Annual Short Story Contest Terms & Conditions

By entering this contest, the entrant indicates that he or she has read and agrees to the terms and conditions set forth by Something Or Other Publishing (SOOP). 

  1. SOOP is the promoter of this writing contest, as well as the publisher of publications in which winning entries might appear. Author reserves all rights to their work, unless and until Author chooses to enter into a Publishing Contract with SOOP.
  2. Entrants must be 18 years of age and older. 
  3. There are no geographical restrictions; submissions may be submitted from anywhere. However, this competition and any prizes awarded are void in countries, states or other jurisdictions where such contests are prohibited by law. 
  4. Each submission must be the entrant’s own and wholly original work, written in English, and be a comprehensive, stand-alone short story of 250 to 5,000 words, depending upon category.
  5. Poetry may also be submitted to any category for inclusion in the Contest and the Anthologies we publish. Your submission collection must consist of at least 3 and no more than 5 poems that would serve as bookends to the stories in the category, and may not exceed 400 words total. Please submit your collection as a single document in the submission form.
  6. In order to qualify for prizes, submissions must be complete, clearly written, and as free as possible from spelling and grammatical errors. Submissions must also have received at least 50 votes from fans. Submissions which fail to meet these criteria will be rejected, although writers will be given the opportunity to address shortcomings and re-submit their submissions. 
  7. The following are examples of other reasons SOOP might reject or disqualify a submission, although this list is not exhaustive: the submission does not comply with terms and conditions, the contest guidelines, or rules; the submission or information submitted with a submission is found to contain false information; entrant is not eligible to enter the competition; the entrant cannot be contacted; the submission fails to meet or violates SOOP’s Editorial Standards.
  8. Writers may submit multiple submissions, but may not submit the same submission to different categories. SOOP reserves the right to reclassify the category of any submission.
  9. Each entrant must provide a first and last name, phone number, and email address with the submission.
  10. This contest is ongoing and submissions may be submitted at any time throughout the year. Curator Awards will be issued each time 25 qualified submissions -in a category are received.
  11. For purposes of determining semi-finalists and finalists, the submission year is August 1 st through July 31 st. To be included in the semi-finals, the deadline for submissions is July 31 st, and the submissions must be
    qualified with 50 votes by August 15th. SOOP reserves the right to extend these dates or qualify stories with less than 50 votes at its discretion. If 25 qualified submissions are not received in a given category by the deadline for the semi-finals, then the number of qualified submissions received may be considered for the Curator’s Award at that time, or the qualified submissions may be combined with another category to create a heat.
  12. Finalist awards will be announced each year on or around National Authors’ Day (i.e., November 1st).
  13. Entrants of Submissions selected for prizes will be contacted at the email address provided and given a time-frame to respond to the offer of cash prizes and a publishing contract. Entrants who do not respond in the required time-frame will forfeit the prize.
  14. Previously published works may not be submitted. Entries must never have been previously published, in print or online (including self-published, ebook, magazines, journals, audio, websites, blogs, social network sites), or won a prize in another writing competition. Any submission found to have been plagiarized will be disqualified. 
  15. SOOP is not responsible for any problems with or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, online systems, servers and providers, computer equipment, software, failure of any email submission to be received on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website, human errors of any kind, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to participants’ or any other persons’ computers related to or resulting from participation, uploading and downloading of any materials related to the contest.
  16. By entering the contest, all entrants agree to release, discharge and hold harmless SOOP and its partners, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising agencies, agents and their employees, officers, directors, representatives from any claims, losses, and damages arising out of their participation in the contest or any contest-related activities and the acceptance and use, misuse, or possession of any prize awarded.
  17. Winners will be decided by a judge or panel of judges, and will be notified by email at the address provided in the submission. SOOP has no obligation to inform entrants who are not selected for prizes.
  18. SOOP reserves the right to vary the terms and conditions as may be deemed necessary or cancel the competition at any time for any reason. 
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