Each year, the New York chapter of Mystery Writers of America, through the MWA/NY Mentor Program, offers unpublished and published members an opportunity to have up to fifty pages of a crime related novel or short story critiqued by an active member of the chapter.

The process begins in mid-September when members of the New York chapter receive a letter of invitation outlining the requirements, the submission dates, the procedures, and the fee for submitting, along with an application/release form. At the same time, the committee recruits active members as mentors to critique the manuscripts. When the submission process closes the Mentor Committee matches mentors and mentees based on the subgenre that the mentee assigned to their work and the subgenre that the mentor selected to review, and the critique process begins. Mentors and mentees have no direct contact.

The process ends in February. In mid-month the committee e-mails the written critique to each participant. The critique is anonymous unless the Mentor chooses to contact the mentee or indicates that the mentee may contact him or her. At the end of February, the Mentor Committee wraps up the program with a panel discussion designed to educate mentees about the next steps in the process.

All fees go into the MWA/NY treasury. Neither the Mentor Committee nor the mentors receive payment for the work they do to ensure the success of the MWA/NY Mentor Program.