Has anyone recently entered this competition?

Guardian Short Stroy Competition

I may have been incredibly dense but I certainly don't think I have. I am almost certain that the rules of the competition have changed since I entered it. Is there any way of checking this?

Geoff

I just had a look at the source html and it says built on the 01/12/2006 but I entered the competition before that, I'm not too hot on HTML but does this mean they have changed the page?

Having now found a cached paged from Google look at how they have changed the rules

from a page dated 30 Nov 2006 21:57:29 GMT

1.The competition will close at 5pm on 5/1/2007. 2.The prizes are: one first prize of £1000 and five runner-up prizes of a pair of First Class Virgin Train tickets to a Virgin Trains destination of your choice. 3. The competition is not open to employees, agents, contractors or consultants of GNM and Virgin Trains or their families or anyone professionally connected with the competition. 4. The winner(s) will be judged on 12/1/2007, the editor's decision is final. 5. Entrants must be 18 years of age or over. 6. GNM is not responsible for incorrect e-mail or postal addresses or for problems with entries caused by any factors outside our control. 7. For winners' details send a stamped address envelope to the following address: The Guardian Marketing Department, 119 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3ER 8. Winners will be notified within 7 days of the closing date. 9. Prizes are subject to availability and GNM reserves the right to substitute alternative prizes of similar value. 10. Prizes are non-transferable and no cash or other alternatives are available. 11. No purchase necessary. 12. Promoter: The Guardian, 119 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3ER.

But today's page now looks like this

1.The competition will close at 5pm on 5/1/2007. 2.The prizes are: one first prize of £1000 and five runner-up prizes of a pair of first class Virgin rail tickets to a Virgin rail destination of your choice. 3. Entrants hereby each irrevocably and unconditionally licence to GNM all present and future copyright and all other rights in their entries for the entire period of copyright and any renewals or extensions of them. 4.Entrants acknowledge that it is not always possible for GNM to identify them as the author of the entries (although GNM will try to do so wherever possible). Entrants irrevocably and unconditionally waive their moral rights to be identified as the author of the entries and agree that GNM may adapt, add to, amend and or use the entry as it deems appropriate 5. GNM reserves the right to edit and publish the entries on the website and in the Guardian newspaper. All entrants consent to the use by GNM of their names for this purpose. 6.The competition is not open to employees, agents, contractors or consultants of GNM. or their families or anyone professionally connected with the competition. 7. The winner(s) will be judged on 12/1/2007, the editor's decision is final. 8. Entrants must be 18 years of age or over. 9. GNM is not responsible for incorrect e-mail or postal addresses or for problems with entries caused by any factors outside our control. 10. For winners' details send a stamped address envelope to the following address: The Guardian Marketing Department, 119 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3ER 11. Winners will be notified within 7 days of the closing date. 12. Prizes are subject to availability and GNM reserves the right to substitute alternative prizes of similar value. 13. Prizes are non-transferable and no cash or other alternatives are available. 14.Third party entries into draw will not be accepted. 15. No purchase necessary. 16. Promoter: The Guardian, 119 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3ER.

Is that even legal? Because I entered the competition before they changed the rules doesn't that mean that my entry is subject to the first set and not the second? I'd really appreciate some feedback on this as I plan to take this issue to the Guardian ASAP.

Well I've written to them asking for a full explanation and a clarification of how my entry stands, seeking to withdraw if they try to impose the updated terms and conditions.

Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing to you to express my concern about changes recently made to the terms and conditions of a competition which I recently entered via the Guardian Unlimited website. The competition in question is the Virgin Short Story competition. I recently submitted an entry (on Thursday 30th November 2006) under the following conditions. "1.The competition will close at 5pm on 5/1/2007. 2.The prizes are: one first prize of £1000 and five runner-up prizes of a pair of First Class Virgin Train tickets to a Virgin Trains destination of your choice. 3. The competition is not open to employees, agents, contractors or consultants of GNM and Virgin Trains or their families or anyone professionally connected with the competition. 4. The winner(s) will be judged on 12/1/2007, the editor's decision is final. 5. Entrants must be 18 years of age or over. 6. GNM is not responsible for incorrect e-mail or postal addresses or for problems with entries caused by any factors outside our control. 7. For winners' details send a stamped address envelope to the following address: The Guardian Marketing Department, 119 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3ER 8. Winners will be notified within 7 days of the closing date. 9. Prizes are subject to availability and GNM reserves the right to substitute alternative prizes of similar value. 10. Prizes are non-transferable and no cash or other alternatives are available. 11. No purchase necessary. 12. Promoter: The Guardian, 119 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3ER." However after accessing the same page today (Sunday 3rd December 2006) I noted that the terms have changed to "1.The competition will close at 5pm on 5/1/2007. 2.The prizes are: one first prize of £1000 and five runner-up prizes of a pair of first class Virgin rail tickets to a Virgin rail destination of your choice. 3. Entrants hereby each irrevocably and unconditionally licence to GNM all present and future copyright and all other rights in their entries for the entire period of copyright and any renewals or extensions of them. 4.Entrants acknowledge that it is not always possible for GNM to identify them as the author of the entries (although GNM will try to do so wherever possible). Entrants irrevocably and unconditionally waive their moral rights to be identified as the author of the entries and agree that GNM may adapt, add to, amend and or use the entry as it deems appropriate 5. GNM reserves the right to edit and publish the entries on the website and in the Guardian newspaper. All entrants consent to the use by GNM of their names for this purpose. 6.The competition is not open to employees, agents, contractors or consultants of GNM. or their families or anyone professionally connected with the competition. 7. The winner(s) will be judged on 12/1/2007, the editor's decision is final. 8. Entrants must be 18 years of age or over. 9. GNM is not responsible for incorrect e-mail or postal addresses or for problems with entries caused by any factors outside our control. 10. For winners' details send a stamped address envelope to the following address: The Guardian Marketing Department, 119 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3ER 11. Winners will be notified within 7 days of the closing date. 12. Prizes are subject to availability and GNM reserves the right to substitute alternative prizes of similar value. 13. Prizes are non-transferable and no cash or other alternatives are available. 14.Third party entries into draw will not be accepted. 15. No purchase necessary. 16. Promoter: The Guardian, 119 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3ER." I would very much like to receive an explanation for this change in terms and would like to seek clarification as to how it affects my entry. I would certainly not have entered the competition if conditions 3 and 4 of the amended conditions had been present at the time of my entry. I should be very interested to know what right you have, if any, to change the conditions after opening it to the public regardless of an error of omission on your part. Am I entitled to submit my entry under the original conditions i.e. those stated at the time I entered the competition? If not why not? In principle I have no objection to you using my work either to "adapt, add to, amend and or use the entry as it deems appropriate". I will not, however, be assigning you irrevocable and unconditional licence, nor will I assign all present and future copyright and all other rights in the entry for the entire period of copyright and any renewals or extensions of it. To that end I would very much appreciate answers to the following 1) What right do you have to change the terms and conditions of a competition after it has been opened to the public? 2) Having accepted my entry have you done so under the initial set of conditions or have you seen to assign the second set retroactively? 3)Will you be making it more widely known that you have changed these conditions or at least notified all those entrants who entered under the initial set of term and conditions? If you have indeed chosen to impose the new set of terms retroactively then I would like a full explanation as to why, and I would also state that if this is the case I withdraw my entry and assert my full moral right to be identified as the author of the story I submitted, with all copyright reserved by me. I await your forthcoming and comprehensive reply. Yours faithfully Geoff Martin Morris

Poor effort by the Guardian and the competition sponsors and I would imagine a few employees there are going to get their knuckles rapped for switching the rules.

It might be worth contacting the Society of Authors Geoff, to see what they've got to say on the issue.

I wouldn't touch a competition that made me sign over all rights and might not even have my name attached and I can't really see the reasoning behind it.

hi

I also entered this, under the first set of terms and conditions.

I would be appalled if they were to use a piece of work without acknowledging the writer and copyright ought to remain with the writer, surely?

I would be very interested in hearing their response, but would think that legally, your 'contract' such as it is, is dictated by the original terms.

Trouble is, its so easy for them to just delete your entry from consideration.

Best people to contact would be Virgin. Straight to the top. Why not copy your correspondence to Richard branson?



vanessa

I cannot think of any competition where you have had to permanently give up copywright to the sponsor! I too will write to the Guardian as I find this rather incredulous.

The more people that write the better.

Mischa

The Nickleodeon comp. that was aimed at children recently was much the same. I think the comment on the other thread - that they're thinking of it as a cereal packet competition, not a writing one - was right. They're not thinking in terms of aspiring professional authors who hope to earn their living by their intellectual property.

Emma

Emma
Having looked at it after my post I think you are right. I had put on my armour and everything, ready to do battle.
Mischa