Big Issue Writing Competition: Terms & Conditions

Please read this competition terms and conditions carefully. If you enter this competition, it will be assumed that you have read these rules and that you agree to them.

1. This competition is to win a two-book publishing contract for a novel to be published as a paperback book under the Avon Books UK imprint by HarperCollins. Only one overall winner will be chosen from all submissions.

2. To enter the competition entrants must submit:
   1. Synopsis of no more than 100 words
   2. the full and complete manuscript of their novel. The text must be double spaced and typed in Times New Roman font, point size 12 and must be the entrant’s own original work,
   3. their contact information including their telephone number, email address and any social media handles

3. All the material which is submitted must be written in English. Entries should be emailed as Word document attachments to: avonsubmissions@harpercollins.co.uk with subject line ‘Big Issue writing competition’. Any entries which do not comply with all the requirements of this clause will not be eligible for entry into the competition.

4. The competition opens at 9am on Monday 4 March (the “Opening Date”) and closes at midnight on Friday 31 May (the “Closing Date”). All entries must be received between the Opening Date and the Closing Date. Any entries received before the Opening Date or after the Closing Date will not be eligible for entry into the competition and will be disregarded.

5. After the Closing Date members of the established panel will select a winner from the eligible entries. The winner will be the one which is the best written in the eyes of the panel. The panel’s decision is final.

6. There is no purchase necessary to enter this competition.

7. The winner will be notified of who has won on Friday 4 October and is required to keep the information confidential and not disclose it to any third party by any means. The Winner’s name will be announced publicly on the cover of The Big Issue on Monday 21 October 2019 and will be published on Avon’s website and certain other HarperCollins websites and social networking feeds and pages on the same day. The winner agrees to take part in reasonable post event publicity and to the use of their name and photograph in such publicity as the Promoter may require.

1. Publication of the winning entry by Avon will be subject to a separate contract (the “Publishing Contract”) between the author of the winning entry and Avon. It will also be subject to agreement of the Publishing Contract. If Avon and the winner are unable to agree the Publishing Contract, then that person’s entry will not be published at all and Avon reserves the right to not publish any work or to select another entrant from the qualifying entries with support from the judging panel.

8. The Publishing Contract will be for all publishing rights worldwide, including all electronic rights. It is intended, subject to agreement of the Publishing Contract, that the winning entry will be published by December 2020. There is no prize money for this competition or any advance payable under the Publishing Contract, though royalties will be paid to the author in accordance with the Publishing Contract.

The submission must contain the entrant’s own original work. Nothing must be included which is defamatory, private or in infringement of copyright or other intellectual property right or in any way a breach of another’s right. The material cannot have been previously published or been available online. If the submission includes any material in which a third party owns the copyright or any other right such as a poem or song lyrics, permission must be sought from the owner by the entrant. Avon reserves the right to ask for the permission(s) before entering into the Publishing Contract. Entrants must be free to enter into the Publishing Contract and must not be subject to any constraints which would prevent Avon from publishing the work such as (but not limited to) a contractual option given to another publisher. Writers who have been previously published by a publishing house are ineligible, though self-published authors may still apply.

9. Any entry in breach of this clause will be disqualified from participating in the competition and from winning any prize.

10. The competition is open to anyone in the UK aged 18 or over except employees of HarperCollins, their families, or anyone professionally connected to the competition either themselves or through their families.

11. Only one entry per person is allowed. Second or subsequent entries will be disqualified. Entries will not be accepted via agents, third parties or in bulk.

12. Avon is not responsible for contacting entrants who provide unclear or incomplete contact information or for entries lost, misdirected, delayed or destroyed.

13. The prize cannot be transferred to another person.

14. Avon reserves the right to alter the prize, or to not select any winners at all. The travel expenses for the first visit by the winner to the HarperCollins offices to meet the team will be paid for by Avon. Subsequent visits must be paid for by the individual directly.

15. By entering the competition each entrant will be assumed to have read and agrees to be bound by these terms and conditions.

16. This competition is being organised by Avon.

17. Please read our Privacy Policy which tells you how we use any personal information we may collect about you by entering a competition.

18. These terms and conditions will be governed by the laws of England and the courts of England and Wales will have exclusive jurisdiction over any disputes.