RULES                                                                        

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1. Entry is free.

2. Only one entry per author will be considered.

3. The competition opens on the 28th of June 2026 and closes at midnight on the 31st of August 2026. Entries received after this time will not be considered. 

4. Entered stories must have a minimum of 200 words and a maximum of 2000 words.

5. The competition is only open to children aged 5 to 17 who are currently in the care system (foster family, guardianship, kinship care or children's home) in East Anglia (Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex).

6. Entries can only be considered from children who have consent to enter the competition from the adult/s who care for them.

7. Stories entered can be any genre (comedy, drama, romance, fantasy etc) but must have a spooky element - for example, ghosts, ghouls, monsters, magic, curses or creatures. The stories can be written in prose or rhyming verse.

8. Entries must be suitable for a child / teen audience. No gratuitous violence, bad language, sexual references or hate speech.

9. All entries must be works of fiction and cannot feature any real, current or historical figures (for example, no stories about your family, friends or your favourite football player).

10. Stories featuring elements subject to existing copyright or trademarks cannot be considered (for example, no stories about Spiderman, Pepper Pig or Minecraft).

11. Entries must be the original work of the author and must not plagiarise the work of any other writer.

12. Entries must be unpublished stories (as of 31st August 2026) and cannot be part of any already published works.

13. Entries made with AI (and we will be checking) will not be considered.

14. Entry is via the submission form at the bottom of this page.

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TERMS AND CONDITIONS                                             

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1. Carers and guardians may support their looked after child by scribing their child's story and/or help to complete the entry process form.

2. Due to the expected high volume of entries only winning submissions will be notified. 

3. Winners will be notified via e-mail and announced on the Hummy Press website, and associated platforms, by October the 10th 2026. 

4. Prizes for winning entries will be posted (Royal Mail, signed for on delivery) to the addresses specified on the entry forms within one month of the winning announcement. 

5. Hummy Press is not liable for renumeration to entrants, other than providing prizes to competition winners. No other prizes, or cash equivalents to the stated prizes, are available. 

6. The National Book Token prizes can only be used in conjunction with the terms and conditions as stated on the tokens. To find out more about National Book Tokens please visit www.nationalbooktokens.com 

7. Hummy Press will not release any specifically identifiable information about the winning authors, other than first name, age and county location (for example, 'Joanna, aged 8, from Essex'). By entering the competition entrants give permission for this information to be used on the Hummy Press website, and associated platforms, indefinitely, for the purposes of administering the competition and publicity.   

8. Hummy Press will not retain rights to any stories entered beyond publishing all, or part, of the winning entries in print and/or audio form on the Hummy Press website, and associated platforms, indefinitely. All other rights remain with the authors.

9. Hummy Press takes no responsibility for copyright or trademark infringements made by the authors.

10. By entering this competition, you agree that we may collect, process, and store your personal information (such as author name, age, location and carer details), for the purpose of administering the competition. We will not use your details for marketing or share them with third parties without your explicit consent.

11. All entry data for non-winning entries will be deleted within 6 months of the competition closing date.

12. All entry data for winning stories will be stored, confidentially, by Hummy Press, indefinitely, for the purposes of competition information and publicity. 

13. You have the right to withdraw your entry, request access to your data, or ask for it to be deleted at any time by contacting info@hummypress.co.uk

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HOW TO ENTER                                                          

Please fill in the entry form below, ensuring all boxes are filled in and the story entered is attached as a word or PDF file via the 'upload file' button. 

Carers or guardians are encouraged to help children with the entry form.