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MNHQ

Write an animal story for the Mumsnet and Walker Books writing competition

30 replies

RachelMumsnet · 03/12/2013 16:47

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

Do you love making up stories for children? Why not enter this year's Mumsnet, Gransnet and Walker Books writing competition and see your story published in a beautifully illustrated gift book?

Last year we ran an incredibly successful writing competition to find 10 inspiring and original bedtime stories. Hundreds of people entered and the 10 winning stories were chosen by former Children's Laureate, Michael Rosen, and published in The Book of Bedtime Stories. The book was recently listed first in The Independent's top children's books for 2013, described as "beautifully produced ... could be a collector's item".

Mumsnet, Gransnet and Walker Books are now very excited to be launching the competition for its second year. This year, the theme will be animal stories. We want you to submit your stories before Monday 6 January. This year we have a judging panel - full details yet to be revealed but this will include previous Children's Laureate, Anthony Browne.

Find out how to enter this fabulous competition. For inspiration and to read winning stories, get your hands on a copy of The Mumsnet Book of Bedtime Stories.

Write an animal story for the Mumsnet and Walker Books writing competition
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MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 04/12/2013 22:53

@catsrus

shouldn't there be a 'submit' button? ATM you upload the file, fill in the details and then what?

That's strange - there is a submit button and I'm not sure why you're not seeing it Catsrus. I'll speak to our tech team and PM you about this tomorrow.

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 08/12/2013 20:53

Sorry it's taken a while, we've now spoken to Walker Books and we're going to answer some of the Qs that have cropped up here.

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 08/12/2013 21:00

@WhosLookingAfterCourtney

Forgive me if this is a silly question, but can it rhyme and still be prose?

Rhyme is fine but we want prose so poetry isn't allowed (if that needs further explanation let us know and we'll elaborate)

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 08/12/2013 21:01

@catsrus

shouldn't there be a 'submit' button? ATM you upload the file, fill in the details and then what?

Think we figured this one out. Can you see the submit button now catsrus?

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 08/12/2013 21:01

@IHATEBARCLAYSBANK

Can children enter ??

My DD has written some fantastic stories & I can think of at least one that would fit this brief - she's 11 but very advanced for this sort of thing.

Also can we illustrate them ourselves too, or just submit the text ??

(Very Arty household)

We're afraid the comp is open to over 18s only.

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 08/12/2013 21:02

@jackiewwilshaw

can you submit more than one?

Absolutely fine to submit more than one story.

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 08/12/2013 21:07

@NotAFeminist

I'm curious, RachelMumsnet, how many entries did you receive for the first competition?!

There were around 350 entries for the first competition.

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 08/12/2013 21:09

Do post if you have any further questions about the comp and we'll use this thread to post updates (about the judging panel etc.) Happy writing Smile

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 20/12/2013 12:12

@Fletch049

number 6 on terms and conditions says one per person

We are sorry for the confusion here. You are allowed to send in more than one entry. We'll amend the Ts and Cs.

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 02/01/2014 12:47

We're sorry for delay in addressing some of these issues. Firstly there wasn't an automatic response to confirm we've received your entires. As quite a few people are asking we are going to email everyone who has submitted a story later today to confirm we've received your entries. If you haven't received an email then please do email us so we can look into it.

Apologies for the confusion about the number of entries - it's fine to submit more than one (we've changed this on the Ts and Cs now).

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 02/01/2014 12:56

@Jude76

I'm still confused about the rhyming/ poetry/ prose thing. Please elaborate if anyone knows the guidelines... Thanks.

We asked Walker Books to elaborate on this and they said: 'We are happy with an entry that rhymes, as long as it fits into a book of continuous prose. We just want everyone to remember that this isn’t a picture book. Good luck with your entry'.

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 02/01/2014 16:18

@CogitoErgoMum

Hello Great idea for a comp Clause 8 and 9 on the terms and conditions - even if the story doesn't win, do you still own it once we enter it? i.e. you own copywrite and get all royalties if it is published? Have I read this right?

Many thanks

If you are not on the shortlist or a winning entry, as set in in point 19 of the T&Cs, rights in your submission granted to Mumsnet (including Gransnet) under point 8 of these terms and conditions shall revert to you automatically on 4th March 2014

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 02/01/2014 16:24

@Mermibridg

Hi, could you elaborate more on the rhyme v poetry thing? I have written a book, each page is four lines and the end of line 2 and line 4 rhyme so its like a little poem on each page, a rhyme on each paragraph. Is that too much like poetry? It still tells a story from beginning middle to end.

Also was there a reply to including pictures as mine already has pictures :)

Michelle

The winning stories will be illustrated by illustrators chosen by Walker Books - so no illustrations by authors. With regard to the poetry - it's fine if it rhymes but it must be a story rather than a poem, so sounds like your entry will be fine.

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 02/01/2014 16:46

@Mermibridg

Hi, could you elaborate more on the rhyme v poetry thing? I have written a book, each page is four lines and the end of line 2 and line 4 rhyme so its like a little poem on each page, a rhyme on each paragraph. Is that too much like poetry? It still tells a story from beginning middle to end.

Also was there a reply to including pictures as mine already has pictures :)

Michelle

The winning stories will be illustrated by illustrators chosen by Walker Books - so no illustrations by authors. With regard to the poetry - it's fine if it rhymes but it must be a story rather than a poem, so sounds like your entry will be fine.

@Madmumof7

Have been an eedjit - too early in morning and may not have sent pdf version (sent from Mac) and def didn't label file with my name just story title - it won't let me re-submit- any way of correcting this?

Could you send a personal message (to me - rachelmumsnet) with the name of the story and we'll look into this for you?
Thanks

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 02/01/2014 16:47

oops, not sure what happened there - double entry. A bit rusty after the Christmas break Blush

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 06/01/2014 17:56

We will be sending out emails to confirm we've received your stories tomorrow.

We're sorry we haven't had chance to get back to everyone today but we had a sudden influx of queries/emails about the comp over the last few days and as it was our first day back we just haven't had chance to go through them all.

This was largely due to the fact that we changed the rules so that you can submit more than one story - and as many of you discovered the entry mechanism would only allow one story per mumsnetters Confused - not ideal we know. If you have experienced this problem, please email the stories over to us at [email protected]. If you have already done this and sent your additional stories to [email protected] - please DON'T resend - we will have received them and will be sending out an acknowledgement email tomorrow to let you know that your submissions have been received.

If you have submitted a story but forgot to put your name/address/title of story, do not fear! We're going to be reading all the emails tomorrow and if there's any story we're not sure about, we will be in touch in the morning. IF any of the stories have slipped through the net but you have emailed/posted about your submission on this thread then we will still accept them as long as the stories are received by end of the day tomorrow. In short: Hold tight until tomorrow and all will be sorted.Smile

We had an amazing response and thanks so much to everyone who entered.

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 06/01/2014 17:57

Sorry forgot to say - if you have submitted a subsequent story with a different email address that is also fine. Hope this answers all the questions.

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 07/01/2014 11:35

@topiarygal

Very exciting! had seal of approval from children BUT have just realised you need to add your name to the document title - I haven't and can't resubmit - will it be OK? Sad

Yes that's fine. We can match up with the spreadsheet of submissions. We'll email if there's any confusion.

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 07/01/2014 11:39

@ApplesinmyPocket

Nor me, littlemao!

Thank you very much, Rachel. I realised you all probably weren't back chained to at your desks yet.

Anyone else reading 'we had an amazing response' and thinking 'Oh No! more than 20 then, bugger, I won't even make the shortlist' Grin

I'm thinking though, all of us did something amazing - it's not easy to start, carry on, AND FINISH a story, well done all of us, we're all writers now even if not winners. Cake all round!

Absolutely - What a great start to the new year to write and finish a short story? Def Cake and Brew all round (where's the bottle of champers emoticon when you need one?). We're just tackling some of the {ahem} more complicated issues and then we'll post up on this thread once we've sent the confirmation email so you know that we've received your story(ies).

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 07/01/2014 11:48

@JNeaves

Hi there,

I just entered the story competition today but I made an error. I was rushing because I knew that the competition was ending today and I didn't know what time! I submitted everything correctly but the file name doesn't include the name of the story and my name! I saw in the thread that you advised someone else to let you know so you could check into it.

The story is called "Spiral Finds His Spin" but the file name was FlopLlamaLips.

My name, address and word count are included within the file. The only thing that is incorrect is the name of the file.

I would hate for my story to get lost because I made such a silly error.

This is fine - we've found your story and made a note of the title.

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 07/01/2014 11:50

@polarbear4321

hi I submitted last night and have also missed out putting my name on the actual document itself, I just added the story title :/...my name and story title are included in the file name though, hope this is ok?

Yes this is fine.

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 07/01/2014 11:52

@polarbear4321

oh no! ive just rechecked the file i sent and also didnt include the story title on the actual document, just the story itself..cant believe ive done that!

Don't panic! We've found it with the story title uploaded.

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 07/01/2014 13:46

The confirmation emails have just been sent out. If you haven't received one today or on 2nd Jan (when we sent out the first confirmation email) then please send me a pm and we'll look into it (DON'T PANIC!)

All stories have now been submitted and the comp is officially closed. Good luck to you all and we'll post up the shortlist on this thread on 16th January.

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 16/01/2014 15:06

So sorry to leave you on tenterhooks, we will be announcing the shortlist in the next 30 minutes. There were 635 entries between mumsnet and gransnet which was an amazing response. Good luck to you all and we'll be back very shortly...

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 16/01/2014 15:11

No, we're going to email the shortlisted entrants at the same time as posting on the boards. We will be with you very shortly.

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