Writing Challenge Terms and Conditions 2023

1. The Fishy Stories Writing Challenge (the ‘Writing Challenge’) is organised by the Fish Creek Children’s Festival of Stories.

2. The Fish Creek Children’s Festival of Stories Children’s Protection Policy applies to this competition. You can read more about it here: [insert link]

3. Entry to this Writing Challenge is open to persons who are Grade 1-8 on 10 July 2023 who are full time residents of Australia. Entries must be submitted by an adult (parent/guardian or teacher) on behalf of the child; this adult must have parental permission. This adult may be asked, with parental permission, to provide proof of age, identity and eligibility.

4. Entrants must write a fictional short story (no more than 350 words in length) or a picture story ( no more than a 4 page double page spread). Entry is via an online entry form here. The responsible adult submitting the story / picture story on behalf of the entrant, will be asked to provide the entrant’s name, school, grade and post code and ensure that they have parental permission to do so. The submitter must enter the child’s story in the text box provided for submission. Picture stories will be uploaded via the website

5. All stories should be submitted in English.

6. We can only accept stories which are 350 words or fewer according to the word counter on the online submission form; we cannot accept word counts from any other software. Please make sure you check the word count on our form if you are pasting from another piece of software, such as Microsoft Word. Picture stories must not exceed the 4 double page spread limit.

7. Entries can only be accepted online; postal entries or entries sent over email will not be read or considered. Entries sent over email before the deadline because of technical errors will not be considered.

8. The adult submitting the entrant’s story / picture story, will be required to approve the entry and agree to these Terms and Conditions (including Fish Creek Children’s Festival of Stories use of the story submitted and the fictional nature of the story) on behalf of the entrant, by way of a check-box in the online form. The adult may be the child’s parent or guardian. The adult must provide their own contact and personal details (not the child’s).

9. Entry opens on Monday 10 July 2023 at 9am. Entry closes on Saturday 16 September 2023 at 5pm. The Judges decision is final and no discussion will be entered into.

10. Entrants can only enter individually. Only one entry per person is permitted and the story/ picture story must be wholly developed by the entrant only; stories cannot be developed by more than one person. If more than one entry is submitted, only the entrant's first submission will be considered.

11. Entries must be an original piece of work. As the stories / picture stories will be published and performed it is important that entrants do not include any personal details about themselves. The entrant must not include their name in the title or body of the story; entries which do contain this information may be removed from the competition.

12. Entries cannot be returned so please remember to retain a copy. Unsuccessful entrants will be contacted in respect of their entry but no feedback on any entry will be provided.

13. All entries must be the original work of the entrant and must not infringe the rights of any other party. Fish Creek Children’s Festival of Stories accept no responsibility if entrants ignore these Terms and Conditions and the entrant’s parent, guardian or teacher agrees to indemnify Fish Creek Children’s Festival of Stories against any claim by any third party from any breach of these Terms and Conditions.

14. Entries must not contain defamatory, obscene, offensive, or any other unsuitable material; we reserve the right to disqualify entries containing such matter. Entries must be suitable to be performed, published or used online for audiences of all ages, but in particular for a child audience.

15. Entrants retain the copyright in their entries but their parent or guardian grants to Fish Creek Children’s Festival of Stories a perpetual non-exclusive royalty-free licence to publish, broadcast (across all media), perform and post the entry online and on any other platforms yet to be envisaged. This licence will be deemed to include all the necessary rights and permissions to enable such use by the Fish Creek Children’s Festival of Stories, to perform the stories and complete the administration of this competition.

16. By submitting a story the entrant’s parent or guardian agrees that Fish Creek Children’s Festival of Stories may at its sole discretion edit, adapt, abridge or translate the entry for the purposes listed in clause 15 above.

17. Entrants agree in clause 15 that Fish Creek Children’s Festival of Stories may publish the stories on their website for the duration of 5 years, after which all names and attribution will be removed.

18. In the event that the entry is published online, for the avoidance of doubt, this will not be part of, or influence in any way, the judging process. Only the story title, entrant’s name, school and grade will be published with an entry.

19. Entries will be judged on the following criteria:

·      A story that is original and sparks intrigue and imagination

·      Engaging and strong characters

·      The depth of the world the story creates

·      A well-structured plot

20. Entries will be judged by a panel of adults and students drawn from the Writing Challenge subcommittee and the Fishy Stories Student Advisory Group.

21. The entrants of the twenty selected stories will receive two tickets to a concert of their choice being presented at the 2023 Fish Creek Children’s Festival of Stories (for the entrant and a parent or guardian). The Fish Creek Children’s Festival of Stories cannot pay for the travel and accommodation. All entries will be published in an ebook and sent to entrants. (Permissions to be sought)

22. The entries of the twenty selected stories will be performed by a professional storyteller and or a professional performer / actor at the Fish Creek Children’s Festival of Stories.

23. The parents or guardians of the entrants of the twenty selected stories will be contacted by a member of the Fish Creek Children’s Festival of Stories Writing Challenge subcommittee on 13 October 2023.

24. The Fish Creek Children’s Festival of Stories' decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into.

25. The Fish Creek Children’s Festival of Stories reserves the right to disqualify any entry which breaches any of these Terms and Conditions or brings the Fish Creek Children’s Festival of Stories into disrepute.

26. The Fish Creek Children’s Festival of Stories reserves the right to amend these Terms and Conditions or cancel the Writing Challenge at any stage, if deemed necessary in its opinion, or if circumstances arise outside of its control.

27. The Fish Creek Children’s Festival of Stories, its sub-contractors, subsidiaries, agencies and/or any other organisation associated with this Writing Challenge cannot accept any responsibility whatsoever for any technical failure or malfunction or any other problem with any server, Internet access, system or otherwise which may result in any entry being lost or not properly registered or recorded. Proof of sending is not proof of receipt.

28. These Terms and Conditions are governed by the Law of Victoria and the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Victoria, Australia.