This competition is now closed.
The Guardian is celebrating the best of this year’s children’s fiction with our amazing annual prize, the Guardian children’s fiction prize, and we really want you to be involved too.
If you are aged 17 or under and love reading, you can enter our Young Critics competition – and here’s how.
Firstly, carefully read the terms and conditions on this page. Next, write a review (max 200 words) of one of the books in the Guardian children’s fiction prize 2014 longlist:
• The Diaries of Bluebell Gadsby: Flora in Love by Natasha Farrant (Faber)
• Shine by Candy Gourlay (David Fickling Books)
• Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo (Walker)
• We Were Liars by E Lockhart (Hot Key Books)
• Phoenix by SF Said (David Fickling Books)
• She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick (Orion)
• The Lost Gods by Francesca Simon (Faber)
• The Dark Wild by Piers Torday (Quercus)
You can find out more about all the longlisted books in this gorgeous gallery of covers, with blurbs for each book plus comments from the judges.
And check out our Guardian children’s fiction prize book club which will include videos of the authors explaining why you should review their book plus other features (one author will be spotlighted each week from the week starting 7 July 2014).
The 10 winning entries will be selected by the Guardian’s children’s books site editor Emily Drabble and the children’s books editor Julia Eccleshare.
This competition is now closed.
1. You can enter on your own by filling out the form below with a review of a longlisted book.
2. Or you can enter as part of a school group. If you and no fewer than three of your classmates all submit reviews, the school that is judged to have the strongest overall entry will win the opportunity to spend a day at the Guardian, where up to 30 students will have the chance to edit and print the day’s news at the amazing Guardian education centre. Teachers: if you would like to send in your class entries on paper rather than electronically, please print the form below, fill it in and send form plus entries to Young Critics competition, c/o Helen Woollison, The Guardian, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1P 2AP.
The prizes
The 10 individual winners will each receive a complete set of eight longlisted books plus a £20 National Book Token gift card.
The winning class will visit the Guardian Education Centre and receive a set of the eight longlisted books and a £150 National Book Token.
Good luck!
If you have any questions, please email childrensfictionprize@theguardian.com
This competition has now closed.
Terms and conditions
Entering the competition
1. The Guardian young critics competition 2014 (the “Competition”) is open to students aged 17 or under who attend a school in the UK. Entrants aged 13 or under must provide contact details for their parent or legal guardian. The Competition is not open to employees, or family members of employees, of Guardian News & Media Limited, nor is the Competition open to any other individual who is connected with the Competition.
2. Entrants into the Competition shall be deemed to have accepted these Terms and Conditions.
3. To enter the Competition you must:
1. write a review, no more than 200 words in length, of one of the books in the Guardian children’s fiction prize 2014 longlist (the “Longlisted Books” – details of which are set out on the list above);
2. complete all the details requested within the form above including your age, the name of your school and (for entrants aged 13 or under) contact details for your parent or legal guardian;
3. submit your form and review(s) online or, for school group entries only (which must be organised by a teacher at the school and include at least four reviews by eligible students from the same school), you also have the option of sending your form and reviews to us by post – Young Critics Competition, c/o Helen Woollison, The Guardian, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1P 2AP. For school group entries submitted by post, please ensure the form and reviews are sent as one submission in a single envelope.
4. No purchase is necessary. If you have any questions about how to enter or otherwise in connection with the Competition, please email us at childrensfictionprize@theguardian.com.
5. Only one entry per person. Entries on behalf of another person will not be accepted and joint submissions are not allowed. You are responsible for the cost (if any) of sending your Competition entry to us.
6. We accept no responsibility for entries that are lost, delayed, misdirected or incomplete or cannot be delivered or entered for any technical or other reason. Proof of delivery of the entry is not proof of receipt by us.
7. The Competition opens at 9:00 a.m. on 28 June 2014 and closes at 23:59 on 26 September 2014. Entries received outside this time period will not be considered. We reserve the right in our absolute discretion to extend the closing date where the entries received are of insufficient quality.
8. You own the copyright to your Competition entry as its author.
9. By submitting an entry to the Competition, you give us (Guardian News & Media Limited):
a. Permission for your entry to be published on our websites including but not limited to theguardian.com (“GNM Websites”) and on any social media account controlled by us, including but not limited to Facebook and Twitter accounts (“GNM Social Media Accounts”), and you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to use and publish your Competition entry in electronic format (including on GNM Websites and GNM Social Media Accounts) and hard copy (including in our publications) for purposes connected with the Competition, and to adapt the entry to enable such publication (including to crop or otherwise edit it for such purposes), and you hereby irrevocably waive, for our benefit, all moral rights in the entry to which you are entitled; and
b. The right to use your name and county of residence for the sole purpose of identifying you as the author of your entry and/or as a winner of the Competition.
10. Your entry must not be copied, must not contain any third-party materials and/or content that you do not have permission to use and must not be obscene, defamatory, distasteful, offensive, or in breach of any applicable law or regulation, or in breach of any confidentiality obligations owed by you to third parties. If we have reason to believe your entry is in breach of this paragraph 10 then we may not consider it and may disqualify it.
11. We may disqualify your Competition entry for the following reasons: your entry does not comply with these Terms and Conditions; you are not eligible to enter the Competition; or you cannot be contacted. In the event of disqualification, we may select a new winner in accordance with the selection processes outlined below.
Picking the winners
12. A panel of judges, including at least one member who is independent of Guardian News & Media Limited, will select 10 winning individual entries and one winning school entry from all valid entries received in accordance with these Terms and Conditions. A “school entry” is a group of four or more individual entries received from students who attend the same school. Full details of the judging process and the names of the judges are available on request to childrensfictionprize@theguardian.com.
13. When choosing the winners, the judges will be looking for the most interesting, entertaining and thought-provoking book reviews.
14. The judges will select the 10 winning individual entries and one winning school entry on or before 1 October 2014. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
The Prizes
15. The 10 individual winners will each receive a complete set of the eight longlisted books, plus a £20 National Book Tokens gift card. The winning school will be invited to spend a day at the Guardian: up to 30 students (chosen by the winning school’s Head of English, or equivalent) from the winning school will have the chance to edit and print the day’s news at the Guardian Education Centre in London. In addition, the winning school will receive a complete set of the eight longlisted books and a £150 National Book Tokens gift card.
16. We accept no responsibility for any costs associated with the specified prizes that are not expressly included in the prizes. In particular, travel to and from the Guardian Education Centre for the 30 chosen students from the winning school must be arranged and funded by the winning school. The visit to the Guardian Education Centre by the winning school must take place on a date (to be agreed between Guardian News & Media Limited and the winning school) that is mutually convenient for Guardian News & Media Limited and the winning school.
17. The winners (or their parent/legal guardian in the case of a winner aged 13 or under) will be notified by phone or email on or before 31st October 2014 and given details of how to claim their prize. If a winner does not respond to us within 14 days of being notified of their win, the winner’s prize will be forfeited and we shall be entitled to select another winner in accordance with the process described above (and that winner will also have to respond to notification of their win within 14 days or else they will also forfeit their prize). If a winner rejects their prize or their entry is invalid or in breach of these terms, the winner’s prize will be forfeited and we shall be entitled to select another winner.
18. The name and county of the winners, in addition to their winning entries, will be published on www.theguardian.com/young-critics-competition-2014 on or before 31st October 2014 and such information shall remain available until October 2016.
19. Except for the visit to the Guardian Education Centre by the 30 chosen students from the winning school, the prizes will be sent to the winners by 30th November 2014. The prizes are non-exchangeable, non-transferable and not redeemable for cash or any other prize. We reserve the right to substitute the specified prizes with alternatives of similar value in the event that the specified prizes are not available.
Some other rules
20. The individual winners and the winning school may be required to take part in promotional activity related to the Competition and the winners shall participate in such activity on the Promoter’s reasonable request, subject (in the case of individual winners) to the approval of parents/legal guardians. The winners consent (subject, in the case of individual winners, to the approval of parents/legal guardians) to the use by the Promoter and its related companies, both before and after the closing date of the Competition for an unlimited time, of the winner’s voice, image, photograph and name for publicity purposes (in any medium, including still photographs and films, and on the internet, including any websites hosted by the Promoter and its related companies) and in advertising, marketing or promotional material without additional compensation or prior notice and, in entering the Competition, all entrants consent to the same.
21. The Promoter shall use and take care of any personal information you supply to it as described in its privacy policy, a copy of which can be seen at http://www.theguardian.com/help/privacy-policy and in accordance with data protection legislation. By entering the Competition, you agree to the collection, retention, usage and distribution of your personal information in order to process and contact you about your Competition entry, and for the purposes outlined in paragraph 18 above.
22. We accept no responsibility for any damage, loss, liabilities, injury or disappointment incurred or suffered by you as a result of entering the Competition or accepting the prize. We further disclaim liability for any injury or damage to your or any other person’s computer relating to or resulting from participation in or downloading any materials in connection with the Competition. Nothing in these Terms and Conditions shall exclude the liability of Guardian News & Media Limited under law for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for death or personal injury resulting from its negligence.
23. We reserve the right at any time and from time to time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, this Competition with or without prior notice due to reasons outside its reasonable control (including, without limitation, in the case of anticipated, suspected or actual fraud). The decision of Guardian News & Media Limited in all matters relating to the Competition is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
24. We shall not be liable for any failure to comply with our obligations relating to this Competition where the failure is caused by something outside our reasonable control. Such circumstances shall include, but not be limited to, weather conditions, fire, flood, hurricane, strike, industrial dispute, war, hostilities, political unrest, riots, civil commotion, inevitable accidents, supervening legislation or any other circumstances amounting to force majeure.
25. The Competition and these Terms and Conditions will be governed by English law and entrants to the Competition submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
26. Promoter: Guardian News & Media Limited, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1P 2AP.
