TERMS & CONDITIONS
OFFICIAL RULES
Updated December 29, 2016.
Closing date for submissions is 23:59 onDecember31, 2024.
Your chapter entry must display your name, age, and unique reference number to be eligible.
Chapter entries generally will be between 3,000 and 5,000 words. They can be from any literary genre (Children's story, Fantasy, Young Adult, Crime, Science Fiction, etc); however, we exclude and will disqualify entries that are obscene, defamatory, libellous, threatening, pornographic, religious, racially or ethnically offensive, or encourage conduct that would be considered a criminal offence, give rise to civil liability, or violate any law. Entries must be appropriate for reading and viewing by the general public. Appropriateness will be determined by the judging panel and ultimately the Competition Sponsor, The Funding Forum Ltd.
The judging panel will be made up of professional publishers, editors, published writers, book reviewers and the Competition Sponsor, The Funding Forum Ltd.
Entries must be submitted by email to 'entry@chapterchain.com' and written in English. We accept Word (.doc, .docx) and pdf document formats. We do not have any requirements for line/word spacing, font type, etc., but entries must clearly display your name and unique reference number as a minimum.
Multiple entries are accepted but the appropriate payment must be selected.
We welcome both unpublished and previously published authors (as long as your entry to THIS competition has not been previously published or won another writing competition). And you must be the original author of the entry - no plagiarism please.
Entries will be judged 'blind' by the general public, ie we will remove any names/identifiers from eligible entries, which will be published on the website shortly after the competition closing date. For questions about the judging process (or competition in general), please contact us at entry@chapterchain.com
All entrants agree to have their work published in the final Chapter Chain novel, in both print and digital formats. The authors accept that their work may be edited to make the published book flow for readers.
Ownership, rights/royalties from the final published book will be the property of The Chapter Chain. All authors of a winning chapter published in the book will be acknowledged in the book but agree that all rights/royalties transfer to the Chapter Chain. Authors retain the right to use and publish their own chapter only but the copyright, and royalties for the full finished book will belong to The Chapter Chain.
The book will be launched at an awards event, venue in a major city in the UK, to be confirmed. However winner authors will not be required to attend the event to receive their award.
We reserve the right to use your name and story as promotional material in the future.
ENGLISH LAWS AND REGULATIONS APPLY. THIS CONTEST IS A SKILL-BASED COMPETITION.
Sponsor: The Chapter Chain Writing Competition (the “Contest”) is sponsored by The Funding Forum, 30 Austen Close, Billingham UK TS23 3GT ("Sponsor").
Contest Description: The Contest is a regular contest. The first Contest period (the “Contest Period”) begins at 12:00 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) on December 20, 2016 and ends at 23:59 GMT on February 28, 2017. Entries must be submitted during the Contest Period to be eligible to receive an award. Sponsor will determine the timing of entries at its sole discretion. Sponsor reserves the right to modify or discontinue the Contest at any time (including modifications to these Official Rules) at its discretion.
Eligibility: An "Entrant" represents and warrants to Sponsor that either (i) Entrant is under (16) years of age at the time of submitting their entry, and (ii) if the entry is created by an individual younger than the age of majority in Entrant’s jurisdiction of residence, the entry is submitted with the full knowledge and consent of the Entrant’s parent or legal guardian and that such parent or legal guardian has read and agreed to these Official Rules. The eligibility of Entrants shall be determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion.
How to Enter: During the Contest Period, Entrants are invited to submit their version of the Chapter (the “Chapter”) by visiting the Contest website located at http://chapterchain.com (Enter the Competition) and select the payment option they require. Once the payment has been received, Entrant will receive a unique reference number which must be quoted on their entry submission and all related correspondence. The first 100 words of your chapter will be used as a thumbnail on the website for readers to scan before selecting chapters to read. Readers will then click on the thumbnail to read the full chapter. All Entries must meet the following requirements:
Entries must adhere to the Chapter Chain's Content Guidelines:
Entries should be between 3,000 and 5,000 words in length, not including title and author name;
Entries must be submitted using .doc, .docx, or pdf formats;
Entries may focus on any literary genre (providing other criteria are met)
Entrant represents and warrants to Sponsor that the Story has not been published previously in print or digital format worldwide (including but not exclusively self-published, magazines, journals, websites, blogs, social network sites), the Story has not been broadcast or won a prize in another competition worldwide.
Each Story submitted will gain an Entrant one (1) entry into the Contest. Sponsor shall determine, at its sole discretion, whether any entry meets the eligibility criteria to participate in the Contest. Sponsor’s decisions regarding eligibility and all other aspects of the Contest are final and binding. In the event of a dispute as to the identity of a winner based on an email address, social media handle, or other identifying information, the winning entry will be declared made by the authorised account holder of the email address submitted at the time of entry. “Authorised account holder” is defined as the natural person who is assigned to an email address by an Internet access provider, online service provider, the platform, or other organisation (e.g., business, educational, institution, etc.) that is responsible for assigning email addresses. In the event of ongoing dispute, Sponsor has the right to determine the identity of entrants at its sole discretion. Potential winners may be required to show proof of being the authorised account holder
Winning Chapters: There will be a total of up to twenty (20) winners chosen during each Contest Period (the “Chapter Winners”)
Up to twenty (20) top entries, based on highest number of public votes received, will be chosen for publication under Sponsor’s publishing imprint in both e-book and print formats, as well as included on Sponsor’s website (“Chapter Winners”).
Sponsor will notify Chapter Winners by email following the voting process. Sponsor is not responsible for any delay or failure to receive notification for any reason, including inactive account(s), technical difficulties associated therewith, or Chapter Winners’ failure to adequately monitor any account. Should a Winner fail to respond to Sponsor, Sponsor reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify that Winner and select the chapter entry with the next highest number of votes.
Awards: The Entrants who submit the winning chapters, as determined based on the public vote will get their chapter published in the final Chapter Chain book and will be entered into the awards competition.
Prize Conditions: By accepting any award, Winners agree to release Sponsor and the Released Parties from any and all liability whatsoever for any injuries, illnesses, death, losses, or damages of any kind caused by entering the Contest or for damages of any kind caused by any award or resulting from acceptance, possession, or use/misuse of any award. By participating in the Contest, each Entrant gives Sponsor permission to collect and use his or her name, likeness, email, address and biographical information without further information where permitted by law. Winners may be required to sign an affidavit of eligibility, liability release and a publicity release within ten (10) days of issuance. By accepting any award, Winners agree to allow Sponsor to use their names, photographs, prize information, and biographical information for publicity and all Contest-related purposes without further compensation where permitted by law. Notwithstanding anything in these Official Rules to the contrary, each Winner will have the right in his or her sole discretion to refuse any awards described in the “Awards” section above.
Terms & Conditions: This Contest is subject to all applicable English laws. By entering the Contest, Entrants agree to release, discharge, indemnify and hold harmless Sponsor, the Released Parties and each of their respective directors, officers, employees, shareholders and agents from any and all liability, loss, damage or injuries to any person (including death) or property of any kind sustained in connection with their participation in the Contest, or from their acceptance, receipt, possession and/or use or misuse of the awards, or for any typographical or other error in the printing, offering or announcement of the awards. Entrant acknowledges that the Contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by or associated with any third party other than Sponsor.
Intellectual Property: Ownership of the underlying intellectual property of each Entrant transfers to The Chapter Chain. Please note that by submitting your Story to us during the Contest, you do grant us certain rights with respect to your Story. These rights are as follows
If you are a Winner, then you also grant us the right to publish, distribute or otherwise make the Story available in all print and electronic forms. We may add artwork or music to any publication that includes your Story. We may also need to edit your work to make the writing styles consistent for the book to flow for readers, but we will try not to change or modify the contents of your Story when doing so.
For the avoidance of doubt, the rights you grant to us in these Official Rules are exclusive, which means that you may not grant licenses in and to your Stories, or sell your rights, to any other parties in your sole discretion.
Each participating Entrant hereby represents and warrants that any entry and other materials and information provided by Entrant are original to Entrant and do not violate or infringe upon the copyrights, trademarks, rights of privacy, publicity or other intellectual property or other rights of any person or entity, and do not violate any laws, rules or regulations. If the entry or information or materials provided by Entrant contain any content or elements that are not owned by Entrant and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, Entrant represents he or she has obtained, prior to submission of the entry and information or materials, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit use and exploitation of the entry and information and materials by Sponsor without additional compensation of any kind.
Each Entrant represents and warrants that the entry and materials and information provided do not contain information considered by Entrant or any other third party to be confidential, and that the entry, materials, and information provided do not violate any laws or regulations. Entrant agrees that Sponsor has the right to verify the ownership and originality of all Entries and that, upon Sponsor’s request, Entrant must submit a written copy of any release or permission Entrant has received from a third party granting Entrant the right to use such property. Entrant understands and acknowledges that in the event a submission is selected as a Chapter Winner, and Entrant’s ownership, rights and the originality of the entry cannot be verified to the satisfaction of Sponsor or is in any other way ineligible, Sponsor may select an alternate winner based on the chapter receiving the next highest number of public votes.
Use of Data: Sponsor will collect personal data about entrants including phone numbers and email addresses in accordance with its Privacy Policy. Entrants may review Sponsor's Privacy Policy at the following link: http://www.chapterchain.com/privacypolicy. By participating in the Contest and providing this information, entrants hereby agree to Sponsor’s collection and usage of their personal information and acknowledge that they have read and accepted Sponsor’s Privacy Policy.
Exclusions of Liability: Chapter Chain, their representatives/founders and Sponsors are not responsible or liable in any manner for any user generated content. Although we include strict provisions regarding user generated content in the official rules and these terms and conditions, we do not control and are not responsible for what users/applicants put on their entries that appear on or through our sites and are not responsible for any offensive, inappropriate, obscene, unlawful, infringing or otherwise objectionable or illegal user generated content you may encounter on our sites or in connection with your use of any of our sites.
Internet Limitations of Liability: Sponsor reserves the right at its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual who tampers with the entry process, and to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Contest in whole or in part, at any time, without notice. Sponsor reserves the right to make Awards using all non-suspect eligible entries received as of, or after (if applicable) this cancellation, termination, modification or suspension date, or in any manner that is fair and equitable. Sponsor assumes no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorised access to, or alteration of, entries. Sponsor is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or telephone lines, computer on-line systems, servers, or providers, computer equipment, software, failure of any e-mail or entry to be received by Sponsor on account of technical problems, human error or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to participant's or any other person's computer relating to or resulting from participation in this Contest or the downloading of any materials in this Contest. CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE ANY WEBSITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE CONTEST IS A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS AND SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, THE SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES OR OTHER REMEDIES FROM ANY SUCH PERSON (S) RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ATTEMPT TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.
Choice of Law; Venue: This Contest and the rights and obligations of Sponsor and participants will be governed by and controlled by the laws of England, applicable to contracts made and performed therein without reference to the applicable choice of law provisions. Any and all disputes, claims, and causes of action arising out of or connected with the Contest, or any benefits received, or the administration of the Contest not resolved through internal adjudication shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, and exclusively by arbitration, to take place in England pursuant to the Rules then effective; any and all claims, judgements and awards shall be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred, including costs associated with participating in the Contest and in no event shall Entrant by entitled to receive lawyers’ fees or other legal costs; and under no circumstances will a participant be permitted to obtain awards for and participants hereby waive all right to claim punitive, incidental and consequential damages and any other damages, other than for actual out-of-pocket expenses, and any and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased.
Winners’ List Requests: To request confirmation of the name and address of the Winners, or for a copy of these Official Rules, please send, within six (6) months following the end of the Contest Period, a self-addressed, stamped business size envelope to The Chapter Chain, c/o The Funding Forum, Eden Hub, Evolution 2, Wynyard Business Park, Wynyard, Durham United Kingdom TS22 5TB.