YorkMix Poems For Children Competition – Rules

Here are the rules for the 2019 York Mix Poems For Children Competition.

1. This is an open competition for poets aged 18 and over.
2. Poems must be in English, but entries will be accepted from writers from any country.
3. Poems must be the entrant’s original work and not previously published in a collection or anthology, newspaper or poetry magazine. Poems that have been broadcast on radio or podcasted online are not allowed.
3a. Revised rule: Work that has been posted on Facebook, Twitter or other online media are not eligible.
Please note: Work posted in a private poetry group or online blog is eligible. However, there is a risk that such work might have been seen by our judge. If that is the case, the work will be deemed ineligible, (as impartial judging would be impossible), and the entrant will be allowed to make a new submission.
4. Poems can be of any length.
5. The judge will read all entries; the entries will be presented to the judge anonymously.
Poems must show the title and poem only. The poet’s name must not appear on the work. Poems may not be amended or edited after submission.
6. Poems must be submitted online via the official form on the entry page. Attachments must be in one of the following formats: Word (.doc or .docx), Text, Simpletext or TextEdit, Pages or PDF. Postal entries are allowed, only in special circumstances (See Rule 21).
7. Payment is online via PayPal, via the entry form. To pay by PayPal you do not need a PayPal account. All major credit cards are accepted. Just follow the instructions on the entry form.
8. Poets may enter as many poems as they wish. The 2019 entry fee is:
£5 for a single poem; £10 for three poems; £15 for five poems
There is no limit to the number of poems that can be submitted. To enter more than five poems, you will need to make a separate submission.
9. Acknowledgement of entries: When your entry payment is complete, PayPal will assign a transaction number to the payment; receipt of a transaction number is official confirmation of your entry. Entrants will also receive a formal confirmation of entry when their poems are forwarded (anonymously) to the judge. As poems are forwarded for judging in batches, this latter acknowledgement may be sent up to 14 days after submission of poems. Late entries (made within seven days of the closing date) might not receive acknowledgement until after the closing date.
10. No poet may win more than one cash prize.
11. Closing date: Deadline for entries is midnight on Sunday, June 23, 2019.
12. Winners, Commended and Highly Commended entrants will be contacted by email on or near July 1 and invited to our awards event which will take place in York on Sunday, July 21 (venue to be announced) .
13. Copyright in submitted poems remains with the author. Entrants agree to allow prizewinning, commended and highly commended poems to be featured fee-free on YorkMix.com. Winning and commended poems may not be published elsewhere before August 1, 2019, without the permission of the organisers. Winning and commended poems (and poets’ email contact details) might be shared with any partner publications. But it will be any such publication’s responsibility to seek the poet’s permission before publication.
14. Prize-winning and commended poems may be used by the organisers in publicity or promotional material.
15. Winners will receive payment by cheque or bank transfer.
16. The judge’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
17. Entrants agree to have their email address added to the YorkMix.com mailing list, but can unsubscribe at any time.
18. Any queries and the organisers’ response may be posted on YorkMix if it is deemed helpful to other entrants.
19. Entry implies acceptance of all rules.
20. The organisers reserve the right to amend or update the rules at any time.

POSTAL ENTRIES
21. Postal entries are not encouraged, but will be allowed in special circumstances.
Postal entries add significantly to processing time and costs.
However, at the discretion of the competition organisers, entrants who encounter significant problems with the online entry or payment procedure may be allowed a postal entry.
If you need to make a postal entry, first write to the organisers by email: contact us on [email protected] with the words Poems For Children in the Subject header.
There is a minimum entry fee of £20 for postal entries with cheque payments (covering up to a five-poem entry). No postal entry will be accepted after June 9, 2019.