Pulp Idol 2008 short story competition
|
We are now in the process of judging all the submitted stories. For the last two years, SFX has been running a short story competition, which we dubbed Pulp Idol - you may have seen the two volumes of short stories that were given away with the magazine. It proved so popular, that we are of course running it for a third year running. It's time to ask yourself the question: "Could I become a published author in 2008?"  As before, your task is deceptively simple: please write a science fiction or fantasy short story of 1000 to 2000 words. The best stories will be collected in a book, given away with an issue of SFX later this summer. You’ll find full terms and conditions and details below. Entries should be submitted by email here. The competition closes on 3 June 2008. We wouldn't expect you to submit your story without some assistance along the way so the next few issues of SFX will be offering up advice from authors, agents, editors and publishers. They'll be discussing the art of writing short stories with us, and offering guidelines on getting in to print and the current state of the SF market. All valuable information even if you're not planning to enter this year. We'll also be running much of this material, in Q&A form, on the website over the coming weeks, so keep coming back here to get more tips and inspiration.
PULP IDOL 2008! THE PRIZE IS... RULES HIGHLIGHTS... THE GENERAL RULES ARE... HERE'S HOW TO ENTER...
2. All entries must reach our email address (SFXPulpIdol@futurenet.co.uk) no later than midnight at the end of 3 June 2008. Only entries received at the email address specified above will be considered. Late or incomplete entries will be disqualified. Proof of posting (if relevant) shall not be deemed proof of delivery. No responsibility can be accepted for entries which are lost, delayed, misdirected or corrupted during delivery to the email address specified for any reason whatsoever. 3. The overall winner will be notified personally as soon as practicable once a decision has been taken. (At our discretion we may also notify the runners-up, but this is not guaranteed.) 4. The name of the winner and details of their entry will be posted on the SFX website (www.sfx.co.uk) as soon as practically possible after a decision has been reached. 5. The competition is open to all GB residents of 18 aged over except employees of (a) the Company; and (b) any third party appointed by the Company to organise and/or manage the Competition; and (c) the Competition sponsor(s). 6. Entrants must be previously unpublished fiction authors, as specified in the General Rules section above. 7. Entries must be submitted by an individual (not via any agency or similar and collaborative works are not permitted) and unless otherwise stated, are limited to one per household. Prizes may be provided by a third party sponsor of the Competition. The Company reserves the right in its sole discretion to substitute any prize with cash or a prize of comparable value. 8. The winning entry will be that which has met the entry criteria and which most closely meets the Competition criteria specified. 9. One winning story will be picked. The winning story will be that which met the entry criteria and which most closely meets the Competition criteria specified. The panel of judges will contain at least one independent person from outside the SFX team. 10 runners-up stories will be chosen and those stories will also be printed in the SFX short story compilation. The panel’s decision will be final. 10. By entering the Competition you: (b) grant the Company and any Competition sponsor(s) the right to use your personal information to send you information about their respective products and services which may be of interest to you. If you do not wish to receive this information, please indicate this in your email by saying NO MARKETING STUFF PLEASE at some point in your entry email. (c) accept that all entries will become the property of the Company upon receipt and will not be returned. You will retain all rights you have in the copyright and other intellectual property rights comprising the story but, by entering the Competition, you grant the Company and its licensees the free of charge right to republish the story; (d) waive your moral rights or similar rights in your story whether such rights arise pursuant to the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988 (the “Act”) or equivalent legislation anywhere in the world; and (e) warrant to the Company that: (i) the story is wholly original to you and not wholly or substantially copied from any other material, (ii) that the entrant owns all intellectual property and proprietary rights in the story; and (iii) that the story does not contain any material which is or could be obscene, offensive, defamatory, discriminatory, causes injury, invade the privacy or otherwise infringes or violates any statutory law, common law, regulatory or intellectual property rights of any third party. 11. You may be offered the chance to subscribe for a free newsletter or other service of the Company but failing to do this will not disqualify you from a Competition. 12. If you are a winner, you may have to provide additional information (including, without limitation, proof of age or identity) and/or complete additional documents and return them to the Company within a specified period. Failure to provide additional information and/or complete additional documents within the required time period, or notification returned as undeliverable as addressed will result in your disqualification as a winner and an alternative winner will be selected. 13. The name(s) of the winner(s) and details of the winning entry or entries will be sent to anyone who requests the same within three (3) months of the closing date of the Competition. Requests should be sent to the postal or email address for competition entries and, if postal, should be accompanied by an SAE. 14. If you are a winner of a Competition: (a) the receipt by you of any prize is conditional upon you complying with any and all applicable laws, rules and regulations including, without limitation, the Competition Rules; (b) you acknowledge and agree that neither the Company or any Competition sponsor(s) or any of their employees, agents or subcontractors shall have any liability to you whatsoever in connection with your use and/or possession of your prize, provided that nothing in these Competition Rules shall exclude or limit the liability of any party for personal injury or death caused by negligence or for anything else which cannot be excluded or limited by law. 15. Unless otherwise stated, the Company is the promoter of the Competition. 16. If any of these rules are deemed to be illegal, invalid or otherwise unenforceable, the affected rules shall be deleted from these Competition Rules but the remaining rules shall continue in full force and effect. 17. These Competition Rules and each Competition are governed by English law. Any disputes arising between the Company and any third party in relation to these Competition Rules and/or a Competition shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales (save that the Company shall be entitled to take action against a third party in any other jurisdiction). Pulp Idol 2008 is now closed for new entries. |
