Entries must be entirely the work of the entrant and must never have been published in a book or anthology, though they may have been previously published in a magazine / journal / periodical. Stories can be on any subject and in any style, but must be no more than 3,000 words in length. Stories exceeding 3,000 words will still be considered, but will be read no further than 3,000 words.

Stories may be simultaneously submitted to this and other competitions, or for consideration in a magazine, but not for consideration for a book or anthology. All stories submitted may be considered for publication online in firstwriter.magazine.

The entry fee is £6.50 / $9.75 per story, £11.50 / $17.25 for two, £15.00 / $22.50 for three, or £20.00 / $30.00 for five. Any number of entries can be made online by credit or debit card, but no postal entries will accepted. Material and monies sent in the post will neither be considered or returned under any circumstance, and no correspondence will be entered into by post.

All entries must be in English. No corrections can be made after receipt, nor fees refunded. Once submitted, entries cannot be withdrawn. When submitting online you will be sent a WorldPay receipt confirming your successful payment. This confirms only that you have paid and not that your entries have been received. Once your entries are successfully submitted to our system you will be sent a confirmation email from ourselves. Receipt of both these confirmations is subject to the provision of your correct email address and your email account being capable of accepting new mail (is not over quota or using a restrictive anti-spam device, etc.). Failure to receive either of these confirmations does not indicate that you have not entered the competition, nor does it invalidate these terms and conditions.

You are responsible for completing the submission process correctly and alerting us to any problems you encounter. firstwriter.com accepts no liability for stories not received due to a failure on your part to follow the online instructions correctly, for which no refund will be made.

Entrants must be contactable at the email address they provide at the time of judging. Winners who do not respond to email contact will still be pronounced winners but will forfeit their prize if they do not claim it within 30 days of the results being published on the website.

Worldwide copyright of each entry remains with the author, but firstwriter.com will have the unrestricted right to publish any submitted entries in firstwriter.magazine.

The judges' decision is final and no individual correspondence can be entered into.

Prize winners will be notified by email once judging is complete. Judging will begin when the competition closes and may last several months. The list of prize-winners will be displayed on the website. Prizes will be paid via PayPal – free accounts can be obtained by clicking here. All winners will be published in firstwriter.magazine and will receive a voucher upon publication allowing the free creation of an annual subscription. Where winners are already subscribers alternatives will be offered up to the value of a year's subscription (e.g.: editing services, entries into other competitions). firstwriter.com reserves the right to publish all winners online for an indefinite period. 

All deadlines, including the closing date, date of announcement, etc. may be postponed by firstwriter.com without notice or consultation in order to ensure enough time to raise sufficient revenue to cover costs.

Entry implies acceptance of all the terms and conditions.

To enter click here.

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