Dymocks Beyond Words Creative Writing Competition

Competition Terms & Conditions

PART 1 – GENERAL CONDITIONS OF ENTRY & COMPETITION

1. TERMS: These terms and conditions comprise Part 1 which sets out important information about the promotion and Part 2 which sets out details of the prizes. Parts 1 and 2 are collectively referred to as the “Conditions”. By participating in the promotion entrants agree to be bound by the Conditions.  Entries must comply with the Conditions to be valid.
2. ENTRY ELIGIBILITY:

• General Entry Criteria

Entry is open to members of the public who:

1. Are currently enrolled in primary or secondary school in Australia; and
2. At the time of entry is 18 years or under and in Year 12 or under; and
3. Accept the terms and conditions of entry; and
4. Submit, via the competition website, a valid and readable ‘Work’. The Promoter takes no responsibility for works that are not received by it due to malfunction of the submission process or which are not readable due to corruption in transmission, storage or download. 

• Works

Entrants must ensure that works submitted by them are:

1. a single story of no less than 500 words, and no more than 1500 words
2. not include the author’s name on the entry so as to preserve anonymity of entrants (entrant details are recorded on the entry form)
3. an original, independent work of prose fiction i.e. it is the entrant’s own work and has not been written either partly or wholly with the aid of a computer tool including machine learning generative tools such as ChatGPT
4. written by the entrant only i.e. not jointly written with any other person(s)
5. works must not contain any offensive or defamatory language, imagery or themes; works must not include any material that is illegal, harmful, or promotes illegal activity; and works must not infringe on the intellectual property rights of any third party
6. not substantially edited by persons other than themselves. Some assistance from a teacher or parent or guardian is permissible but significant editing by a third party will qualify the work as a joint piece of work
7. written primarily in English, except where other languages are deliberately used as a narrative device
8. previously unpublished and have not placed in any other competitions. Previous submissions to prior years of Beyond Words are also excluded.

• Special Entry Criteria

1. Regional Prize: To be eligible for the Regional Prize, the entrant’s home address must not be within a location classified as MM1 (major cities) in the Modified Monash Model. You can search locations at the Department of Health.
2. Greater Western Sydney Prize: To be eligible for the Greater Western Sydney Prize, the entrant’s home address must be within the Greater Western Sydney region as defined by the NSW Department of Planning Metropolitan Strategy. 
3. EALD Prize: entrants in this category must speak English as a second language or dialect in addition to their first or home language. 
4. First Nations Prize: entrants in this category must self-identify as an Australian First Nations person and be accepted by their First Nations community as a member of that community.
5. LGBTQIA Prize: entrants in this category must self-identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex or Asexual. In entering this category, entrants acknowledge that their full name will be publicly displayed next to this category in the event of winning the prize.
6. Evidence: evidence of satisfaction of the Special Entry Criteria may be required by the Promoter at its discretion.

• Parental Consent

Entrants must have parental or legal guardian permission before entering the competition. 

• Number of Entries

Entrants may only submit one entry.

• Non-complying Entries

Where an entrant is found not to satisfy entry requirements the Promoter may disqualify their entry. Entrants acknowledge and agree that if they receive an award despite them being a non-compliant entry then they will, at the request of the Promoter, return the prize awarded. 

3. EXCLUSIONS: in addition to any exclusions set out in the “Entry Eligibility”, employees of the Promoter, its related bodies corporate and any franchise centre trading under the “Dymocks” brand are not eligible to enter. Immediate family members of any employee mentioned in the previous sentence are also not eligible to enter.
4. COMPETITION PERIOD: the competition commences on 9:00am (AEST) on Friday, 1 March 2024 and closes at 11:59pm (AEST) on Friday, 31 May 2024.
5. LOCATION OF AWARD: the competition results will be announced at Dymocks Tutoring, Level 3, 1-3 Fitzwilliam Street, Parramatta NSW 2150 or such other venue selected by the Promoter at 6:30 PM on Friday, 11th October 2024.
6. JUDGING CRITERIA:
   1. Entries are judged based on the skill of the entrant. Skill is judged for this competition based on both craft and story.
   2. The ‘craft’ component includes the entrant’s command of language, their understanding of narrative structure, and their understanding of how to compose a compelling, well-paced story.
   3. The ‘story’ component includes the originality of the idea, and whether the content of the story is unique, interesting, and impactful.
   4. The judges will not be required to make an award if they do not consider the entries to be of a sufficient standard.
   5. Entries will be read by a panel of judges experienced in creative writing, who will select the best 50 stories to comprise the longlist. A further judging panel will select the final shortlist for each category. Guest judges will then select the final winners.
   6. Only longlisted writers will be contacted personally to notify them of the longlist decision upon completion of the judging process. The longlist will be made public at a later date. 
   7. Special Category winners are selected from entrants in that category after the First Prize and Runner Up are selected. Where the Special Category Winner is also a Shortlist Winner then the entrant receives the higher prize value of the two awards – they do not receive both amounts.
7. DECISIONS ARE FINAL: the Promoter’s determination regarding prize winners is final and binding on all entrants. No correspondence will be entered into between the Promoter and entrants. The Promoter accepts no responsibility for late, unreadable, non-compliant, lost or misdirected entries or other communications.  Entries will be deemed void if illegitimate, forged, manipulated or tampered with in any way.
8. CHANGES TO COMPETITION: If something happens that significantly impacts the Promoter’s ability to conduct the Competition (as determined by the Promoter at its absolute discretion) then the Promoter may, at its discretion, change dates associated with the competition or cancel the competition. Entrants accept this risk and release the Promoter from and against all claims of any kind arising from alteration or cancellation of the Competition. 
9. NOTIFICATION OF RESULTS: the results of the Competition will first be announced at the Award Ceremony to be held on 11 October in Parramatta. After the Award Ceremony the results will be published in Australia by notification on the Promoter’s Facebook Page. All eligible prize winners will be notified by email and/or mail.
10. PRIZES: See Part 2 – the prize pool is valued up to $20,000. The Promoter accepts no responsibility for any variation in the prize values. All taxes (excluding GST) which may be payable as a consequence of receiving a prize is the sole responsibility of the winner. The Promoter shall not be liable for any loss, damage or injury suffered (even if caused by negligence) as a result of accepting and/or using a prize, except for any liability which cannot be excluded by law. Winners will be required to validate their identity prior to being awarded their prize. Prizes will be awarded by transfer of funds to a valid Australian bank account in the name of the entrant or their parent or legal guardian.
11. TRANSFERABILITY OF PRIZES: all prizes are not transferable or exchangeable.
12. UNCLAIMED PRIZES: Prizes must be claimed by winners no later than 28 days after the relevant Award date. All prizes unclaimed as at the expiry of 28 days from the notification of results (Claim Date) will be be forfeited. 
13. MINORS: If a winner is under 18 years of age, the prize will, at the discretion of the Promoter, be awarded to either: (1) the winner’s validated bank account; or (2) the winner’s parent or guardian.
14. VERIFICATION: The Promoter reserves the right to request verification of age, identity, residential address of winners and any other information relevant to entry into or participation in this promotion.  Verification is at the discretion of the Promoter, whose decision is final.  The Promoter reserves the right to disqualify any individual who is involved in any way in interfering or tampering with the conduct of this promotion.
15. GENERAL PROMOTIONAL RELEASE: Before the prize is awarded, the winner and any other person(s) sharing the prize with the winner may be required to sign an agreement to release the Promoter from and indemnify the Promoter against any liability arising from the use or participation in the prize. Irrespective of whether an entrant signs a release, by entering in the Promotion each entrant is deemed to release the Promoter from and indemnify the Promoter against any liability, loss, cost, damage, claim, demand, proceeding or litigation of any kind relating to the use or participation in the prize.
16. PROMOTIONAL CONSENT & LICENCE: Entrants acknowledge and agree:
    1. to the Promoter using their name, likeness, biography, image and/or voice in the event that they are a winner in any media for an unlimited period of time without remuneration for the purpose of promoting the Competition in either this or any future year (including any outcome) and/or promoting any products manufactured, distributed and/or supplied by the Promoter; and
    2. where they are a prize winner they grant the Promoter a royalty-free, non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, and distribute their work for promotional purposes, as well as in any future anthologies, collections, or publications, whether for free or for commercial sale. Entrants agree that the Promoter may use the work in whole or in part in accordance with the preceding terms, and that the entrant will not receive any compensation or payment for such use beyond the prize awarded for this competition. 
17. PRIVACY: Information collected from entrants will be used in accordance with the terms of the Promoter’s Privacy Policy which can be viewed at https://www.dymockstutoring.edu.au/privacy-policy/. Information collected as part of the promotion will be used for the purpose of conducting this promotion (which may include disclosure to third parties, including local lottery authorities, for the purpose of processing and conducting the promotion) and for promotional purposes surrounding this promotion.  By entering this promotion entrants consent to the use of their information as described and agree that the Promoter may use this information, or disclose it to other organisations that may use it, in any media for future promotional, marketing and publicity purposes without any further reference or payment to the entrant.
18. PROMOTER: The Promoters are Dymocks Education Pty Ltd t/as Dymocks Tutoring ABN 87 092 772 702 and Dymocks Franchise Systems (NSW) Pty Ltd ABN 73 002 989 862 both of Level 6, 428 George Street Sydney NSW 2000 – contact number: 1300 33 77 88.

PART 2 – PRIZES

Main Categories

High School

1. First Prize: $3,000
2. Runner Up: $1,000
3. Shortlisted: $500 – there are 8 shortlist awards.

Primary School

2. First Prize: $2,000
3. Runner Up: $1,000
4. Shortlisted: $500 – there are 8 shortlist awards.

Special Categories

4. Regional Winner: $1,000
5. Greater Western Sydney Winner: $1,000
6. EALD Winner: $1,000
7. First Nations Winner: $1,000
8. LGBTQIA+: $1,000