Mumsnet /Walker books bedtime stories competition - winners announced. Now read the blog from Walker book editorial team about creating the book.

[RachelMumsnet]

Do you secretly have a book inside you? Would you like to see it published?

Enter the Walker Books/Mumsnet writing competition and your story could be included in an illustrated gift book of Bedtime Stories for the under-sevens. For your chance to be considered, submit your original manuscript of up to 1,500 words by 30 November 2012.

Over the next month we're going running some Q&A sessions and webchats with children's book authors and will keep you posted about this on this thread

Blimey. I'm not sure responding by cutting and pasting the bits that show you were wrong, particularly as you claimed I was incorrect, counts as rude.

notactuallyme, no, you are not being rude.

To me this competition is even worse than Dragon's Den. At least there for your ideas they want a percentage. I do not see the respect here. Just greed.

Tbh, as an unknown writer, to receive payment for an exclusive short story seems fantastic. I have entered, and I write a lot - I'm not too worried that should - win, I would never come up with another idea.
Thanks fruit - was a bit

notactuallyme, I agree with you.

Can I publish under pseudonym?

The prize money is fine and the opportunity potentially good, but my main concern over the T&Cs is losing your right to the characters, but also potentially losing right to PLR. PLR can be a extra earner for authors - can MNHQ confirm that rights of the author to PLR for this anthology will still be maintained?

I have entered. I don't mind about the T&Cs. It's only a short story and it was fun to write it. If it gets picked and some children enjoy it then it's done it's job and the money sounds nice! anyway

Good luck to everyone entering!

It is becoming closer.
Lovefruits, I think you are allowed to use a pseudonym. It is somewhere in T&C. You need to ask Mumsnet to be sure.

I've got something that's almost ready to send, but is the 1500 word maximum a limit or a target? My story's nowhere near that length .

Just a limit Peahen .

Thank goodness for that. I've no chance, to be fair, but I had fun writing it . Good luck to everyone .

What if someone has many friends on mumsnet who can vote for the story? Is it fair? How can mumsnet know whether the voting was transparent?

ssaw - yes, there was some discussion of this up thread but MN never got back to us about it...

artifarti, thanks but it is a very important issue. Imagine someone asks his/her friends to vote for the story. I certainly know that it is possible to join the Mumsnet even if you are not pregnant. Think of the Facebook friends. There could be lots of cheating. I know it is because I have been asked to do it by my relatives although it was on environmental project. I guess mumsnet cannot do anything about it.
X-factor voting comes to my mind.

I've entered :)
I am also a bit meh about the whole voting thing though. If my story is shortlisted (really not likely so I don't know why I'm even thinking about it!) I won't be plugging it or asking people to "vote for me" so I've got no chance! Surely the people with the most internet friends will win!

I have entered also after finding out about Mumsnet from my partner. Was a little concerned about the T&C's like some of the others, but the chance of being published is worth letting one story go, though I did find it hard as a lot of my stories are inspired by my two children.

For the voting, would it not be better to ask any local school/s near the Mumsnet HQ to vote for their favourites from the shortlisted 20, after all they are who we are all writing for?

Shouldn't the stories for voting be on the site with a number,not a name? That seems fairer. Has there been a response from Mumsnet about this issue?

I've reported my own post (above), telling MN that there's some concern...

Numbering will probably not work, all people have to do is tell their friends to vote for my story it's called "-", or it's about "--".

oh I entered but now worried that it will come down for an MN vote. Even if anonymous there will ways of finding out and be bound to be much nepotism. Reconsider this please MN.

This is not the way the haiku competition in 2010 was judged. it was judged by Carol Ann Duffy.

Hello. Sorry not to have posted before now but we've only just become aware there were some new questions on here.

We haven't finalised the mechanics for the voting yet. But when we do so, we will, of course, be as mindful as possible of the various potential problems.

We'll post again when we know a bit more.

The competition is now closed. As Helen said, apologies for not spotting the questions on here before. The plan is definitely that the 20 shortlisted stories will be anonymous. We're going to be talking to Walker books later this week and will come back once we've had chance to go through the questions raised on this thread with answers and details of exactly how the judging process and voting mechanism is going to work.

Again thanks for all your feedback on this thread. We've now looked at the judging mechanism internally and with Walker books and we think the objectors to the voting element of the comp have got a point and that there would be a chance of vote rigging (we're thinking back to Christopher Maloney's X-Factor survival . We've decided that the top ten stories will now not be selected by public voting. The judging panel will agree on the 20 shortlisted stories and, as chair of the judging panel, Michael Rosen will select the final ten stories for publication.

We think this is fairer and avoids any possibility or accusation of vote-rigging. We'll be announcing the 20 shortlisted stories in 'Winners corner' on 28th January as planned and the ten winners very soon after.

Here are the updated Ts & Cs and for those who entered - we're loving reading the stories.

Thanks for changing and clarifying MNHQ