Your chance for your child’s illustration to be featured in J.K. Rowling’s new book The Ickabog.

Entries open 29th May 2020.

About The Ickabog Illustration Competition:[/b]

J.K. Rowling is publishing an original story, The Ickabog (the “Story”), online here, in instalments over seven weeks and is inviting children to help her by illustrating the Story. A new instalment of the Story and illustration themes to go with it will be revealed daily, Monday to Friday, throughout the course of the seven weeks, so do stay tuned.

The first chapters are available to read online now, and the first illustration themes have been revealed here. Entries to the competition will open on Friday 29th May 2020 and the competition will close at 6pm BST on Friday 17th July 2020.

34 winning illustrations will be selected to bring the serialised story to the printed page when it is published in full, which is intended for November 2020. Good luck!

The Prize:

This is your chance for your child’s illustration to be featured in The Ickabog. If you are one of the lucky winners, you will also receive a copy of the published Book (the “Book”), signed by the author herself. But that’s not all. We’ll give £500 (or the equivalent in your local currency) worth of Hachette children’s books to a school or public library of your choice.

How to Enter:

Entries will open on 29th May 2020. Please read our Illustration Instructions, guidance on How to Enter and, of course, enjoy reading The Ickabog online here. The competition will close at 6pm BST on Friday 17th July 2020.

The process for entering is simple: just follow these guidelines:

Illustrations should be created by children aged 7–12 years old (inclusive) (as of Friday 17th July 2020) and submitted by their parent or guardian. References to "you", "your" or "entrant" in these competition guidelines are references to the parent or guardian submitting the entry.

Before your child begins working on their illustration(s), download the Illustration Instructions. Please ensure you have read the instructions carefully, as incorrectly submitted entries will not be considered.

To enter, you will need to upload a copy of your child’s illustration using the form below, selecting the relevant chapter instalment and illustration theme from the drop-down menus, as well as the age bracket of your child (7–9 or 10–12). More chapter instalments and illustration themes will be added over the course of the seven weeks, as J.K. Rowling reveals them. You can view them here.

Entry to the competition can only happen by submitting an entry in the manner described above in accordance with the competition Terms and Conditions. Sharing your child’s illustration with us on social media, or by any other means, is not a valid form of entry and will not mean that your entry has been submitted.

The competition is free to enter, and submissions can be received from people in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and India.

One illustration can be submitted per chapter instalment, per child, but submissions can be made to as many chapter instalments as you wish. Please note that it will only be possible to have one winning entry per child in respect of the Book.

Keep your child’s illustration(s) in a flat, safe and dry place until the week beginning 27th July 2020 when we will be contacting those shortlisted.

Those shortlisted will be required to send us, the publisher, their original illustration in a condition that is suitable for reproduction (please read the Illustration Instructions) by the specified date. If you are unable to do this, your entry will not be considered further.

We will also need those shortlisted to provide proof of their child’s age (as of Friday 17th July 2020) and to assign the rights (including copyright) for the artwork to us, for inclusion in the Book and for all promotional purposes, by the specified date. For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions. Please be assured that if your shortlisted entry is not chosen as a winner, the rights in the artwork will revert to you and we will use reasonable efforts to return the original artwork.

All entries will be judged based on a set of skills-criteria and editorial suitability by a panel of book editors and book designers from publisher Hachette Children’s Group, alongside special guest judges: Pam Smy, Senior Lecturer Practitioner, MA Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art at Anglia Ruskin University, and Caroline Carpenter, Deputy Features Editor at The Bookseller magazine. The judges will be using the following skills-criteria (respective to the age of the child): creativity, composition, use of colour, relevance to text, technical ability and editorial suitability.

While J.K. Rowling won’t be judging the competition herself, if you share your child’s illustration on social media with the hashtag #TheIckabog she might share and comment! And if you use #TheIckabog and tag @TheIckabog, your child's illustration might be shared on the official social channels and on the website gallery. Sharing illustrations on social media will not be deemed entry to the competition.

Make sure you have submitted your entry by the deadline of 6pm BST on Friday 17th July 2020.

By entering this competition, you agree to the terms set out in the terms and conditions.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

These Terms and Conditions prevail in the event of any conflict or inconsistency with any other communications, including advertising or promotional materials and the Competition Website terms. Entry and claim instructions are deemed to form part of the terms and conditions and by participating, all entrants will be deemed to have accepted and be bound by the terms and conditions. Please retain a copy for your information.

The Promoter

This competition is being promoted by Hodder & Stoughton Limited of Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment, London EC4Y 0DZ (“Company”).

The Competition

This is a skills based competition giving entrants the opportunity to be one of 34 Winners (defined below) to have their child’s submitted artwork (and the first name, age and location (being the country) of the child creator of the artwork) included in the publication of The Ickabog, the “Story”, which is provisionally scheduled for publication in November 2020 (and subject to confirmation by the Company (defined below)). Each Winner will also each receive a copy of the Story, signed by the author, and the Company will provide other children’s books to the value of £500 (five hundred pounds sterling) to a school or public library of each Winner’s choosing, to be fulfilled by no later than 31 December 2020. Shortlisted Entries (defined below) that are unsuccessful will receive an unsigned copy of the Story and certificate. On weekdays at 15:00 BST between 26 May 2020 and 10 July 2020, all chapters of the Story will be made publicly available digitally on www.theickabog.com – any number of Story chapters may be made available at any such time. These will be accompanied by illustration themes. Once the relevant Story instalments are available, entrants are invited to submit their entries for the specific Story chapters in accordance with the illustration brief. Entries must be illustrations originally created by children aged 7 to 12 years old (inclusive) and submitted by their parent or guardian. Verification of the age of the artwork creator and an assignment of rights (including copyright) in the artwork will be required for Shortlisted Entries (defined below). Shortlisted Entries will then, subject to compliance with these terms and conditions and in particular paragraph 16, progress to the final judging phase of the competition to determine the Winners as described in paragraph 17 below.
Eligibility and Entry instructions

The competition is open to residents of the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and India aged 18 or over who are parents or guardians of children aged 7 to 12 (inclusive) years old who have created the artwork. Proof of the child’s age will be required by the Company in accordance with paragraph 16. Employees of the Company, their families, or anyone professionally connected to the competition either themselves or through their families are excluded.

There is no purchase necessary to enter.

Internet access is required to enter.

The competition opens at 15:00 BST on 29 May 2020 and closes at 18:00 BST on 17 July 2020 (the “Closing Date”). Submission of entries for specific instalments will be subject to the instalment being made publicly available in accordance with paragraph 1 above. Any entries received outside these specified times and dates will not be eligible for entry into the competition.
Competition entries will only be eligible if they meet the requirements of the following Illustration Instructions (any deviation will result in the entry being disqualified):
Illustrations must be hand drawn or painted (digital or electronic media, including artwork created using computer software or similar will not be permissible);
Illustrations must be created on plain white paper (without lines or patterns);
The dimensions of the illustration must be 210mm wide by 275mm high (this is 22mm shorter than A4, but the same width);
Illustrations must fill the paper as fully as possible (please do not submit a small illustration in the centre of the page);
Illustrations must be in full colour, not black and white only;
For best results use paint, crayons or coloured pencils. Avoid light, low-contrast mediums like HB pencil;
Don’t use fluorescent or metallic colours, as these won’t reproduce when printed;
All illustrations must be flat, no 3D models or highly textured collages;
No glitter and no tin foil may be used;
Illustrations must not contain any personal information e.g. entrant’s names, age, location, signature;
Illustrations must not contain photography (i.e., within a collage or as a medium);
All illustrations must be original and not copied from another source;
Illustrations must only illustrate the relevant chapter instalment and not inadvertently reveal parts of the story that come later. For example, if halfway through the story a character gets a haircut, but you are illustrating that character for the first instalment in the story, you should show them with their original haircut, not the one that comes later;
Illustrations will be judged on the following criteria, respective to age of the child: creativity, composition, use of colour, relevance to text and technical ability;
Illustrations must be submitted digitally for judging, as a Jpeg or PNG (being under 10MB in size) – either scanned or photographed. Please ensure there are no heavy shadows or light flares across the artwork scan/photo before uploading; and
Original illustrations must be kept safe and clean, not folded or stapled, as Shortlisted Entries will be required to send the original to the Company for the final round of judging; anything not in good enough condition to be reproduced within the Story will not be considered further.
To enter, please follow the Illustration Instructions and specific brief for each chapter provided on the Competition Website. Entrants will be required to enter their name, email address and country they are entering from, in addition to the child’s first name (being the artwork creator) and their child’s relevant competition age group as measured at the Closing Date (defined below) and identify the instalment of the Story for which they are entering (defined below). The entry must comply with the requirements and specifications specific to each instalment as detailed on the Competition Website, the illustration brief and Illustration Instructions, such determination to be made in the Company’s sole discretion. Posting artwork on social media associated with the Competition is not a means of entering the Competition.
Only one entry per artwork creator is allowed per Story instalment. Second or subsequent entries will be disqualified. Entries will not be accepted via agents, third parties or in bulk. Although entries may be submitted in respect of any number of the Story chapter instalments, each artwork creator who is a Winner will have a maximum of one piece of artwork in the Story.
Once an entry has been submitted it cannot be changed or amended.
After digitally uploading the entry in accordance with these terms and conditions, please retain the original and keep safely. Do not fold, staple or damage it in any way. If your entry is chosen as a Shortlisted Entry, you will be asked to send the original artwork, in a condition that is suitable for reproduction. Anything not in good enough condition to be reproduced within the Story will not be considered further.
Entrants who do not give correct details or those who make an entry on someone else’s behalf (other than as by a parent or guardian of a child as described in paragraph 2) will be disqualified, at the Company’s discretion.
Incomplete, illegible, invalid or misdirected entries will not be accepted. Proof of sending will not be accepted as proof of delivery. The Company takes no responsibility for entries delayed, incomplete or lost due to technical reasons or otherwise.
No cash or other alternative prize will be provided in whole or in part, except that in the event of circumstances outside of its control the Company does not intend to but reserves the right to substitute a similar prize of equal or greater value. The prize is non-transferable and cannot be exchanged for any cash alternatives in whole or in part.
Entries (bulk or otherwise) made from trade, consumer groups or third parties will not be accepted. If it becomes apparent that an entrant is reposting the same content multiple times or using a computer(s) to circumvent this condition by, for example, the use of ‘script’, ‘brute force’ or any other automated means, that person’s entries will be disqualified and any prize awarded will be void.
Licence and Warranties

By submitting their entry, entrants agree to grant to the Company a non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide licence to copy, sublicense, adapt, create derivative works from, republish and in any way distribute in any format any material (including, but not limited to print and electronic format) the entry and you waive any and all moral rights in relation to the entry, including but not limited to the right to be identified as the author of such content and the right to object to derogatory treatment of it; and further warrant that (i) their entry is the child’s own original work; and (ii) nothing in their entry is defamatory, private or an infringement of copyright or other intellectual property right or in any way a breach of another’s right. Any entry in breach of these warranties will be disqualified from participating in the competition and from winning any prize.
Shortlist Entries

Of the compliant entries received in accordance with these terms and conditions, judging will take place between 5 June 2020 and 26 July 2020 to create a shortlist of five entries chosen for each Story instalment in respect of each of the two age group categories, 7-9 year olds and 10-12 year olds, and each territory (being the territories listed in paragraph 2 (Territories)), totalling 340 entries (the “Shortlist Entries”). The Shortlist Entries will be chosen by the Company in accordance with the skill factors used to determine the Winners (see below) and based on the editorial suitability of the artwork for use in the Story. Shortlist Entries will be notified by email in the week commencing 27 July 2020. On confirmation by the Company that an entrant has submitted a Shortlist Entry, the entrant (and child) will be required to comply with the reasonable requests of the Company, including to, within the timeframes specified by the Company, (1) verify the age of the child (being the creator of the artwork) including proof of ID, (2) enter into a contract to assign the ownership of rights in the artwork to the Company (or as otherwise necessary), and (3) send the original artwork to the Company within the timeframe requested at the entrant’s own expense. In the event that a Shortlist Entry is not chosen as a Winner any rights assigned in the artwork shall revert to the entrant (and child). If the entrant of the Shortlist Entry does not comply with the requests or timings required by the Company described in this paragraph, or the original artwork received in respect of the Shortlist Entry is not in a condition sufficient to be published in the Story or is otherwise unsuitable for whatever reason (determined by the Company in its sole discretion), the Company reserves the right to choose an alternative replacement Shortlist Entry. Entrants who have had their entries confirmed as Shortlist Entries (and complied with these terms and conditions, in particular the requirements of this paragraph 16) but were unsuccessful will receive an unsigned copy of the Story following publication and a certificate issued by the Company, to be fulfilled no later than 31 December 2020.
Winners selection

Judging will take place between 3 and 10 August 2020 to select thirty-four (34) winners in total from the Shortlist Entries (the “Winners”): the Winners will be selected based on those Shortlist Entries that are determined to be most suitable and reflective of the relevant Story instalment having consideration of equally weighted skill factors (with appreciation of the age of the artwork’s creator): creativity, composition, use of colour, relevance to text, technical ability and editorial suitability. Interaction and/or activity on social media, such as likes or shares in respect of posted artwork, has no influence on the judging of the Competition and is in no way an indication as to the likelihood of any submitted artwork being a successful Winner (or Shortlisted Entry). The Winners shall be selected by a judging group consisting of Hachette UK employees and two independent judges, Pam Smy, Senior Lecturer Practitioner, MA Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art at Anglia Ruskin University, and Caroline Carpenter, Deputy Features Editor at The Bookseller magazine, whose decision will be final, and no correspondence will be entered into.
Notification of Winners

The Winners will be notified by email from the Company in the week commencing 10 August 2020. Each Winner will be required to accept the prize (detailed in paragraph 19 below) by return email in the time stipulated in the Company’s notification and provide additional information including details of the chosen school or public library and a postal address for delivery of the prize. The Winners agree that their child’s first name, location (being the country), age and winning artwork may be published on the Company’s Competition Website and on other websites and social media accounts (including those of the Company’s group companies and the author of the Story).
The prize consists of the opportunity to have your child's selected artwork published in the Story. In addition, each Winner will also each receive a copy of the Story, signed by the author, and the Company will provide children’s books to the value of £500 (five hundred pounds sterling) or equivalent to a school or public library of each Winner’s choosing, to be fulfilled no later than 31 December 2020 and delivered by local postal or courier service.
The Company reserves all rights in respect of the publishing of the Story, including but not limited to any dates of publication and how the winning entry artwork is included (for example, it may be cropped, edited, adapted, retouched, digitally enhanced or otherwise modified as appropriate).
The Company shall use reasonable efforts to return the Winners’ original artwork (as well as any original artwork of an unsuccessful entrant of a Shortlist Entry) following the announcement of the Winners (but in no event shall be liable for lost or destroyed artwork).
It is the responsibility of the entrants to check their email inbox (including, but not limited to, their junk / spam / clutter email inbox) to ensure they are in receipt of a notification. The Company is not responsible for an entrant making a late claim on their prize if this email is missed or not read/responded to for any reason.
If a Winner is unable to accept their prize or cannot be contacted or is otherwise in breach of these terms and conditions, the Company reserves the right to select another Winner using the same methodology as above. The process will repeat until an eligible Winner is able to claim the prize.
Confidentiality

Winners and those who have Shortlisted Entries must keep such details confidential and may not publicise (on social media, in the news or in any other form) any details about such facts or the competition until after the Winners have been announced by the Company on the Competition Website. By entering into this competition, you acknowledge that any and all correspondence regarding this competition is strictly confidential. You undertake not to, and to procure that others do not, disclose to any person any confidential information concerning the Company, the Story or this competition. Any breach of this paragraph 24 would lead to immediate disqualification of your entry. The Company’s decision will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
Personal data and information

The Company will make available the name and location of the Winners to anyone who requests this information by writing to the Company at the address shown below (enclosing a self-addressed envelope) within three (3) months after the Closing Date. We reserve the right to refuse any or all such requests. If you object to any or all of your name and location being made available, please contact us at competitionprivacy@hachettechildrens.co.uk with “The Ickabog Competition” as the subject of the email. In such circumstances, we must still provide the information and winning entry to the Advertising Standards Authority on request.
The Company is the data controller of Personal Data that it collects in the course of running the competition and will use the Personal Data in accordance with the competition’s Privacy Notice. It will use such Personal Data for the purposes of running the competition and delivering any prize(s) and will delete it after a reasonable period from the end of the competition. “Personal Data” means names of entrants and other details provided by them (e.g. email addresses, and the artwork creator’s first name, age, and location (being the country)) for the competition. Where entrants have opted in to receive marketing communications from the Company in respect of the Story, the email addresses of those entrants will be used by the Company in accordance with the competition Privacy Notice to send news about the Story as well as products and promotions regarding the Story and invitations to participate in surveys relating to the Story. Entrants will be given the option of opting out in those emails if they don’t want to receive any further communications. You can request access to your personal data, or have any inaccuracies rectified, by sending an email to competitionprivacy@hachettechildrens.co.uk.
General terms

The Company reserves the right to verify all entries including but not limited to asking for proof of identification and age (which must be provided within seven (7) days).
If for any reason any aspect of this competition is not capable of running as planned, including by reason of infection by computer virus, network failure, bugs, tampering, unauthorised intervention, fraud, technical failures or any other cause beyond the control of the Company which corrupts or affects the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of this competition, the Company may in its sole discretion modify or suspend the competition or invalidate any affected entries/claims. If an act, omission, event or circumstance occurs which is beyond the reasonable control of the Company and which prevents the Company from complying with these terms and conditions the Company will not be liable for any failure to perform or delay in performing its obligation but will always endeavour to minimise the effect to entrants in order to avoid undue disappointment.
The Company and its associated agencies and companies will not be liable for any loss (including, without limitation, indirect, special or consequential loss or loss of profits), expense or damage which is suffered or sustained (whether or not arising from any person’s negligence) in connection with this competition or accepting or using the prize, except for any liability which cannot be excluded by law (including personal injury, death and fraud) in which case that liability is limited to the minimum allowable by law.
The Company reserves the right to refuse to award a prize or withdraw prize entitlement and/or refuse further participation in the competition and disqualify the entrant where there are reasonable grounds to believe there has been a breach of these terms and conditions, the spirit of the competition, any instructions forming part of this competition’s entry requirements or otherwise where an entrant has gained unfair advantage in participating or won using fraudulent means.
If any of these clauses should be determined to be illegal, invalid or otherwise unenforceable then it shall be severed and deleted from these terms and conditions and the remaining clauses shall survive and remain in full force and effect.
The Company’s decision is final with regard to all promotional matters and no correspondence will be entered into.
The Company has no control over communication networks and is not liable for any problems associated with them due to traffic congestion, technical malfunction or otherwise. The Company will not be held liable to any individual for any fraud committed by any third party nor for any event beyond its control including, but not limited to, user error and any network, computer, hardware or software failures of any kind which may restrict, delay or prevent an entrant’s entry to the competition.
Jurisdiction

These terms and conditions and any disputes or claims (including non-contractual disputes or claims) arising out of these terms and conditions shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales, whose courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction, unless (i) you live in Ireland or in another part of the UK, in which case your local courts will have jurisdiction; or (ii) you live in a territory where local laws prohibit enforcement of this clause in which case your local courts will have jurisdiction.