The Skylark Soaring Stories Competition – How to Enter

Entries must be made by email only to comp@skylark-literary.com. Please note that any hard-copy entries will not be accepted and will not be returned.

Entries are limited to fiction aimed at middle-grade readers (i.e. readers aged 8-12 years) and YA readers (i.e. readers aged 13+).

Entries must take the form of a one-page synopsis and the first three chapters or 4,000 words of the novel (whichever is shorter) submitted by email as attached Word or pdf documents. The ‘subject’ of your email should read ‘Competition: [insert title of your novel] by [insert your author name]’.

Entries must include the anticipated word-count of the full novel, and clearly state whether the entry is for middle-grade readers or YA readers.

The deadline for entries is midnight (UK time) on Christmas Eve, 24th December 2023.

Please make sure you’ve read our Terms and Conditions below and our Privacy Notice before entering.

Terms & Conditions

Eligibility

  • The Skylark Soaring Stories Competition is open to writers of any nationality writing in English, aged 18 years old or over at the time of the competition closing date.

  • Entrants must be unagented, unpublished and not under contract for future publication in the field of fiction, except only that self-published authors are eligible provided that they have only ever been self-published and not published by any outside agency, and that the particular work they are entering in the Skylark Soaring Stories Competition has never been published or self-published in any form including digital.

  • Entries are limited to one per person.

  • Authors must submit their competition entry themselves.

  • Entries must be entirely the original work of the entrant. By entering you are confirming that the work is your own and that no portion of it has been written by any other individual or with any assistance or input from Artificial Intelligence (AI).

  • Entries must be in English.

  • Amendments cannot be made to entries after they have been submitted, nor substitutions made.

Copyright

  • Worldwide copyright of each entry remains with the author, but Skylark Literary will have the unrestricted right to publish the author’s name and extracts from their submitted entry on the Skylark Literary website or in other promotional material.

The Prize

  • The first-placed winner as decided by the judges will receive a one-to-one editorial critique of their finished manuscript either via telephone or via Zoom with Joanna Moult or Amber Caravéo. The one-to-one discussion to last at least one hour.

  • The second- and third-placed winners as decided by the judges will each receive a one-to-one editorial critique of their submitted chapters and synopsis either via telephone or via Zoom with Joanna Moult or Amber Caravéo. Each one-to-one discussion to last at least thirty minutes.

  • There are no alternatives to the prizes stated and the prizes are not transferable.

Judging

  • The directors of Skylark Literary will construct a shortlist from the entries. The shortlisted entries will be shared with the guest judges and the winners selected.

  • The judges' decisions are final and no correspondence will be entered into.

  • Skylark Literary reserves the right to change the panel of judges without notice.

General

  • Skylark Literary will act in accordance with current UK data protection legislation with regard to your personal data. We will not pass on your email address to any third parties.

  • Due to the high volume of submissions, Skylark Literary is unable to contact all entrants to inform them of progress. Entrants will receive an acknowledgement of receipt by email and then the winners will be contacted on or before 30th April 2024. Any entrant not contacted by that date should assume they have been unsuccessful.

  • Any shortlisted authors may be contacted in order to confirm eligibility.

  • The winners will be notified by the end of April 2024. All reasonable efforts will be made to contact the winners before this date. If any winner cannot be contacted, does not respond to email within one week or is not available, Skylark Literary reserves the right to select another winner from entries which were received before the closing date.

  • The names of the first-, second- and third-placed winners will be announced on the Skylark Literary website on or before 30th April 2024.

  • The Skylark Soaring Stories Competition and Terms & Conditions will be governed by English Law and any dispute will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

  • Entry to the competition will be deemed to imply unqualified acceptance of the Skylark Soaring Stories Competition Terms & Conditions and the Skylark Literary Limited Privacy Policy. Failure to act in accordance with the Terms & Conditions may result in disqualification.

  • Skylark Literary reserves the right to amend these Terms & Conditions if it deems it necessary. Any changes to the Terms & Conditions will be posted on the Skylark Literary website.