Random House - Sony Young Movellist
of the Year (worldwide)
Deadline: 14 April 2013
(To clarify, if you live outside the UK/ Ireland, you are only eligible to win books and a Sony Reader. But if you happen to live in the UK/ Ireland - we're sure some of you do - you are eligible for the top prize of £2,000 advance and a publishing contract with Random House. Entrants should be 13-19 years old. Good luck!)
Movellas, Random House, the Sony Reader Store and The Reading Agency have joined forces to find the best young writing superstar. The icing on the cake? Malorie Blackman will be picking the overall winner!
Are you the next J.K. Rowling, Michael Morpurgo or Malorie Blackman? Is there half a novel hidden in your desk or in a computer folder that could be the next Hunger Games? Or maybe you have an idea and just needed that little bit of inspiration to get writing...
You could be the Sony Young Movellist of the Year!
Free to enter and open to writers aged between 13 and 19 years, this competition will see one young superstar receive an exclusive publishing contract with Random House.
Judging the competition is young adult and children’s author, Malorie Blackman OBE, who will be selecting the final winner from ten shortlisted authors.
But with the winner set for announcement on the 15th of July 2013 at a glamorous awards ceremony sponsored by Sony Reader Store, the challenge is most definitely on, and like Katniss Everdeen only the strongest and most committed young writers will survive.
Never fear though, as supporting partner The Reading Agency will be on hand to help you through the Reading Activists programme, providing top tips and literary guidance as well as hosting ‘write-in’ events with local communities across the country.
“I'm so thrilled to be involved in the new Movellas award for young writers. What a wonderful opportunity for young people to have their stories read and their voices heard. I just wish something like this had been around when I was a teenager.
“If you have a story you want to share, what are you waiting for?! Good luck." - Malorie Blackman
HERE'S HOW TO ENTER:
AND THEN?
- Sign up or sign in to Movellas, create your profile and explore the site.
- When you are ready, create a new movella and upload the first three chapters of your novel (no more than three at this point!). Click the BIG GREEN BUTTON in the corner to enter the movella into the contest.
- If you want to enter a movella you’ve already created on the site, that’s fine! You just need to remove it from the site, then re-upload the first three chapters only.
- Don’t forget to check out tips and literary advice from Reading Activists to help make your entry a winner.
- NOW THE IMPORTANT PART: those first three chapters are great for feedback and seeing what the Movellas community think of your idea, but once you have summed up the courage, email your full length novel (40,000 + words) to movellist@movellas.com to be in with a chance of being the Sony Young Movellist of the Year.
THE PRIZES:
- Movellas and the Reading Agency will spend a manic few weeks reading all of the entries, from which there will be created a shortlist of 10 novels.
- These 10 novels will be delivered to the expert hands of Random House and Malorie Blackman (yes, Malorie Blackman of Noughts & Crosses fame!), who together will whittle it down to just three: two runners-up, and one overall winner!
If you’re under 18, you’ll need to have parental consent before we’re able to pick your entry for our shortlist of ten – so be ready to ask them! Before entering please read our full terms and conditions here.
- The overall winner will be offered the opportunity to sign a publishing contract with Random House, including a £2,000 advance! They will also receive a Sony Reader.
- The two runners-up will receive Malorie Blackman’s entire teen backlist, published by Random House, and a Sony Reader.
- The overall winner and the two runners-up will be invited to afternoon tea with Malorie Blackman, and will be able to bring a parent, guardian or friend each.
- An international winner (selected by the Movellas team) will receive Malorie Blackman’s entire teen backlist, published by Random House, and a Sony Reader. Two runners-up will also receive Malorie's backlist.
- One winner (selected by the Reading Agency and Movellas community) who ONLY submitted the first three chapters of a novel (i.e. did not follow up with a full length novel - but why would you do that!?) will receive a mentoring session with a professional writer.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS:
1) By submitting an entry to this competition, you agree to accept and be bound by these rules and any other instructions the promoter gives you on how to enter.
2) To submit an entry you must:
Please note that if you enter this competition and live in the UK or Republic of Ireland, you will be entered for the main prize and runner-up prizes, but not the international prize. If you do not live in the UK or Republic of Ireland and choose to enter this competition you will be entered only for the international prize.
- be aged between thirteen and nineteen years old on Monday 18th February 2013;
- have your parent or guardian’s consent to enter; and
- must not be employed by the promoter or related to one of the promoter’s employees (the promoter is Movellas or Random House Children’s Publishers, a division of The Random House Group Limited).
3) To submit an entry you must upload no more than three chapters of your story, together with the country in which you live, onto the Movellas website (www.movellas.com) between Monday 18th February 2013 and midnight on Sunday 14th April 2013 and send the full length novel to movellist@movellas.com as a word document along with your full name, date of birth, address, telephone number, email address and parent or guardian’s full name, telephone number and email address. The total word count for your story must be between 40,000 and 60,000 words, including the initial three chapters. The promoter will contact each selected entrant’s parent or guardian to request that they guarantee the entrant’s adherence to these terms. For your entry to be valid, it must have been written by you, must be a work of fiction original to you, and must not have been previously published, self-published or posted online other than on the Movellas website. If your story has previously been shared on the Movellas website and you would like to submit it as an entry, you must take your story down from the Movellas website fully before re-posting the first three chapters.
4) Entrants grant to the promoter a worldwide, exclusive (save in relation to display by Movellas via the Movellas service), royalty free license from the date of entry to 21st April 2013 to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute the entry and/or any derivation of it. An entrant entering into a publishing agreement other than with the promoter or otherwise publishing or making available an entry will constitute a breach of this clause and will result in the entrant becoming ineligible for the main prize and runner-up prizes. The promoter will not exercise its rights to publish, display or distribute under this licence unless and until it has entered into a standard publishing agreement with the relevant entrant.
5) Entrants grant to the promoter, on submission of their full story as above, a worldwide, exclusive (save in relation to display of the initial entry by Movellas via the Movellas service), royalty free license from the date of submission to 15th July 2013 to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute the submission and/or any derivation of it. An entrant entering into a publishing agreement other than with the promoter or otherwise publishing or making available a submission will constitute a breach of this clause by that entrant and will result in the entrant becoming ineligible for the main prize and runner-up prizes. The promoter will not exercise its rights to publish, display or distribute under this licence unless and until it has entered into a standard publishing agreement with the relevant entrant.
JUDGING AND PRIZES:
6) On Monday 15th April 2013, the promoter will choose and contact the winner of the international prize from among the entries validly submitted by entrants not resident in the UK or Republic of Ireland. The winner of the international prize will win a selection of books by Malorie Blackman, signed by the author. To claim the prize, the winner must provide their name and delivery address to the promoter within 14 days of the promoter’s notification that they have won. Failure to claim the international prize within this time will entitle the promoter to withdraw the prize and award it to a different winner.
7) The winners of the main prize and runners-up prizes will be chosen and notified on 31st May 2013 but must keep this information confidential until announced by the promoter on the Movellas website on 15th July 2013 (but this date may be subject to change). The two winners of runners-up prizes will each receive an invitation for them and a friend, parent or guardian to afternoon tea with Malorie Blackman in July or August 2013 (exact date to be confirmed with the runners-up based on their availability). This will include reasonable travel and accommodation expenses.
8) The winner of the main prize will be offered the opportunity to enter into a standard publishing agreement with the promoter (including, on signature of the agreement including parental or guardian’s guarantee, a £2,000 advance) for publication of their story in eBook format on 15th July 2013 (and other formats at the promoter’s discretion). Should the winner decline to enter into that agreement, or should their parent or guardian fail to guarantee the winner’s adherence to the agreement, by 14th June 2013, the promoter reserves the right to withdraw the main prize and select a new winner. Please be aware that entering into a standard publishing agreement will mean that you may be required to work with Random House editors and potentially edit or revise parts of your story and must be available to do so, if required, between 1st June and 15th July.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
For queries/ submissions: movellist@movellas.com
Website: http://www.movellas.com/