Delacorte contest page count vs. word count

[Vickie P]

I am considering entering a middle grade MS I've been working on to the Delacorte contest, but am a bit confused about the page requirements. The contest guidelines state it should be between 96 and 160 typewritten pages, but to me it seems the word count would be awfully high for an MG. Am I doing my margins and font size wrong, or what? My current YA MS I am working on, for example, has almost 25,000 words and that is only up to page 75. Is it because the chapters are so much shorter that the white space between takes up more? I am so confused!

 
 

[Mindy Alyse]

My 31,000 word MG is 131 pages.  Are you using 12 point Times New Roman?  I usually use 1" margins on the sides and bottom, and either 1" or slightly more space than that on top. 

From Keyboard to Printed Page on the SCBWI site has some great formatting information.  Here's a link to their publications: http://scbwi.org/pubs.htm

[Bryan M]

My Delecorte MG entry last year came in at 39k words and 145 pages.  This was with 12 pt. arial font and 1" margins.

[lillian]

You should get approximately 250 words per page, if you are typing double spaced in 12 pt Times New Roman with one inch margins. Are you double spacing? Are you starting each new chapter on a new page?