Challenging The Writers Bimonthly Writing Contest Terms of Service

Thank you for your interest in Challenging The Writers Bimonthly Writing Contest! These terms of service set out important information applicable to the Contest so please read them carefully.

Challenging The Writers Bimonthly Writing Contest (Contest) is operated and promoted by Basenji Books (Basenji Books Limited), a company incorporated in Nigeria with registered number 1700948. By entering our contest, you agree to these terms of service.

In these terms of service when we refer to:

Basenji Books Limited and Challenging The Writers, we might use “us,” “we,” or “our.”

For the person entering the Contest, we might use “participating writers” “the entrant,” “the author,” “you,” “your,” or “user.”

Challenging The Writers Bimonthly Writing Contest, we might use “the Contest.”

1. The Contest

In the early hours, on the first day of each contest month, we publish the three writing prompts on the website before it is announced and shared on other update channels i.e. newsletter and social media.

Until the very last minute (11:59 p.m.) of the last day of the month, participating writers write and submit a story based on one of the prompts for the opportunity to win prizes. Submitted stories (Entries) should be between 3,500 – 4,000 words and written in English.

Entry for the contest is free of charge.

At the end of each contest month, one winning Entry (Winner) is determined by our team based on the quality of the submission. The Winner is announced three weeks after the contest closes and awarded ₦30,000. The winning story along with the 1st and 2nd runner ups are published on the website under Shiny Stories.

To take part in the Contest, visit: https://challengingthewriters.com/contest/

We are not responsible for the content submitted to the Contest.

2. The Prizes

The prizes are:

For the Winner: ₦30,000, to be delivered via Bank Account if eligible.
Anthology Publishing Deal – The 1st place winners in each contest month, will be awarded a publishing deal, where they are solicited to write a themed short story, that shall be published in an anthology by Basenji Books.
Publication on Shiny Stories, where it will be highlighted as a winner or runner-up, as applicable.
Highlight on our social media and newsletter.

There are no alternative prizes, and prizes are not transferable. We may alter arrangements or prizes at our sole discretion and we may cease the Contest at any time.

3. Entering the Contest

Prompts go out in the early hours, on the first day of each contest month. The deadline for submissions in response to those prompts is the last day of the contest month at 11:59pm WAT (the Closing Date/Time). Only Entries that are submitted on Challenging The Writers before the Closing Date/Time will be eligible for the Contest. All winning Entries submitted to the contest will be published on Shiny Stories, unless our team decides otherwise. We reserve the right not to publish stories and/or to remove stories from Shiny Stories at any time, without warning to the author.

The steps for submitting an Entry are:

Visit The Challenge webpage to view the contest month’s three prompts.
On The Challenge webpage, click Submit Story under your chosen prompt.
On the submissions page, enter your entry information and story to submit.

All Entries must be the original work of the user submitting the story, must be written in English and must not infringe on the copyright or intellectual property rights of any other party. We accept no responsibility if entrants cannot abide by these Terms of Service, and entrants agree to indemnify us against any claim by any third party arising from any breach of these terms of service.

While submissions can include mature themes and language, submissions must not contain defamatory, obscene, graphic, explicit, offensive, or any other such unsuitable material. We reserve the right to disqualify Entries containing such matter.

Each entrant retains the copyright to their entry but grants to us a non-exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, publish, edit and otherwise use the entry on our website(s) and platform(s) and in all media now known or hereafter discovered at our discretion.

If your story is selected as Winner (and even if you are not selected as a Winner), you may still publish the story elsewhere, but the publication must include an acknowledgment to Challenging The Writers for providing the prompt that inspired the story. In the case of it being a digital publication, we would appreciate a link back to https://challengingthewriters.com/prompts

By submitting an entry, you agree we may at its sole discretion edit, adapt, abridge, or translate the entry for the purposes listed in these terms of service.

You grant permission to us to use your name and entry for promotional purposes without additional compensation, in all media now known or hereafter discovered, worldwide and on the internet and World Wide Web, without notice, review or approval.

4. Eligibility

The Contest is open to all Nigerian writers aged 18 and over.

By entering the Contest, you confirm you are eligible to do so and eligible to claim any prizes you may win. We may require you to provide proof that you are eligible to enter the Contest.

Only one Entry per person is permitted for each Contest. Entries may refer to one or more prompts. The same author may win the Contest on multiple occasions, even sequentially but only gets one publishing deal from the contest.

Entries not submitted in accordance with these terms and all other rules and directions given by us, or Entries that are incomplete or illegible (as determined in our sole discretion) will not be eligible.

5. Judging

The judging panel is comprised of our employees, contractors or reviewers, though it may also include our partners or any other people as determined by us at our sole discretion.

The decision of the judging panel is final, and at their sole discretion. No correspondence or discussion will be entertained by us in relation to that decision.

Winners are notified by email sometime in the three weeks following the close of contest.

We will make all reasonable efforts to contact the Winners. If we cannot reach a Winner within a period of one week following the first attempt, we reserve the right to withdraw the prize from the original Winning entry and to award the ₦30,000 to another eligible entrant from that month’s batch of submissions. We, however, do not need to remove the original winning story from publication.

6. Privacy and Use of Information

We will use any personal information that you give us in accordance with the law, for the purposes of the Contest, in the ways described in these Terms of Service, and for any marketing or other purposes you may indicate your consent to.

You agree that we may also share your details with our judging panel, with your consent. As described above, winning entries may have their name publicised for promotional purposes.

7. All the Rest

We are not liable for any damage, loss or disappointment suffered by you taking part or not being able to take part in this Contest, or from being unable to claim your prize.

In the event of unforeseen circumstances, we may alter, amend or stop running the Contest without prior notice. We reserve the right to change these terms at any time.

If you have any questions or concerns about these Terms of Service, please contact us at challengingthewriters.com/contact