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2010 OPEN  SHORT STORY  COMPETITION

Results of 2009 competitions are here.

Results  of SPRING 2008 competitions are here.

Results  of NOVEMBER 2007 competitions here.

Our Anthology of Best Entries for all competitions to date, from 2007, will be released late Autumn  2009, in time for Christmas.

This competition is for short stories of all kinds accepted  in  the Rules below. We believe firmly in competitions as a way to encourage writers (a) to put pen to paper, and (b) to believe in themselves. Practice of your profession is essential, and this is one way to get people writing with purpose. Many people also love the challenge, and it drives them to produce material they might not otherwise have explored, developing them  in unexpected ways!

Prizes#Deadline#Fees#Critiques#Guidelines#Formatting#Rules

Enter#Payments#Addresses

PRIZES: First prize  £150 second prize  £75. Third prize is two of our books. Winning and Commended entries will be included in an Anthology. Note that if there are enough entries, prizes may rise in value. If there are fewer than 100 entries, prizes will be adjusted fairly according to entry fees received.

DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES: Deadlines for all Short Story Competitions has been extended to 30 September 2010, due to my father's death and other complications, and our move of premises in May/June. Final entries must be with us no later than the 30 September 2010. Winners will be announced at the end of November 2010.

ENTRY FEE:   £4.00 / US$8.00 / ZAR40.00  (special allowance for Africa) per entry. This can be paid either online (see bottom of page), by cheque/check, or by deposit into one of our bank accounts (USA, South Africa, UK). Fees are NOT refundable - please ensure you read the rules carefully. If you are paying online below, this will automatically be charged at £4.00 - so if you are in Southern Africa, it will be more than we are asking Southern African entrants we suggest that you email us for our SA bank details, and make a direct deposit - see details at bottom of page.

CRITIQUES: We are not keen on supplying critiques, as this is very time consuming (each critique takes several hours of work). However, we understand that writers often need feedback to help them improve their work, so if you require a professional critique, please make a separate payment for this. Short story critiques are charged at £18.00 however, we cannot actually do the critiques for competition entries until after the judging is over, to maintain strict fairness.

GUIDELINES:

• This competition is OPEN  to anyone, of all ages and levels of experience. We are also running a "Christian Writers" competition. For children aged up to 15, please see our "Young Writers" competition page.
• Please DO NOT enter stories written for children. They cannot be judged equally against stories written for adults. We may at some stage run a competition for children's stories, but not at this time.
• Please be sure you have the rights to enter this competition entrants take full responsibility for copyright issues. Plagiarism will not be tolerated.
• Stories may  be up to but no longer than 3,000 words, in any style and on any subject (except those outlined in the Rules below).
• Please submit by EMAIL, if at all possible. If email is absolutely impossible, then hard copy submissions will be accepted. (Hard copies have to be scanned into our system, which is very time consuming.)
• Mark entries clearly with the competition title " Sunpenny OPEN Competition" , and submit as below.
• If you must submit hard copy, PLEASE: do not staple your work. Staples have to be removed for scanning and our fingers and our time both suffer.
• We acknowledge receipt, and notify winners,  by email, so please include an email address. If you do not have an email address yourself, please give us the email of a friend or relative through whom you can be contacted. If entering by post, we can  only let you know your entry has been received if  you include a stamped self-addressed postcard to be sent back to you.
• Entries can  not be returned, as they have ID numbers put onto every page, and are then scanned for transfer to the judges. They are in no condition to be used again.
• We accept most file formats: MS Word, OfficeOrg, Wordperfect, RTF, PDF, text, and others. If you send us something we can't read, we'll contact you. Please scan for viruses BEFORE sending!

HOW TO FORMAT YOUR ENTRIES:

• Please supply a separate page with Title, Entrant Name,   Address, Email, and the entry's Word Count.
• Each page of the story must have page number and title of the story ONLY. Do not include your name or any other identifier on any page of the entry itself. (All entries are given an ID reference number and separated from the cover page  to ensure fair judging.)
• Entries must be typed on one side of the paper only,  and neatly set out as you would a book manuscript (indented paragraphs without gaps). We cannot accept hand-written entries.
• Please,  no fancy fonts! We like good old 12-point Times New Roman, or a similar serif font. We don't like sans-serif fonts like Arial they are harder on the eyes.
• As a guideline, we like a good inch of margin on both sides as well as top and bottom. We prefer double spacing.
• Please check and polish work carefully unless you have a problem like dyslexia, if your entry is too liberally sprinkled with poor grammar and spelling, and careless typos, it will not be considered for the final judging. Writing is a language craft, and an artist must (a) know their craft and (b) take pride in their work. If you don't  care, we won't be inclined to, either! (Exceptions are made for dyslexic or otherwise handicapped entrants please make a note on your entry if this is the case.)

COMPETITION RULES:

• Entry submission indicates acceptance of all rules, guidelines, terms and conditions.
• Stories may be anything up to but no longer than 3,000 words, in any style and on any subject. However, they must not promote racism, gratuitous sex or violence, foul language,  or anything else  that does not conform to good family and moral values (and we get to decide!).
• The competition is open to anyone worldwide provided that the fee is received in either British Pounds,  US Dollars or South African Rands.
• The competition closes on 30 September 2010, and winners will be announced and displayed on our web site by end of November 2010.
• Prize winners will be notified by email as well as named on the web site please ensure you supply a valid email address with your entry, even if sent in by post, unless you do not have one - in which case, please state this on your entry title page. Please also check the web site at the end of November, in case you don't receive an email for any reason.
• Prizes will be paid via PayPal, cheque/check, deposit into your bank where possible, or any other reasonable, cost-effective method.
• Prizes must be claimed within 30 days of being published on the web site and contacted by email. After 30 days, prizes will be forfeited.
• All entries must be written in English. Other languages will not be accepted.
• You may enter as many different works as you like, as long as each is accompanied by an entry fee.
• Entries must be in entirety the original work of the entrant, and the entrant must fully own all necessary  rights to enter this competition.
• Writers retain copyright, but give permission for their work to be published on this website at our discretion, and in any one future anthology produced by Sunpenny Publishing or its imprints.
• The judges' decision is final no individual correspondence or disputes  will be entered into.
• In extremis, deadlines and any other dates may be postponed by Sunpenny Publishing without notice in order to provide enough time to raise necessary costs through revenue for the competition, or for any other legitimate reason. Likewise in extremis prizes may be adjusted, but our reasons will be good should either of these necessities arise! In the event that we simply don't receive a reasonable number of entries, we reserve the right to cancel the competition and return entry fees.
• We reserve the right to adjust these rules without notice.
• Entrants are responsible for completing the submission process effectively. We cannot take responsibility for entries lost in the post or in cyberspace. If you encounter problems, please let us know timeously.

TO ENTER:

Please ensure that you have read all the rules and guidelines above before entering! Submitting your entry indicates full acceptance of these rules no refunds will be given.

PAYMENT OF ENTRY FEES:

Please pay careful attention - if your payment is made out incorrectly, your entry will not be accepted until the payment is corrected.

The entry fees can be paid either online by credit card or account with PayPal, Google  Checkout, or Kagi,  or through the post  by cheque/check or bank deposit (see special note for Southern Africans). If you make your payment online, we should receive a notification automatically, and your entry will be acknowledged by us, manually - if it has not been acknowledged within 48 hours, please contact us something may have gone astray. Addresses for sending your entries are at the bottom of the page.
 

1. BY POST: CHEQUE/CHECK or MONEY ORDER:
US DOLLAR checks or money orders must be made out to M.AMUNDSON.
UK POUND cheques or money orders must be made out to SUNPENNY PUBLISHING.
ZA RAND cheques or money orders must be made out to A. HOLLOWAY.
 

POST ALL THESE (but make them out ONLY as above!), with a note stating what competition category you are entering [Open, Christian, or Young Writers]  and the title of your entry,  to the address below.

2. ONLINE: By PAYPAL, GOOGLECHECKOUT, or   KAGI :

Online Payments are  via our Storefront: Click here
 

ADDRESSES YOU WILL NEED:

EMAIL ADDRESS  FOR DIGITAL FILES ENTRIES (no matter where you are sending from):

competitions-AT-sunpenny.com
(replace the " -AT-" with the @ sign, no spaces either side).
 

PHYSICAL ADDRESS FOR CDs, DVDs, or HARD COPY (PAPER) ENTRIES:

Sunpenny  Open Short Story Competition
3 Broomfield Court
Broomfield Park
Sunningdale
Berkshire SL5 0JP
UNITED KINGDOM