance writer specializing in science and environmental coverage, was born in Baltimore but has lived for thirty years in the Rocky Mountain West. He has been working on and off on the novel My Greatest Hits during those years. “Rewriting is everything,” Whipple says with a laugh. “I put down the most godawful stuff the first time around.” His most recently published book was a mystery novel, Click, published by the University Press of Colorado.

Robert Buckland, editor-in-chief at the Ocean Cooperative Literary Agency (www.oceancooperative.com), said that the competition judges here impressed by the author’s overall tone. “The excerpt is clearly the work of a talented writer. The rhythm of the prose is sure, the word choices often striking, and the narrator’s persona a palpable creation. My Greatest Hits is most assuredly a candidate for publication.”

Buckland explained that the Novel of Promise Award, by recognizing promise in work still underway, is intended to encourage a process, not reward a task completed. For this reason, the literary competition is held every month and the prizes associated with the award are relevant to new writers: editorial support and commentary, online promotion, and entry into the agency’s annual New Novel competition, whose winner is represented for publication by the Ocean Cooperative agency.

“There is no fee or other strings attached to the competition,” Buckland said. “It is open to all, writers may enter repeatedly, and entry can in no way encumber the author’s future success. Our aim is to nurture and encourage people embarked on a long and sometimes difficult challenge.”

The Ocean Cooperative, which lists Random House and Cornell University among its recent clients, was founded in 1996 to offer editorial support to English-language writers. More recently, the service has expanded to include a broad spectrum of support for new and established authors who want to see their books published.

Competition rules and details are available on the Ocean Cooperative website at www.oceancooperative.com.

“This award is the sort of supportive initiative that helps any author of an unpublished work,” said Whipple. He plans to make his final revision of My Greatest Hits this year.