Free Poetry Competitions Rules & Information:
1) Entrants can submit up to three poems but all must be submitted together, clearly handwritten or typed, by post or via the online submission form on the United Press website.
2) Those submitting more than one mailing and/or online submission of entries will be disqualified.
3) Those submitting more than three poems by post will be disqualified.
4) You cannot send amendments or further drafts once your poems have been submitted. Once submitted, poems cannot be revised or re-submitted in other forms.
5) The poems must be no longer than 25 lines and 160 words each.
6) The contests are open to residents of the UK only, and they must enter under their resident address. Students must give their parental address, if any, not college or university address.
7) Each poem must have a title.
8) The decision of the judges is final and incontestable and no correspondence will be entered into.
9) No materials or additional submissions of poetry will be returned.
10) The organisers reserve the right to cancel any competition at any stage, if deemed necessary, and if circumstances arise out of their control.
11) You cannot use a pen name or enter poems for or on behalf of another person, living or dead. You cannot submit entries as the guardian or parent of the author.
12) Do not send cassettes, CDs, etc with your poetry. They cannot be returned to you.
13) The organisers do not accept any responsibility for late or lost entries due to postal services. Proof of sending is not proof of receipt.
14) All winners may be required to take part in promotional activities and publicity for the book and competition.
15) Entries must not have been previously published or submitted for publication or for other competitions. Once a poem has been submitted to this competition it must not be entered into any other competition or offered for use, publication or broadcasting in any form or medium throughout the world until the end of the competition. Entrants will be deemed to have agreed not to offer their entries to other broadcasters or publishers or for any use or exploitation up to the end of the competition.
16) Entries must not have appeared on any website prior to or during the running of the competition. They must not have been self published or published by loan in any form whatsoever, in a book, magazine or any other form of publication or media.
17) The poem must be the original work of the entrant submitting it. By entering the competition, entrants warrant and undertake to the organisers that (i) their work is original, containing no defamatory matter (provided, however, that they shall not be liable for any defamatory matter which, in the opinion of the organisers, was included in the poem without negligence or malice on their part), and (ii) does not contain any third party copyright material or quotes without appropriate permission having been obtained and identified to the organisers when the entry is submitted.
18) This competition is not open to employees or contractors of United Press and persons directly or indirectly involved in the aforementioned organisations or the running of the competition or their direct families.
19) United Press reserves the right to withhold prizes in whole or in part if, in the opinion of the judges, the standard of entries so warrants.
20) All personal details and information accompanying each submission must be truthful, accurate and in no way misleading.
21) United Press reserves the right to withdraw prizes at their discretion in whole in the event of dishonesty, fraud or non-eligibility.
22) Entrants will be deemed to have accepted these rules and to agree to be bound by them when entering the competitions.
23) Ensure that all pages submitted are clearly marked with your name and your contact details, including a landline telephone number and your email address (if appropriate).
24) There is no age limit to the competition.
25) Poets submitting their own original material for the competition retain copyright to their work but will be deemed to have given unconditional permission for its publication in the anthology and any consequent publication of winning poems to promote and publicise the anthology.
26) Entrants who do not comply with the requirements of the organisers will be disqualified.
