Rules

Terms & conditions:


Competition

• The People’s Poetry Competition 2013 (the ‘Competition’) is organised by People’s Poetry Network.

Entrants

• Entries may be submitted from anywhere in the world.
• The Competition is open to anyone aged 16 or over who is not otherwise excluded by these rules.
• Participation may be under an entrant’s real name or under a pseudonym*. The author’s legal name must be included on the entry form. Prizes can only be awarded to a “real person”.

Entries

• Entries must be in English. Entries may be on any subject. Entries must not exceed 42 lines (not including title or blank lines). Alterations cannot be made to entries after they have been submitted, nor fees refunded. Entries should not be obscene, offensive, defamatory or libellous.
• Entries must be entirely the work of the entrant and must never have been published** or have won a prize in any other competition prior to the announcement of the winners and publication of the competition eBook.
• There is no restriction on the number of entries that any one competitor may submit as long as each entry is submitted via the Entry Form with the applicable fees.
• Confirmation of entries will be emailed at the time of submission.
• Entries will be made available (anonymously) via People's Poetry Network's websites for the purposes of judging.

Fees

• The cost is £3.00 per entry. We only accept payments from a PayPal account. All payments will be made in UK Pounds sterling. 
• Once an entry has been made, our services begin immediately and we are unable to offer a subsequent refund.

Judging

• The People's Poetry Competition will be judged by the People rather than by appointed judges.
• Poems will be published to the People's Poetry Competition facebook page and to the People's Poetry blog as they are submitted. Votes will registered via Facebook 'likes' and number of Twitter 'shares'. Any-one can vote for as many poems as they wish.
• At the close of the Competition a short list of the ten most popular poems will be published to the People's Poetry Competition facebook page and to the People's Poetry blog for a straight online poll. The winners will be announced across the People's Poetry Network and Prizes paid for the winning entries.

Prizes

• 1st prize           50% of Prize Pool
• 2nd prize          25% of Prize Pool
• 3rd prize           10% of Prize Pool
• 3 Runners up      5% of Prize Pool 
• The Prize Pool will be the combined Fees paid by Entrants less any costs associated with running the Competition.
  
  

Copyright

• The copyright of each entry remains with the author.
• In the case that an entry is selected for publication, by submitting an entry, the Entrant grants a non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty free, worldwide licence to People’s Poetry Network to publish the entry (and any background information supplied by the entrant) in the People’s Poetry Network anthology (in any digital or print format) and on the People’s Poetry Network websites.
• By participation in the Competition, the Entrant grants a non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty free, worldwide licence to People’s Poetry Network to publish any comment (made in the judging process) in the People’s Poetry Network anthology (in any digital or print format) and on the People’s Poetry Network websites.
• Where a comment is selected for publication, People’s Poetry Network will use best endeavours to ascertain whether the author wishes to be identified. Otherwise, comments will remain anonymous.

General

• People’s Poetry Network accepts no liability to any user of this site or any third party for any damage or loss suffered as a consequence of use of this site.
• People’s Poetry Network cannot accept responsibility for any damage, loss, injury or disappointment suffered by any entrant entering the Competition. In the event of any technical failure People’s Poetry Network’s liability will be limited to the entry fee paid.
• The Competition and Rules will be governed by English Law and any disputes will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts. As a condition of entering the Competition, entrants must ensure that by doing so, they do not contravene any laws of their own country of residence.
• People’s Poetry Network reserves the right to amend these Rules where it is deemed necessary to do so or where circumstances are beyond People’s Poetry Network’s control.
• In the event of any dispute regarding these Rules or any other matter relating to the Competition, the decision of People’s Poetry Network shall be final and no correspondence or discussion shall be entered into.
• Entry of the Competition implies unqualified acceptance of all the Competition’s Rules.

Notes

     *   Inclusion of a 'Pseudonym' on the Entry Form will indicate a desire to remain annonymous and therefore the 
         Entrant will be referred to by their 'Pseudonym' at all times in reference to the Competition.
   **   For the purposes of the Competition’s Rules posting poems to Social Media (such as Facebook and personal
         blogs) and 'self-publishing' (via Amazon, Smashwords etc) is not considered 'Published'.