tips

How to Submit Stories and Poems

These are just a few practical tips. You do not have to do these things, unless the rules specify them, but it does help the volunteers who organise your entries and then send them to the judges. Remember our volunteers have to handle hundreds of entries and can get irritated by dealing with complications in the rather tedious task of sorting and presenting entries. Why irritate the workers?

The S.A.E

When talented people apply

to enter a contest they try

very hard to enclose

(in verse or in prose)

a stamped envelope to reply.

Tip	Reason
Always read the rules and follow them.	If you do not follow the rules your entry may be invalid and you will not get a refund.
If the rules give criteria, (there are three for the poems) bear them in mind.	Your entry will be judged against the criteria.
Our filing system searches on the Poet's or Author's name. This is known as "the unique field" in the data base and this field differentiates all authors and poets. Please do not use nom de plume's or alternative names or change your name if you have entered in previous years or make two separate entries in one year.	For instance if you entered in 2009 under the name "Fred Bloggs" you must not call yourself "Mr Frederick Bloggs" in 2010, otherwise you will be entered twice in our records and this may cause horrendous confusion.
Try and word-process your entries. Always type your entries in a plain font like Times New Roman or Arial, fonts size 10 or 12. Use double spacing for stories. Use single spacing for poems, so that they can fit on one side of a sheet of A 4. If you use a word processor, keep a copy on your hard disc.	Fancy fonts can put the judges off and be difficult to read Use of a good clear font makes the script easy to read. Double spacing for stories helps the adjudicators tired eyes, but the rules state that poems must fit on one side of one sheet of paper. If you win, the webmaster may ask you to e mail a digital version of your entry for the website. This saves him re-typing and possibly making typo-mistakes!
Word process, type or hand-write your entry legibly on one side of A 4 sheets of unlined, white, ordinary paper in 'portrait' format, not 'landscaped'.	Your entry can then be filed in an A 4 ring binder . The judges don't want to keep turning the folder through 90 degrees or looking on the backs of pages. Entries must be legible so that they can be understood. Heavy paper bulks out the files and wastes postage. Oddly sized paper can get get obscured or lost. If you win your entry will have to be scanned by an optical character reader; this cannot be done if it is done on lined or coloured paper.
Always left align your script and leave a 4 cm margin on the left.	Central alignment is difficult to read. Any professional publisher will tell you this. The margin helps because all entries are bound in ring binders and the script can get hidden in a narrow margin by the binding.
If you must use a particular alignment, paragraphing, spelling, punctuation, spacing or graphic effect in your entry, please do so; but make sure that its purpose is apparent and necessary.	Curious effects must be essential to the entry. They very rarely are. If there is no reason for doing so, or if the reason can not be comprehended, it may count against you.
Do not use pins, staples paper clips or any fastening whatsoever to hold your entry forms cheques and entries etc together. Paper clips are the worst. Just place the papers in an envelope and seal the envelope without using tape. Try and use C5 or C4 envelopes and avoid using thin brown envelopes which open from their narrow end.	Clips and pins tend to rip the cheques and entries when the paper knife is used to open the envelopes; they can also prick and tear the hands. Taping the envelopes makes them difficult to open. Larger envelopes help to keep your entries flat and un-creased. End-opening envelopes are difficult to fill and empty.
If you want the results sent to you, enclose a C4 or 5 stamped addressed envelope with an adequate stamp. Remember all results appear on the Website, so only ask for these if you do not have ready access to the Internet.. The test of all winning entries are published in November on our website, where they remain for one year.	Result sheets for s.a.e.-posting are printed on A 4 paper; tiny envelopes will not be big enough. These result-sheets do not give the winning texts. Winning texts are published in November on the Web; this is the only way in which texts are published. Short-listed texts and other entries are not published on the Website.
Do not use header sheets or binders or anything for your entries. Stories, which span several sheets should be held together with one mini-staple placed 1 cm from the left hand edge, half way down the papers and parallel with the left edge. The title should be typed on the first page and may be included in a footer for each page along with the page numbers and word count.	All entries are placed in ring binders for judging, so header sheets etc are just discarded. Stories need to be kept together with a simple fastening between the two ring binder holes, so that the pages can be turned.
Never write anything on the entry pages except the poem or story and its title. Do not include, dates, references, pictures, drawings or fanciful graphics. You must NOT write your name on the entry or give any indication whatsoever of the identity of the author or poet.	All entries are judged anonymously and any identification will cause immediate disqualification without any refund. Any other mark, word or letter found on the entry may be mistaken for being a part of the entry's text, particularly if the entry is especially original!
All entries must have a title.	We identify all entries solely by their title. Keep them short. Long titles and explanatory notes can destroy the integrity of the entry and confuse the identification.
When you fill out an entry form. Tear off the rules and keep them.	You may need to refer to them later.
Fill in the entry forms legibly, particularly e-mail addresses. Remember that these must always be in lower case and if you get so much as one dot or space wrong it won't work	If we cannot read your name address and telephone number and you win, we won't know who to send the prize to.
Try and use the entry forms on the Website and tell your friends about the website.	This saves you postage on stamped addressed envelopes and gets the word out
Do not send entries by e-mail.	We have to tie up your entry with your fee and, as we cannot accept credit cards payment, an e-mail entry may become separated when the cheque subsequently arrives by post.
If you do not have an entry form just send your entry in with the details on a piece of paper.	Don't waste money asking for entry forms.
Fees must be paid in sterling using cheques, postal orders or traveller's cheques. Make them out to "Wells Festival of Literature Ltd".	We cannot accept credit cards, US dollars or other foreign currencies.
Do not expect comment or criticism of your entry.	We only offer a competition, not a commentary, tutorial or advisory service. This is deliberate.
Why are poems limited to 40 lines and stories to between 1800 and 2000 words?	We normally receive more than 1000 poems. It would take too long to read longer poems fairly. Some short-listed stories are read out live on the BBC. They only supply a 15 minute slot so we need an upper limit. The lower limit is there to ensure that we get stories and not fragments or episodes.
These are just practical tips. They won't help you win. They may help you not to lose.	Rules are for the guidance of the wise and the observance of fools.
Data Protection	Data Protection
If you enter you e-mail address, or any other personal data on an entry form or other document we will assume that you wish to receive e-mails from us and that you have consented to our keeping your personal data on our records so that we can use it for festival and competition purposes.	This assumption is made so as to protect the Committee from any action brought under "SPAM" and other laws and so as to comply with the Data Protection Act. We will only send you e-mails, or other documents when necessary to inform you about the festival or competitions. We will only use your personal data for festival and competition purposes. We will keep and use this data unless and until we are asked to remove it by the person concerned.

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