A University of Otago creative writing competition for staff and students

Posted: Wednesday Jul 24, 2019

Do you love to write? Here’s a competition for you.

With four categories – student poetry, student fiction, staff poetry and staff fiction – this is an opportunity for ALL keen writers across ALL of the University’s campuses to have a go.

The competition has been created as part of the University’s 150th celebrations – and will become an annual contest on the University calendar.

This year, to celebrate the University’s 150th anniversary, the writing prompt is “Daring to be Wise”.

As Otago psychology research has shown creativity is hugely beneficial for mental health, this competition is one way of supporting creativity among our University community.

University of Otago reasearch on creativity

Important dates

Opens: Monday 8 July

Closes: Friday 6 September

Winners announced: Thursday 3 October

Judge

Guest judge: Dunedin-based novelist and poet Fiona Farrell

Plus a small panel which will include Otago Bulletin Board Editor Lisa Dick and English and Linguistics Programme Teaching Fellow Nicola Cummins

Prizes

With four categories, there will be four winners:

1. Student poetry
2. Student fiction
3. Staff poetry
4. Staff fiction

Each winner will receive a prize pack from one of our sponsors: Otago University Press, University Book Shop, University 150th, and the English and Linguistics

Programme

In addition, winning poems and stories will be published in the Otago Daily Times, excerpts will be published on posters to be put up around campus, and winners will have the opportunity to read their winning entries on Otago Access Radio.

Important points about the competition

• The competition is open to University of Otago students and staff at all of the University’s campuses
• Stories and poems must be original and previously unpublished (entries will be run through the University’s plagiarism checking system Turntin)
• Limit of one entry per person
• All entries must be relatable in some way to this year’s competition prompt: “daring to be wise”
• Stories must be supplied as a Word document
• Entries will be judged anonymously – so no names on headers or footers
• By entering your story or poem, you are bound by the terms and conditions of this competition
• Any story or poem entered in the competition may be featured on the University's website, University of Otago publications and social media channels, and other media channels.
• Winning stories will be published in the Otago Daily Times and read by the author on Otago Access Radio

How to enter your work in the writing competition

• Send a Word doc of your story or poem to bulletincomp@otago.ac.nz attached to an email with your full name, phone contact, email contact and full residential address
• Include the category you are entering – for example student poetry; staff fiction
• Students should also supply their current student ID number
• University of Otago staff should use their staff email address

Terms and conditions

By submitting your artwork you agree to be bound by the following terms and conditions and affirm that your entry complies with all of the terms and conditions of the competition.

What are we looking for?

Any story or poem which uses “Daring to be Wise” as its theme

Stories to be no more than 2,500 words (but this is an absolute word count, not an aim, and shorter stories are absolutely fine)

Who may enter

The competition is open to all currrent University of Otago students and staff

Members of the organising team and their immediate families are not eligible to enter the competition

Disqualifications

The University of Otago reserves the right to disqualify any entry which does not comply with these terms and conditions.
Cancellations or amendments

The University of Otago reserves the right to cancel or amend the competition or rules at any time without prior notice.

Your rights

You own the copyright and ownership for your artwork under a Creative Commons Attribution (CCA) licence. See the Publication and Licensing section for more information.

Your responsibilities

You will not submit anything that shows illegal or irresponsible behaviour, or anything that is otherwise likely to bring the University into disrepute.

If your story or poem wins the University may also use it on University of Otago websites, Facebook, and other websites, media and publications promoting the University; and

You are responsible for ensuring that your story or poem does not infringe any copyright. We will also run all entries through the University’s plagiarism tool Turntin.

You must have written the story or poem yourself

Limitation of Liability

By entering this competition you agree to release, discharge, and hold harmless The University of Otago and University employees from any claims, losses, and damages arising out of your participation in this competition or any competition-related activities.

Judging

• The University of Otago reserves the right to refuse to award any prize to an entrant who the University decides at its sole discretion has violated these terms and conditions or acted in an unfair way
• Decisions of the judge is final and binding and no correspondence will be entered into
• The winners will be announced at a prizegiving event on Thursday 3 October. During this event winners will be invited to read their poem or an excerpt from their story

Publication and licensing

• The winning entries may be made publicly available on the University of Otago websites and publications, and other media.
• The entries will be published under the Creative Commons Attributions licence (New Zealand).
• You understand that the CCA license means that you grant anyone, including the University of Otago, the non-exclusive right to share (to copy, distribute and transmit) the work, to remix (adapt) it or make commercial use of it without further permission from you, provided you are attributed as the creator of the work;
• You waive any claims to royalty, right or remuneration for such use that the University of Otago may make of your artwork.

Winners’ list

Winners’ names will be published on University of Otago web and social media sites.

Privacy

The University of Otago collects, stores, uses and discloses your personal information in accordance with the provisions of the Privacy Act 1993. Your personal details will only be used for the purposes of the competition.

Any questions?

If you have any questions please contact us at

Email: bulletin.comp@otago.ac.nz

https://www.otago.ac.nz/150/competitions/writing/index.html