Sussex Only

As part of the celebrations marking the Queen’s Jubilee this summer, East Grinstead Town Council is launching a Short Story/Poetry competition.
Entry fee £3 each submission - £10 for four.
First prize in each category: £100, and a commemorative Jubilee plaque.
Second prize in each category: £50 and a commemorative Jubilee plaque.
Deadline is 1 May and entry is open to anyone

"who lives or works in, or has a connection to, Sussex."

Poems up to 40 lines long can be humorous or serious, on a theme connected to Sussex, or the Queen’s Jubilee, and containing one of the following words:

• service
• reign
• queen
• soldier
• sixty
• Sussex
• England

Short stories, up to 1000 words, should start with one of the following first lines:

• Sixty years? It didn’t seem possible…
• As the On Air light glowed into life, the Queen discarded her prepared speech and addressed the nation in her own words…
• She had no umbrella, so the Queen caught up her collar, glad to hide her face from the rain and from the few stragglers lingering in the thin drizzle…
• Behind the Prime Minister’s back, the Queen suppressed a giggle, pleased that a lifetime of decorum had not quite extinguished her sense of humour…

The Town Mayor will present prizes if recipients are close enough to travel to East Grinstead, and winners who wish to receive their prizes in person will be invited to read their winning entries during the weekend celebrations marking the Jubilee.

FInd out more here

Writing for Children: major competition but don't forget to read the small print

Wanted: children’s story of between 600–800 words, starting with the line: “Once upon a Munch Time, there was a cow called Munch…”
Closing date: midnight on 4th June 2012.
Prize is £1,000  and three runner up prizes of £500  each. 

You can send your entry online and postal entries allowed and you can  include a picture/image supporting their story in JPEG or PDF format not exceeding 2Mb.

BUT it won't be used in the judging process
AND the terms and conditions state 

"By entering the Promotion, entrants assign the Material transmitted as part of the above Promotion and all intellectual property and other rights associated with the Material to the Promoter or its nominee unconditionally. For the avoidance of doubt, the Material may be used by the Promoter and any member of the NESTLÉ GROUP for any purpose in any media anywhere in the world, including but not limited to copying, issuing copies to the public, communication to the public, making an adaptation, or any of the aforesaid in relation to adaptations.

18. To the extent that assignment is not possible, entrants grant the Promoter and the NESTLÉ GROUP an exclusive, irrevocable, royalty free licence to use the Material for any purpose in any media anywhere in the world."

That's entrants remember - not winners. If I were an unpublished children's author I'd still give it a go, but I wouldn't hand over artwork or a photograph for nowt. I'm not keen on words like irrevocable, free, any media, anywhere in the world being in the same sentence.

Find out more at www.munchtime.co.uk