Beginning now (5 PM, September 26, 2009), you have 24 hours to write a work of short fiction — story, poetry, screenplay, etc.  Print and deliver your completed work:

• before 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009

• in person to Pennywise Books on Rosser Ave.

or

• • via email to info@wordsalivefestival.ca

Your work must include the following element:

• one of your characters is forced to commit a crime.

Use creativity — the winner will be chosen partly by how well he or she
includes that element in the tale.

Official Rules:

1)      You may enter as often as you wish but:

a)      Manuscripts must be submitted separately;

b)      Manuscripts must be typed, at approximately 12-point font, double-spaced, singled-sided; and

c)      Pages must be numbered.

2)      Manuscripts must be accompanied by the following author information:

a)      Name;

b)      Address, including City/Town, and Postal Code;

c)      Phone number; and

d)      Email address, if available.

3)      Incomplete or pseudonymous entries are not be eligible to win. Words Alive is not responsible for late, lost, destroyed or wrongly addressed mail in connection with the contest. Do not include any other correspondence in envelopes with entries.

4)      Employees or associates of the Words Alive organization and their
immediate families are ineligible to enter.

5)      Extremely long or extremely short entries may be disqualified.

6)      Entrants warrant that:

a)      short stories are original and unpublished works of fiction, and authored by a resident of the Westman during the official 24-hour period;

b)      short stories do not infringe upon any copyright, proprietary right or any other right of any kind; and

c)      the author has the unimpaired right to convey publication rights to the Words Alive book festival.

7)      All entries must be received by contest closing date, Sunday, September 27, at 5 p.m. Odds of winning depend upon the number of eligible entries received. Selected entrants will be notified by telephone and/or email.

8)      Entrants, by entering this contest, consent to the use of their name and/or photograph, without compensation, for future publicity carried out by Words Alive in connection with this contest.

9)      Entrants retain copyright to their manuscripts. However, by entering this contest, all entrants grant to Words Alive a worldwide, perpetual, paidup, non-exclusive licence to publish, republish or reproduce their manuscripts an unlimited number of times, in original or edited form, in all media and forms of reproduction and distribution now in existence
or developed in the future.

10)  Except for the winners, Words Alive will not barter or share any entrant’s personal and/or private information with any other organization.

11)  Winners may be selected on entertainment value as well as literary merit or any other quality or combination of qualities. Contest judges, as appointed by Words Alive, will be the sole appraisers and will have the sole power to determine winning entries.

12)  Winners will be published in the program for the 2009 Words Alive book festival. Prior to publication, entries may be edited for taste, length, spelling and/or grammar.

13)  Contest judges will make the final decision on any interpretation of
these rules.