Crowvus Christmas Ghost Story Competition 2017

 

Christmas Ghost Story Competition


It seems that no-one knows where the tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas came from. It was certainly around during Victorian England when Charles Dickens wrote “A Christmas Carol”. Dickens himself called his famous novella “A Ghost Story for Christmas”. The tradition probably goes back many years before this, when telling stories around a blazing hearth was the entertainment when the nights grew longer.

In this noble tradition, we are launching our Ghost Story Competition for publication at Christmas time. Take a leaf out of your ancestors’ book and tell chilling tales for Christmas entertainment.

The competition is open to all ages (please see additional rules for more information).

In December 2017, we will be publishing an anthology celebrating your excellent stories. The anthology will include the 1st placed children’s entry, 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the adult section, and 6 highly commended stories. Everyone who has a story in the anthology will receive a free copy when it is published. More will be available from our online shop.

Please look through the Competition Terms and Conditions, and Tips, before entering your story.

Terms and Conditions


1. The entry fee for adults is £3 per story. 2 stories are £5. There is a maximum of 2 stories per author. Children’s entries are FREE.

2. Word limit: 4000

3. Competition deadline: 30th September at midnight (oooh spooky!)

4. Winners will be notified by the 6th November 2017.

5. Stories must have only one author. No co-authored stories please.

6. Entries must be solely the work of the contributor.

7. Please pay for the entry by Paypal, then submit by email quoting the Paypal reference. If you have any queries or problems, please contact the_team@crowvus.com.

8. All entries are judged anonymously and should be .pdf attachments. The covering email should include name, address, phone number, email (if different), title of story, and the word count. Also, please state your preferred method of communication.

9. Please submit your entry to the_team@crowvus.com. Please do not use the online form.

10. Entries are very welcome from overseas authors. However, these must be written in English and the preferred method of communication must be email.

11. While copyright remains with the author, Crowvus reserves the right to publish and sell the entries in the anthology at no extra cost. Crowvus will keep all profit from the sale of the anthology. We will provide the ISBN for the anthology.

12. Crowvus reserves to the right not to publish the anthology if there are not enough entries.

13. The decision of the judging panel is final.

14. Crowvus will not enter into disputes with third parties.

15. The prizes are worked on a percentage of the entry fees. 1st prize wins 40%, 2nd prize wins 20% and 3rd prize wins 10%. The additional 30% will be contributed towards publication costs (printing, advertising, ISBN). The more people who enter the competition, the bigger the prize pot will be! The children’s section works differently – see below.

16. By entering the competition, you agree to ALL the terms and conditions.

Children's Entries


(as above unless otherwise specified)

· For this competition, a child is someone under the age of 16 on 1st December 2017. Anybody who doesn’t fall into this category can enter the adult competition.

· There is only a 1st place awarded in the children’s section, although stories can be marked as highly commended at the judges’ discretion. The 1st prize is a £50 one4all gift card.

· There is no entry fee for children.

Tips


Far be it from us to tell you how to write your stories! Everybody has their own voice and we look forward to hearing it when we receive your entries. However, here are a few general tips and guidance that you might find useful.

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The word limit is 4000 words. However, a good story doesn’t need to be close to this word count. If you can put your story across well in 500 words, then go ahead and enter it!

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You don’t have to write a scary ghost story. We are looking for something that transports us to that magical place where readers go – something extra special.

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Instead of always writing about what your character can see, sometimes it’s good to use your other senses too (hear, smell, taste, feel).

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The judges will be looking for a finished, polished product so ensure you have proofread your work. Sometimes it’s better to ask someone else to proofread.