General Rules
- Entries must be in English.
- Entries must be the work of the entrant and must not have been published or accepted for publication elsewhere.
- Entries may have appeared online in private (password protected) peer review sites, but should not have been published in any commercial online form including blogs or personal websites.
- The competition is international and welcomes non-UK entrants.
- Copyright remains with the author.
- Entries cannot be returned.
- The decision of the judge is final, and no correspondence will be entered into.
- The closing date for entries is midnight (UK time) on the 31st March, 30th June, 30th September and 31st December. Winners will be notified by email within six weeks of each closing date.
- The results of the competition will be published on the competition website.
- Manuscripts must not show the name or address of the entrant, but must include the title.
- Entries should be submitted via the entry form as a Microsoft Word Document (.doc or .docx), OpenDocument Text (.odt), Rich Text File (.rtf), or PDF (.pdf).
- Entries will not be accepted without payment.
- Only manuscripts which are within the 500-word limit will be accepted. This means any story up to and including 500 words.
- The title does not form part of the word count.
- No corrections will be accepted or refunds given.
- Entries not complying with competition rules will be disqualified.