http://www.parentingexpress.com/Short-Story-Competition.htm
Short competition opens for 2011 – great prizes to be won!
The Parenting Express/My Child short story writing competition is now in its fifth year! We’re inviting dads, mums and grandparents to submit a 900-word story for publication here on Parenting Express and in the My Life section of My Child magazine.
Entries must be unpublished, creative non-fiction (no poetry) with a theme relating to pregnancy, birth or the first five years of raising a child, and aim to move the reader emotionally, whether to laughter or to tears.
To enter
The competition opens on 30 November 2011 and closes at midnight on 18 January 2012. All entries must be submitted via email to
submissions@parentingexpress.com. See below for terms and conditions.
Winner’s prize
As well as having their story published as the feature in the March 2012 edition of Parenting Express and the Autumn issue of My Child magazine, the winner will receive an online Feature Writing for Magazines and Newspapers course from the Sydney Writers’ Centre valued at $395, an Audrey pendant from Koolaman Designs valued at $210, a Bowler bag set in Cuba by Isoki valued at $199.99, a two-year subscription to My Child worth $53.70, plus a copy of my parenting gift book Being Mummy (Wakefield Press, RRP $19.95).
Runners-up prizes
Three lucky runners-up will each get their story published on Parenting Express as the feature story, and in My Child magazine in 2012, plus they’ll receive an Audrey pendant from Koolaman Designs valued at $210, a Bowler bag set in Cuba by Isoki valued at $199.99, a one-year subscription to My Child worth $30 and a copy of my parenting gift book Being Mummy (Wakefield Press, RRP $19.95).
Terms & conditions
Entry to the My Child/Parenting Express writing competition is open only to Australian residents aged over 18 years of age. Entry is free.
The competition commences on Wednesday November 30 2011 and closes Wednesday January 18 2012. Entries are to be received no later than 11.59pm AEDST. Any entry received after that time will be deemed invalid. No responsibility will be taken for lost or late entries.
An entrant may enter the competition by submitting a 900-word creative article with pregnancy, birth or the first five years of raising a child as its central theme and aim to move the reader emotionally, whether to laughter or to tears.
Entries will be considered invalid if they do not meet this word limit within a 10% margin.
With all entries, the entrant must provide their name, address, suburb, postcode, country, email address and daytime phone numbers.
Entrants agree that Poppet Group Pty Ltd and Parenting Express may use all personal information, that is, names, addresses, postcodes, email addresses, daytime phone numbers, for the purposes of the competition and for notifying the winning entrants.
All entrants will automatically be subscribed to the Sydney Writers’ Centre eNewsletter, My Child’s eNewsletter and the Parenting Express monthly update.
Each entry must be entered by the author of the creative writing piece in accordance with these terms and conditions of entry.
Each entry must be an original work and all entrants agree that their entries do not contain any material that infringes the rights of anyone else.
Include your name and the name of the story at the top of the first page. Stories must be identified in the header as ‘Short story competition’.
Entrants must enter into the competition via email to
submissions@parentingexpress.com. Word files must be named with the author’s surname first, followed by the title of the story. A daytime phone number and valid email address must be included.
Stories must be supplied in Arial 10-point font, with narrow margins and zero spacing before and after line breaks. They should fit on one page in this format.
Each entrant may only enter once. Previous winners or shortlisted entrants may apply. To ensure the security of the competition, Parenting Express will monitor whether or not entrants have entered more than once. Subsequent entries by the same entrant will be disqualified.
A panel of judges will select one winning entry and three runners-up on Monday January 30 2012. The winning entry will be published in the Autumn 2012 issue of My Child and in March 2012 on parentingexpress.com, and the runners-up will be published in the following three issues of My Child, and during 2012 on parentingexpress.com and mychildmagazine.com.au.
The winning entrants will be notified by telephone or email by Wednesday February 29 2011.
The prize pack for the winning entry includes an online Feature Writing For Magazines And Newspapers course from Sydney Writers’ Centre valued at $395, an Audrey pendant from Koolaman Designs valued at $210, a Bowler bag set in Cuba by Isoki valued at $199.99, a two-year subscription to My Child worth $53.70, and a copy of Being Mummy (Wakefield Press) by Anne-marie Taplin valued at $19.95. Total value of prize pack is $878.64.
To participate in the writing course, the participant must have high-speed internet, such as ADSL or Broadband. The course prize will be valid for 12 months and must be booked in advance.
The prize pack for the three runners-up is an Audrey pendant from Koolaman Designs valued at $210, a Bowler Bag set in Cuba by Isoki valued at $199.99, a one-year subscription to My Child worth $30, and a copy of Being Mummy (Wakefield Press) by Anne-marie Taplin valued at $19.95. Total value of prize pack is $459.94.
The prizes are not redeemable for cash or otherwise transferable. The decisions of the judge/judges in relation to any aspect of the competition shall and will be final and binding upon every entrant who enters into the competition. No correspondence will be entered into.
Entrants license My Child, mychildmagazine.com.au and parentingexpress.com to use their work exclusively until March 2013.
The promoters shall not be liable for any loss or damage or for any personal injury sustained as a result of taking the prize/s or entering into the competitions.
The promoters of the competition are Poppet Group Pty Ltd, PO Box 3339, Merewether NSW 2291, and Parenting Express, PO Box 323, Nairne SA 5252. Employees of the promoters and their families are ineligible to enter.
Please allow six weeks from the announcement of winners for delivery of all prizes.
Australian Competitions Club
