- By entering this competition, you agree to accept and be bound by these terms and conditions. All entry instructions form part of the terms and conditions of this competition. Entries that do not comply will be disqualified.
- This worldwide competition is open to anyone aged 7 to 11 years residing anywhere in the world on 26th March 2025. Proof of age, identity and eligibility may be requested. The responsible adult submitting the story on behalf of the entrant will be asked to provide the entrant’s name, age and date of birth and ensure that they have parental permission to do so.
- The entries must have a central theme of ‘Courage’. Entrants can choose the title of their story. To enter this competition you must write a fictional story of no more than 500 words.
- Stories should be typed in either Times New Roman or Arial 12pt, with double line spacing. Include the title of your story as a header on each page submitted. For safeguarding purposes do not put the author’s name on the story. Include the word count at the end of your story. To submit an entry go to the online form at https://forms.gle/YzUkHpW2fsiY6J8b6. You will be asked to attach a document. These must be submitted as a pdf only. Please use the title of your story as the file name.
- The name of your story MUST correspond to the name of the document you upload or you may be disqualified.
- All entries should be submitted in English. Only one entry per person is allowed and stories cannot have multiple authors. If one entrant submits more than one story, only their first story will be considered.
- For schools wishing to send in a number of entries, this can be done in a single submission from a teacher with stories attached. Please include a separate sheet with a numbered list of stories, with the title, name and date of birth of each pupil. Pupils’ names should not appear in the stories for safeguarding purposes. Teachers submitting stories on behalf of pupils must seek parental permission and, if requested by the Settle Stories Ltd., provide evidence of permission in the event of an enquiry or complaint.
- The submitted story must be fictional; it cannot be a narrative of true events and it cannot feature real people. The entrant guarantees they have not used anyone’s personal details in the story. Entrants can use well known public figures (e.g. Stormzy or Adele) or real events like Brexit or use real-life experiences as a creative springboard as long as the story is fictional. The winning story will be published so it is important that entrants do not include any personal details about themselves.
- Entries must not contain defamatory, obscene, offensive, or any other unsuitable material. If the story has troubling content Settle Stories Ltd. may if required take advice from the relevant authorities.
- All eligible entrants will receive a certificate via email and it is not possible for feedback to be provided for every entry.
- No corrections or alterations can be made after receipt of an entry.
- By entering this competition each entrant confirms that their entry is their wholly-owned creation and to the extent that such entry makes use of any third party materials that these have been fully cleared unless they are no longer protected by copyright or other intellectual property rights. Entrants will keep Settle Stories Ltd. harmless from any claims in relation to their entry that the entry infringes the personal or proprietary right of any other person. By submitting an entry, each entrant (or their parent/guardian on their behalf) grants to Settle Stories Ltd. a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to edit, publish, translate, modify, adapt, make available and distribute the entry throughout the world in any media now known or hereafter invented. Each entrant (or their parent/guardian on their behalf) undertakes to complete any necessary documentation to formalise the licence. If you do not want to grant us these rights, please do not submit materials to us.
- All entries must be the original work of the entrant and must not infringe the rights of any other party. Settle Stories Ltd. accepts no responsibility if entrants ignore these Rules and the entrant’s parent, guardian or teacher agrees to indemnify Settle Stories Ltd. against any claim by any third party from any breach of these Rules.
- Entry opens on 26th March 2025 and closes 6pm on 29th September. Entries received after the closing date will not be considered. Responsibility will not be accepted for corrupted, illegible, incomplete, lost or damaged entries, whether due to system error or otherwise.
- All correctly completed entries will first be judged by Settle Stories Ltd. employees and associates. The top shortlisted entries will then be judged by Anne Fine. The winners will be the entry that in the opinion of the judges is the most creative and well written.
- Details on the prizes awarded to the winners and runners up can be found on our website at HERE
- Prizes award can only be redeemed in UK book stores, however, a large number of major book stores ship internationally.
- Events may occur which render the awarding of the prizes impossible due to reasons beyond the control of Settle Stories Ltd. and Settle Stories Ltd. may vary, amend or suspend any of the prizes.
- The competition winners and runners up will be announced at the Yorkshire Festival of Story at a free online, live event. The parent or guardian of the winner will have 14 working days to confirm acceptance of their prize.
- The winners agree to Settle Stories Ltd.’s use of their name, town of residence in relation to Settle Stories Ltd.’s publicity material. Only the story title, entrant’s first name and age will be published with an entry.
- Settle Stories Ltd. will use any data submitted by entrants only for the purposes as set out in Settle Stories Ltd.’s privacy policy which can be found at: https://settlestories.org.uk/privacy-policy/.
- Details of the winners will be published on Settle Stories Ltd. and the Yorkshire Festival of Story websites.
- The winner agrees to take part in reasonable post event publicity and to the use of their names in such publicity.
- Settle Stories Ltd. may disqualify any entrant whose entry does not comply with these terms and conditions (in Settle Stories Ltd.’s sole opinion) or who, in Settle Stories Ltd.’s sole determination, has acted in a manner that is fraudulent, dishonest or unjust to other entrants.
- Settle Stories Ltd. reserves the right to amend these terms and conditions or cancel this competition at any stage, if deemed necessary in its opinion, or if circumstances arise outside of its control.
These terms and conditions are subject to English Law and the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
For your free learning resource pack for this competition click here