I've come across terms declaring the entrant gives up all rights to their work simply by entering, and cases of a 'free' competition requiring the spending of money on a product or service. I do my best to check for that kind of thing, and will mention it in my posts if I find something, but please don't rely on that. Sometimes these posts are cobbled together in a hurry (don't tell me you hadn't noticed!)
Quite often there are one or more very precise rules, such as using a particular font, having your name and contact details in the header or footer, or removing anything which identifies the author. It would be a shame to have your hard work eliminated before it was read because your entry didn't measure up to something like that. Having judged writing competitions in the past, I can tell you it's disappointingly common.
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8 comments:
I must echo Patsy's comment. As an old-ish white bloke, the competition rule excluding my entry is usually halfway down the call for submissions, after I've ticked the boxes that far in my head. I'm eligible to enter maybe a third of Winning Writers' free entry competitions.
That said, I once emailed the person running a competition advertised on Duotrope, asking why he left it to the last sentence of the guidelines to say entrants must be Australian, after a piece of my work seemed a perfect fit. He apologised, asked to see my work, and I ended up an honorary Australian.
As for the extended rights grab of some competitions, halfway down the Emirates Literature Foundation's T&Cs, they tell all their school age entrants, "Copyright of material submitted remains with the Emirates Literature Foundation". At least the kids are learning young! I don't know how widespread this practice is, but it makes me fume.
I entered one where the organizers had a... er... an obsession with having things word-wrapped - well, whatever, but the ones that are strange to me are those that specify:
https://www.shunn.net/format/story/
As an amateur who thinks she types in an easy to read format, and, let's face it, lots of the magazines ask for NO format, headers etc..., this specifies... a lot. Still, you do what you're asked, jump hoops or... don't submit.
Thank you, Patsy, for this reminder - read the rules!
Shunn formatting is from the days of typewriters. I believe they still ask for two spaces after each full stop before you start the next sentence.
Thank you, Womble. I fancy these I've found are mostly US sites. Ah... typewriters :)
If it's made too difficult, I'm afraid I won't bother entering the comp.
Thanks Patsy and all, good advice all round
@ Womble – I understand why some competitions / organisations want to help certain groups of people, but not why they don't make that clearer. Those who do fit the criteria are as likely to miss that rule as those who don't.
I'm pretty sure most 'rights grabs' are laziness and the organisers covering themselves legally, rather than an attempt to steal our work - although unfortunately it still means we'd lose our rights if we entered. What I think happens is that they use standard terms for every competition, which cover every eventuality they can think of, instead of taking the time to write fair rules.
@ Marguerite – I hadn't even heard of the terms 'word-wrapped'.or 'Shunn formatting'! I've looked them up and they seem odd requirements, but yes, we have to do as we're asked, even when it seems peculiar.
If no requirements are specified (for competitions or submitted work) I think it's now best to do as little as possible in order to make it readable - and definitely not anything 'fancy'.
@ Sharon – I suspect that in some cases, the peculiar rules might be set for that reason. It might be a way to weed out those who haven't read the other rules for example. Or maybe I'm trying to see logic where there is none!
@ Sheelagh – As is usual, the comments add a great deal to my original post!
That goes for contests and submitting to publishers! Read the fine print and follow directions.
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