Terms and Conditions

2023 Manchester Writing Competition

Terms and Conditions (the rules)

General

  1. The Manchester Writing Competition: the Manchester Fiction Prize 2023 and the Manchester Poetry Prize 2023 (the “Competition”) is organised by the Manchester Metropolitan University (“Manchester Met”).
  2. The Competition is open internationally to anyone aged 16 or over who is not excluded by these Rules. There is no upper age limit for entry.
  3. Members of Manchester Met staff (who may also be students) are excluded from being eligible to enter. Manchester Met students (who are not also members of staff) are permitted to enter.
  4. The deadline for submission of writing (“entries”) is 5pm (UK time) on 1st September 2023. Entries received after this deadline will not be considered.
  5. Entrants must submit:
    • Manchester Fiction Prize: a short story of up to 2,500 words in length. There is no minimum word count.
    • Manchester Poetry Prize: a portfolio comprising a minimum of three and a maximum of five poems. There is no minimum or maximum line limit for each individual poem, but the overall maximum length of the poems combined must not exceed 120 lines.
    • Titles, subtitles (including section or poem numbers), blank lines and page numbers are not included in the word or line count. Quotations, dedications and epigraphs should be included in the word or line count.
  6. Entrants may enter either or both Prizes, and may submit as many entries as they wish, but each submission must be submitted as a separate entry with payment of a separate entry fee.
  7. All work submitted for consideration can be on any subject, and written in any style or form, but must be the entrant’s own original writing, and should not have been published in print or have been broadcast on or before 31st December 2023.
  8. Work which has been published on websites, blogs or social media sites can be submitted, but must be taken down before the date of entry and must not be uploaded again on or before 31st December 2023. Work that has been circulated via, or uploaded to, closed forums (e.g. for the purposes of workshopping on writing courses) can be submitted provided it is not publicly accessible.
  9. Simultaneous submissions to other competitions or for publication are permitted, provided the work is not published elsewhere on or before 31st December 2023, and the terms and conditions or licences of those submissions do not prohibit entry to our competition. Work found to be published in print or to have been broadcast or to have appeared on a website outside of these terms will be disqualified without refund of the entry fee.
  10. All work must be typed, clearly legible and written in English (short quotations in other languages are permitted). Entrants should not include illustrations or artwork. Beyond these stipulations, presentation (e.g. font and spacing) is at the entrant’s discretion.
  11. Translations into English of work written in other languages can be accepted, provided that the source text is the entrant’s own original work and has not been published; translations into English of work published elsewhere in other languages, or where the source text is not the entrant’s own original work, will not be accepted.
  12. Entries will be accepted only online via the competition website: www.mmu.ac.uk/writingcompetition. Submission via other means (e.g. by email or in printed format by post) will not be accepted or considered and cannot be returned.
  13. All entries will be assigned an ID number and made anonymous upon receipt. Judges will not be privy to entrants’ names during the reading and judging processes. Names will be reattributed to entries only after the short list and winners have been decided. For this reason please ensure that there are no identifying marks on your writing.
  14. Entries submitted for consideration may be withdrawn from the Competition by notification in writing (email) to be received by the Manchester Writing School at Manchester Met: writingschool@mmu.ac.uk. Where work is withdrawn, entry fees will not be refunded.
  15. Amendments cannot be made to entries after they have been submitted. If entrants wish to correct errors in writing, or make any substitutions, they must withdraw their entry from the Competition as above and enter again with payment of entry fee. This includes instances where entrants wish to remove or replace entire submissions or part(s) of a submission (e.g. withdraw individual poems from poetry portfolios). No correspondence or discussion about amendments or substitutions will be entered into.
  16. Entries will not be returned under any circumstances. Correspondence requesting returns will not receive a response.
  17. Manchester Met reserves the right to disqualify any entry if it has reasonable grounds to believe that the entrant has breached any of these Rules, or made a false declaration on the entry form.
  18. Manchester Met cannot accept responsibility for any damage, loss, injury or disappointment suffered by any entrant entering the Competition.
  19. Manchester Met will act in accordance with current UK data protection legislation in relation to your personal data.
  20. The Competition and Rules will be governed by English Law and any dispute will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
  21. Manchester Met reserves the right to amend these Rules where it is deemed necessary to do so or where circumstances are beyond Manchester Met’s control. Any changes to the Rules will be posted on the Manchester Writing Competition website.
  22. Submission of an entry will be deemed to imply unqualified acceptance of the Competition’s Rules. In the event of any dispute regarding these Rules or any other matter relating to the Competition, the decision of Manchester Met shall be final and no correspondence or discussion shall be entered into.

Judging and selection

  1. A judging panel of practising writers will read entries between them and will select a short-list of entrants and, from that list, select the winners. The judges’ decisions are final, and no correspondence about their decisions will be entered into. Manchester Met reserves the right to change the panel of judges without notice. The judges reserve the right not to award the prizes, or to reduce the prize money, if, in their opinion, such action is justified for any reason.
  2. Short-listed entrants will be invited to participate in a prize-giving event to take place in December 2023. Participation in the event is not a requirement of being short-listed for or winning a Prize. Short-listed entrants will be notified by email or telephone on or before the 31st October 2023.

Fees

  1. The cost of entry is £18 (sterling) per entry (one short story or one portfolio of three to five poems).
  2. 100 reduced price (£10) entries are available to entrants who might not otherwise be able to take part in the competition. If you would like to apply for one of these, please contact the Manchester Writing School in writing by email: writingschool@mmu.ac.uk to register your interest and for further details. Reduced prize entry is available to entrants in the following categories: low income/HMRC self-assessment; unwaged/Jobseeker’s Allowance; in receipt of disability benefit, working tax credit or income support; retired; full-time student. Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application for reduced price entry by email within 28 days of submission of any requested information. The deadline for expressions of interest in reduced price entry is 30th June 2023. Applications for reduced price entry will no longer be considered after that date, or when all 100 have been allocated. Applications for reduced price entry will be considered by the competition administrative team whose decisions are final, and no correspondence about their decisions will be entered into. Manchester Met reserves the right to not grant reduced price entry, if, in their opinion, such action is justified for any reason.
  3. Payment of entry fees should be made by debit/credit card via the University’s eStore. If an entrant successfully submits a story or portfolio of poems but then fails to complete payment at the checkout, you will have until 30th September 2023 to revisit the store and complete payment, or to withdraw from the Competition.
  4. In any cases where payments have not cleared by 30th September 2023, entrants will be automatically disqualified from the Competition.
  5. Where entrants are unable to complete payment via the eStore, it may be possible for payment to be made electronically via direct bank transfer. We cannot accept payment via PayPal or by telephone. Please consult our Frequently Asked Questions for further details.
  6. Payments from foreign bank accounts: please discuss with your bank whether any charges will be taken and add the value of the charge to your payment. We will not be able to accept payments from overseas accounts where charges will be taken and these are not added to your payment amount.
  7. Payment in any form other than debit/credit card is made at the entrant’s own risk. Please do not send cash, cheques or postal orders by mail as we are unable to process these and they cannot be returned.

Copyright and Liability

  1. Selected entries may be printed in publications and journals hosted by Manchester Met and may appear in electronic format on the Manchester Met website, or in other electronic forms. Pieces may appear in abridged or edited form. Generally, we will credit you for the entry.
  2. The copyright in each entry submitted remains with you as author (where applicable). Entrants are deemed to grant to Manchester Met a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty free licence over each entry submitted for the duration of the Competition (which is deemed to end on 31st December 2023), and for publicity purposes, whether now known or invented in the future (including any print or electronic publications), thereafter. By submitting an entry you provide the licence set out above and waive any moral rights or similar rights in respect of your work to which you may be entitled (at the time of submission or in the future) under any applicable laws in force anywhere in the world.
  3. You must not have infringed the rights of any party or breached any laws by submitting your entry. You warrant that by submitting your entry you will not infringe any trademark, copyright or the intellectual property rights of any third party and will indemnify Manchester Met against any claims, costs or expenses relating to infringement of trademark, copyright or intellectual property rights in connection with your provision of the entry to us.
  4. When you submit entries to Manchester Met, you accept that you have created this content and grant the licences set out in these terms and conditions. Your entry shall not be derogatory or defamatory or allow an individual to be personally identifiable. You must notify us on submission if your entry contains any third party intellectual property.
  5. By submitting an entry and in accordance with the licence set out above you agree that Manchester Met can store any select entries and retain them for one year.
  6. Simultaneous submissions to other competitions or for publication are permitted, provided the work is not published elsewhere on or before 31st December 2023, and the terms and conditions or licences of those submissions do not prohibit entry to our competition. Work found to be published in print or to have been broadcast or to have appeared on a website outside of these terms will be disqualified without refund of the entry fee.
  7. Manchester Met will not accept responsibility for entries that are lost, mislaid, damaged or delayed in transit, regardless of cause, including, for example, as a result of any postal failure, equipment failure, technical malfunction, systems, satellite, network, server, computer hardware or software failure of any kind. Please save and store your entry before submitting to us.
  8. Insofar as is permitted by law, Manchester Met and its employees or contractors will not in any circumstances be responsible or liable to compensate the author or accept any liability for any loss, damage or other liability as a result of the individual submitting the entry except where it is caused by the negligence of Manchester Met. Your statutory rights are not affected.
  9. To the extent permitted by law, all conditions, warranties and other terms which might otherwise be implied by statute or common law are expressly excluded from these terms and conditions.

Prizes

  1. The Manchester Writing Competition will award two prizes: a cash sum of £10,000 to the winner(s) of the Manchester Poetry Prize and £10,000 to the winner(s) of the Manchester Fiction Prize.
  2. The judges may decide to award each Prize jointly and divide the cash sum accordingly (equally or in differing amounts). The maximum number of winners will be two per Prize.
  3. The prize money is generated entirely through entry fees and may be reduced if an insufficient number of entries are received.

Contact

Queries should be sent in writing to the Manchester Writing School at Manchester Met: writingschool@mmu.ac.uk. Please consult our Frequently Asked Questions page before getting in touch.