Writing competition terms and conditions

The D.H. Lawrence Children’s Prize: Writing Competition

Terms and Conditions

 Eligibility

1. Entry to this competition is open to persons who will be aged between 4 and 16 years on Friday 10 May 2024 when the competition closes who are residents of the UK (including the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man).

Online entries must be typed by an adult (parent/guardian or teacher) on behalf of the child. When an entry is submitted by a third party (e.g. a teacher), prior to submitting the entry, on behalf of an entrant, the party submitting the entry shall be responsible for (i) obtaining parental consent (ii) providing a copy of the Rules to the parent/guardian to ensure the entrant’s compliance with the Rules. Evidence may requested for consent, proof of age, identity and eligibility.

Postal entries must be sent by an adult (parent/guardian or teacher) on behalf of the child, along with a completed entry form. When an entry is submitted by a third party (e.g. a teacher), prior to submitting the entry, on behalf of an entrant, the party submitting the entry shall be responsible for (i) obtaining parental consent (ii) providing a copy of the Rules to the parent/guardian to ensure the entrant’s compliance with the Rules. Evidence may requested for consent, proof of age, identity and eligibility.

Entry will be in three age categories:

• Category 1 - ages 4-7 years
• Category 2 – ages 8-11 years
• Category 3 – ages 12-16 years

As well as the three age categories there is a ‘Best of Broxtowe’ category.  Entries from Broxtowe residents into any of the age categories will also automatically be entered into the ‘Best of Broxtowe’ category, with the additional chance of winning a prize.

How to enter

2. Entrants must write an original fictional short story or poem (no more than 500 words in length). Entry is via an online entry form or by post with a printable entry form available at D.H. Lawrence Children's Prize: Writing Competition (broxtowe.gov.uk). The responsible adult submitting the entry on behalf of the entrant will be asked to provide the entrant’s name, gender, region and their age and ensure that they have parental permission to do so. The submitter must enter the child’s entry in the text box provided for submission for online entries, or with an accompanying entry form for postal entries.
3. All stories and poems must be submitted in English.
4. We can only accept entries which are 500 words or fewer according to the word counter on the online submission form and cannot accept word counts from any other software. Please make sure you check the word count on our form if you are pasting from another piece of software, such as Microsoft Word.
5. Entries can only be accepted online or via post; entries sent over email or though social media will not be read or considered.
6. The adult submitting the child’s entry must provide their own contact and personal details (not the child’s). Teachers submitting stories on behalf of pupils must seek parental permission and if requested provide evidence of permission.
7. Entry opens on Thursday 7 March 2024 at 08:00 and closes on Friday 10 May 2024 at 20:00. Submissions received outside of this time frame will not, under any circumstances, be considered.
8. Only one entry per person is permitted and the entry must be wholly written by the entrant only. If more than one entry is submitted, only the entrant's first submission will be considered.

The entrant’s parent, guardian or teacher warrants that they have not used material or depicted events that actually took place or used the personal details of any living persons in the story or poem. As the entries may be published, it is important that entrants do not include any personal details about themselves. The entrant must not include their name in the title or body of the story; entries which do contain this information may be removed from the competition.

9. Entries cannot be returned so please remember to retain a copy. Unsuccessful entrants will be contacted in respect of their entry but no feedback on unsuccessful entrees will be provided.
10. All entries must be the original work of the entrant and must not infringe the rights of any other party. In addition, the use of generative AI tools to create any part of an entry is not permitted and will lead to disqualification.

Broxtowe Borough Council accepts no responsibility if entrants ignore these rules and the entrant’s parent, guardian or teacher agrees to indemnify Broxtowe Borough Council against any claim by any third party from any breach of these rules.

11. Entries must not contain defamatory, obscene, offensive, or any other unsuitable material; Broxtowe Borough Council reserves the right to disqualify entries containing such matter. Entries must be suitable to be published or used online by the Broxtowe Borough Council for audiences of all ages, but in particular for a child audience.
12. Entrants retain the copyright in their entries but their parent or guardian grants to Broxtowe Borough Council a perpetual non-exclusive royalty-free licence to publish, broadcast (across all media) and post the entry online and on any other platforms yet to be envisaged. This licence will be deemed to include all the necessary rights and permissions to enable such use by Broxtowe Borough Council, to fulfil the prizes and to complete the administration of this competition.
13. By submitting a story or poem, the entrant’s parent or guardian agrees that Broxtowe Borough Council may at its sole discretion edit, adapt, abridge or translate the entry for the purposes listed above.
14. Entrants agree that the Broxtowe Borough Council may publish the stories on their website for the duration of 5 years, after which all names and attribution will be removed.

Judging criteria

15. Entries will be judged on the following criteria:

• Creativity
• Imagination
• Use of language
• Interpretation of theme (if applicable)
• Age is taken into consideration
• Any learning difficulties editors are made aware of are taken into consideration

Shortlisting stage

16. Depending on the volume of entries in each category, shortlisting by Broxtowe Borough Council staff and volunteer judges may take place to make judging manageable. Entries will be read and scored using the criteria listed above before being passed on for judging in each of the categories.

Judging stage

17. Shortlisted entries for each of the three age categories and for the ‘Best of Broxtowe’ category will be judged by separate judging panels; judging panels may be local writers, writing groups and/or teachers. These panels will read and score entries using the criteria above, to come up with a winner and a second and third runner up.

Prizes

18. Prizes will be awarded to the three finalists in each age category and in the ‘Best of Broxtowe’ category. In each category first prize will be a Kindle, second prize will be £50 in National Book Tokens and third prize will be £25 in National Book Tokens.
19. Successful entries will be published in an exhibition in the Gallery Space at the D.H. Lawrence Birthplace Museum and may also be published online and at Broxtowe Borough Council’s discretion.

General

20. Broxtowe Borough Council reserves the right to disqualify any entry which breaches any of these rules, or to withhold a prize if, in its opinion, entries do not reach the required standard.
21. Broxtowe Borough Council, its sub-contractors, subsidiaries, agencies and/or any other organisation associated with this competition cannot accept any responsibility whatsoever for any technical failure or malfunction or any other problem with any server, Internet access, system or otherwise which may result in any entry being lost or not properly registered or recorded. Proof of sending is not proof of receipt.
22. The parent/guardian of an entrant is deemed to have accepted these rules when giving permission to the entry of the relevant entrant.