Rules and Entrant’s Agreement: The 1,000 Word Herd Flash Fiction Competition

The 1,000 Word Herd Flash Fiction Competition is a flash fiction competition hosted by TL;DR Press, a 501(c)3 non-profit based in Colorado, US.

Official Rules and Entrants’ Agreement for

The 1,000 Word Herd Flash Fiction Competition: 2024

This Agreement, comprised of the Official Rules of the Competition as set forth herein, is made and entered into by and between the individual registering for the Competition (hereinafter, the “Entrant”), and TL;DR Press (hereinafter, the “Press”).

By paying the Entry Fee ($7 + Eventbrite service fees) and registering for the Competition, the Entrant indicates that the Entrant accepts the terms and conditions in the Official Rules of the Competition (herein, “Official Rules”) as set forth herein. This Agreement and the Official Rules shall govern the Entrant’s participation in “The 1,000 Word Herd Flash Fiction Competition,” and the intended creation by the Entrant of a flash fiction story as within-described, as part of that Competition, pursuant to the provisions set forth herein. The Entrant and the Press are hereinafter referred to as the “Parties”. The Parties hereby further agree as follows:

1.All Entrants Are Bound By These Rules – The Entrant hereby agrees to take part in The 1,000 Word Herd Flash Fiction Competition, which will be organized by the Press and blind-judged by 6 judges selected from the co-founders of the organization. Registration opens March 18th 2024, and closes on April 14th, 2024. The competition begins at 12:01 am on Saturday, April 20th, 2024 and ends at 11:59 pm on Friday, April 26th, 2024.

2. Communications with Entrants – Any Entrant that enters a story in this Competition or otherwise communicates with the Press regarding this Competition, shall be deemed to have carefully read, reviewed, and specifically agreed to all of the text of these Official Rules; and also to any prior, other, and further writings of text; including, without limitation, rules and postings relating to the Competition (collectively, “Communications”). Email alone shall suffice to constitute notice to any Entrant, in the event that such method is elected for notice purposes by the Press for any specific Communication.

3. Entry Fee & Entry Deadline (Individual) – The Entry Fee is $7 + Eventbrite service fees on or before April 14th, 2024 (“Final Entry Deadline”). The entry fee must be received in full by the Press on or before the Final Entry Deadline to participate in The 1,000 Word Herd Flash Fiction Competition. Once the registration is completed online and the Entry Fees are received in full and in proper order by the Press, a confirmation email will be sent to the Entrant to the email address identified in their online registration form, confirming the corresponding Entrant’s registration in the Competition.

4. Entrant Capacity and One Entry Per Entrant – The Competition will have an Entrant capacity of 300 registered Entrants. To ensure that as many people as possible can receive feedback, only one entry is allowed per entrant. In the event of receiving over 300 Entrants, the Press will create a wait-list of Entrants that will be included if space permits. The Press cannot guarantee the inclusion of any writer on the wait-list. All Entrants on the wait-list will not pay the Entry Fee until they are included in the Competition.

5. Refunds – Refunds for the Entry Fee must be requested in writing by email to tldrpress@gmail.com or through the Eventbrite website. Any refund request that is received at least 24 hours before the Competition is scheduled to start (12:01 a.m. EST on April 20, 2024) will be refunded in full within 30 days of the Refund Request date. If there are less than 24 hours before the competition is scheduled to start or if the Competition has already started, the Entry Fee will become non-refundable. An Entrant’s submission not placing in the Top 25 (herein, “Placing in the Competition”) is not grounds for a refund, nor are any other reasons after 12:01 a.m. EST on April 20th, 2024 has passed.

6. Exercise of Skill – This Competition is valued by skill and creativity and has no element of chance, random selection, or any other metric that is not based in creative writing.

7. Competition Schedule – The Competition includes 1 judged round. Every Entrant is given the same 7-day window to complete a flash fiction story based on their individualized prompts: 12:01 am (eastern) on Saturday, April 20th to 11.59 pm on, April 26th 2024. All creative development must occur within these dates, and no prior work may be presented to the Press for judgement. Only the flash fiction story, as described in paragraphs #8 and #12, may be presented to the Press. No supplement material such as research or other creative work may be presented to the Press.

8. Prompts – Each Entrant will be assigned a Character and an Object/Subject. Every assignment will be unique. There are no heats or common assignments between Entrants. All submitted flash fiction stories must be created within the 7-day window of The 1,000 Word Herd Flash Fiction Competition and must use the prompts given. The assigned Character must be relevant and appear in the story, though they do not need to be the protagonist of the story (for example, the Character “Printmaker” must appear in the story and cannot be mentioned only in the abstract, but printmaking can be extrapolated to mean something other than the traditional understanding of the term). The assigned Subject must be relevant to the story, but does not need to be included in the exact wording of the prompt (for example, the Subject “Dance Competition” does not need to appear exactly as worded, but there does need to be a link to competitive dance in the story). The compliance of the Entrant’s story to the prompts are at the discretion of the Press and as such are binding and final.

9. Prompt Posting – All prompts will be emailed to participants from tldrpress@gmail.com at the beginning of the 7-day window at 12:01 am EST on April 20, 2024. Entrants are responsible for whitelisting tldrpress@gmail.com in their email and for finding their given prompts in their email or alerting the judges immediately should an email not reach their inbox. There may be a few minutes of delay on April 20th due to email server lag beyond the Press’ control.

10. Genre – There are no genre limits to this competition. The entry must be fiction and must be in the form of a story that is 1,000 words or fewer.

11. Story Submission Format & Deadline – All stories must be submitted through the Google Form linked in the 12:01 a.m. April 20th, 2024 email to entrants. Entrants may also email a copy to tldrpress@gmail.com. The submission details will be emailed to every Entrant and are listed below in paragraph #13. The completed stories must be received by 11:59 pm Eastern on friday, April 26 2024, at the end of the competition period listed above in paragraph #7. All Entries that are not received by the Press by the end of the competition periods will not be reviewed and will be ineligible for The 1,000 Word Herd Flash Fiction Competition.

12. Maximum Length of Stories – The maximum length for each individual story is 1,000 words. The title page is not included in the word count and there is no minimum number of words.

13. Story Format Requirement – The Press must receive one (1) copy of the completed flash fiction story as a .doc (Word document), .docx (Word document) adhering to the following format requirements. Do not submit in .pdf format. The Press reserves the right to reject any Entry for failure to observe any format requirements.

ELECTRONIC FILE – The flash fiction story must be sent as a .doc (Word document 97-2003) or .docx (Word document). The name of the file must follow the following format: “TITLE_1KWHC”, wherein TITLE is replaced with the title of the flash fiction story. Do not submit in .pdf format.

FONT – Each individual flash fiction story must be typed in 12 pt. and in a standard font, such as Times New Roman, Calibri, Arial, Georgia, Helvetica, etc. We recommend using our submission style guide. However, this is not mandatory and you will not be penalized if you do not use it. We recommend that contestants do a final edit pass before submission.

TITLE PAGE – The Title Page of the flash fiction story must only contain the TITLE of the flash fiction story and the prompts the Entrant was given at the beginning of the Competition.

ANONYMITY – The author’s name must NOT appear anywhere in the document, including the title page. The author’s name can be included in the “author’s name” section of the Google Forms submission form. If you are submitting under a pseudonym, please note that Google Forms will automatically add the name of the Google Account owner at the end of the filename. If this occurs, the Overseer will remove all traces of the name from the file format before it is passed to the Judges. You will not be disqualified if this happens.

LENGTH – The maximum length for the flash fiction story is outlined above in paragraph #12, not including the title page. The Press will only judge the first 1,000 words that you submit. We use Google Docs to calculate word counts, which you can use to check your word count as well.

14. Story Copyright / Registration – The Press does not own or take responsibility for any copyright of the flash fiction stories received during the Competition. Any claimed right conflicts which may occur are the sole responsibility of the Entrant. Unless an Entrant Places in the Competition and accepts publication in The Winners’ Collection (see paragraph #15), they will retain all rights to their work and it will not be considered published in print or online for the purposes of First Rights Acquisitions, unless the Entrant chooses to do so through a third party during the Competition. The Press will contact Entrants who Place in the Competition to deliver prize payment and sign an Anthology Release Agreement.

15. The Winners’ Collection – The Entrant agrees that should they Place in the Competition, the Press will publish the submitted story in a Winner’s Collection publication and the prize money they receive will act as the sole compensation for publication in this collection, and that all profits made by the collection will be contributed to the Press’ chosen charity for this project, Trans Lifeline (Trans Lifeline is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Their federal tax (EIN) number is 47-2097494).

16. Disqualifications – The Press reserves the right to disqualify any Entrant or submission that does not comply with these Official Rules and other Competition requirements communicated by the Press. The Press does not accept submissions that depict scenes of graphic sexual violence, assault, rape, incest, or any kind of child pornography. We also do not accept submissions that are in support of discrimination/bigotry based on sexuality, race, gender, religion, culture, disability, or age. If you have questions about what we will accept for consideration, please email tldrpress@gmail.com.

All work must be the sole creation of the writer. The Press will disqualify any entry that they deem has been partially or wholly generated via AI tool (ChatGPT, etc). Any qualifying entries later determined to have utilized AI will be removed from the featured collection and must return their prize within 15 working days of receiving notification from the Press. The Press will permanently ban any entrant that has used AI in generating any part of their submission from this contest and all future contests or anthology calls.

Additionally, the Press will not engage with abusive or persistent and repeated contact from Entrants that does not pertain to a specific question relevant to the competition. Where an individual becomes abusive in the manner in which they correspond with members of the TL;DR Press or community, we will class such correspondence/behavior as vexatious.

17. Judges – Judges will be comprised of 4 founders of the Press and a number of volunteer judges who will be engaged to decide the ranking of the Top 25 stories. The list of Judges will be posted on the Eventbrite page and Press website.

18. Judging Criteria and Decision Making – The criteria for judging will include weighing the story aspects as follows:

20% (2/2 marks) Technical Skill (clarity, spelling/grammar, completeness)

40% (4/4 Marks) Storytelling Quality (structure of plot, depth of character(s), effectiveness of prose, enjoyability)

40% (4/4 Marks) Creative Bravery (transformation of the prompt, innovation of the prose, pushing the plot to the unexpected)

Pass/Fail Use of the Prompt and Adherence to the Story Format Requirements (paragraph #13)

Each aspect will correlate with points to add up to 10 possible points for each story. A perfectly scored story will receive 2/2 points for Technical Skill, 4/4 points for Storytelling Quality, 4/4 points for Creative Bravery, and will pass usage of the prompt and story format requirements to have a total of 10/10 score from one judge.

Each story will be judged by two judges to create an overall combined score out of 20. The highest scoring stories from those combined scores will be Longlisted. These stories will then be scored by the remaining judges and a score given to ascertain the general placing of the winning stories. This list is then discussed by the judges to finalize the top 25 placing stories and break any ties.

The judges of the competition will review each story without knowledge of the Entrant’s name or identity. Contact or harassment of any judge(s) of the competition in relation to an Entrant’s placement or score will result in immediate disqualification from the Competition.

19. Results and Announcements – All results will be announced in July 2024.

20. Prizes and Taxes – The Entrant hereby acknowledges that participation in the Competition is without remuneration of compensation of any sort, with the sole exception of the 25 Entrants whose stories Place in the Competition, who shall be awarded the following prizes:

1st Place: $150 USD, a bookmark, as well as a free eBook copy of each of our TL;DR Press collections to date including the 1KWHC 2024 winning collection.
2nd Place: $80 USD, a bookmark, as well as a free eBook copy of each of our TL;DR Press collections to date including the 1KWHC 2024 winning collection.
3rd Place: $55 USD, a bookmark, as well as a free eBook copy of each of our TL;DR Press collections to date including the 1KWHC 2024 winning collection.
4th-10th Place: $20 USD, a bookmark, as well as a free eBook copy of each of our TL;DR Press collections to date including the 1KWHC 2024 winning. collection.
11-25th Place: $15 USD a bookmark, as well as a free eBook copy of each of our TL;DR Press collections to date including the 1KWHC 2024 winning collection.

21. Taxes on any awards for the Competition, and any other consideration awarded in the Competition, if any, are the sole responsibility of the winner or winners, and the Press shall bear no liability, including without limitation any federal or state or provincial taxes which are required to be deducted from any awarded monies. Each Entrant indemnifies and holds harmless the Press pursuant to the indemnity provisions of these Official Rules per paragraph #22 below. In addition, all Entrants acknowledge that the Press may require signed tax forms and/or withhold taxes from any monies if the Press is instructed to do so by any appropriate authority, including without limitation any taxing authority and the Press’s own tax advisor(s).

22. Issuance of Prizes – Any awards / prizes will be forwarded to the Entrant within thirty (30) calendar days after the later of: (1) the completion of the Competition, or (2) the resulting decision of the Judges having been communicated to the Press. Any awards / prizes are ONLY intended to be awarded and delivered to the Entrant, at the Entrant’s electronic address as indicated online in their Eventbrite Registration.

23. Indemnification – Each Entrant hereby indemnifies, releases, discharges, defends, and holds the Press (and its owners, judges, editors, members, agents, attorneys, representatives, contractors, vendors, successors and affiliates) harmless from and against any and all claims, losses, damages, obligations, expenses, penalties, settlements, litigation, judgments and any other liabilities of any kind whatsoever (including without limitation attorney’s fees and costs incurred by the Press), arising out of, from, or otherwise related to the development, creation, production, or other making or use of the Entrant’s entry, and any other activities which at all relate to any Entry, this Competition, or these Official Rules, including, but not limited to:

(A) any third-party or other claim of any ownership right or interest in, or otherwise relating to, any Entered Story;

(B) any third-party or other claim of violation of any personal right or proprietary right in connection with the Entered Story, such as defamation, libel, trade libel, slander, “name and likeness” rights, right of privacy, right of publicity, “moral rights”, unauthorized exhibition, breach of contract copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and any other right or claimed right of any other kind or nature;

(C) any claims for negligence, injury to persons (including wrongful death), injury to property, or any other injury which may arise out of, result from, or occur, directly or indirectly, in any way in connection with this Competition or any Entered Story;

(D) any breach or other violation of these Official Rules or any other Press Communication; and

(E) any other activities by or relating to any Entered Story, Entrant, or third-party in connection with this Competition, and any other liability of any kind or nature arising out of any participation in the Competition.

24. Rights and Properties – Each Entrant hereby acknowledges that he/she/they are individually responsible for obtaining and/or providing all equipment, software, and all other things necessary for participation in the Competition and in connection with any Entered Story. Each Entrant shall bear all costs and expenses relating thereto, and shall be strictly responsible for any and all damages and claims (if any) relating thereto. The Press is only agreeing to provide the Official Rules and the Competition in which each Entrant is intending to take part.The Press shall own the Character and Situation/Object listing. Entrant hereby grants the Press the absolute right to post the Entrant’s provided Full Name and Title of Entry on www.tldrpress.org, through the Press’ mailing lists, on the Press’ social media channels, and in press releases for publicity purposes, when announcing the Entrants who Placed in the Competition.

25. Competition Changes – In the event that, in the Press’ discretion, circumstances so warrant, the Press may change the Official Rules of this Competition. It is accordingly the sole responsibility of each Entrant to, throughout the full duration of the Competition, frequently check the Competition Website and the Entrant’s incoming email to ensure that any and all Communications from the Press are received.The laws, regulations, requirements, and rules of any state or other jurisdiction may be subject to change at any time, including without limitation such time as the activities relating to this Competition may occur. Accordingly, the Press reserves the right to make such changes to this Competition and/or these Official Rules and other Communications (“Competition Changes”) at any time and as the Press may deem appropriate in its sole discretion, to the extent that such changes are made for the purpose of compliance with all such applicable laws, regulations, requirements, and rules; including without limitation termination of the Competition in the unlikely event that such drastic action is thereby made necessary. Such Competition Changes by the Press may be made in the manner in which the interests of justice so dictate, as determined by the Press in the Press’ sole discretion. The Press shall endeavor to notify all Entrants of any such Competition Changes, if occurring.The founders and board members of the Press may not enter this Competition.

26. Not a Talent Agency – The Press is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization which conducts this Competition and is not a talent agency. The Press shall not be characterized as soliciting employment for any Entrant or other Contributor.

27. Void Where Prohibited, And Applicable Laws – This Competition Is Void Where Prohibited. This Competition Is Governed By The Laws Of The United States, And All Applicable Laws Govern. No one under the age of Eighteen (18) years may enter this Competition (absent appropriate parental written consent and good cause shown therefore in the Press’ sole discretion); nor may any person enter this Competition who does not have the legal right or capacity to specifically agree to and contract with the Press with respect to the Competition and these Official Rules. By entering this Competition, each Entrant warrants and represents to the Press that they are under no legal or other impediment which would prevent or restrict their ability to enter and engage in activities relating to this Competition. Accordingly, it is each Entrant’s responsibility to ensure that:

(A) the applicable laws, regulations, requirements, and rules of their home state or province or other jurisdiction allow and permit the Entrant’s entry into this Competition; and

(B) there is no contractual or other legal obligation or other issue that would militate against the entry of the corresponding Entered Story into this Competition, or against such Entrant in engaging in activities relating to this Competition.

28. No Responsibility For Electronic And Other Failures – It is the strict responsibility of all Entrants to back up and retain copies of their submission and other materials entered, mailed, forwarded, communicated, or otherwise transmitted; and the Press shall not be responsible for the failure of any Entrant or other party to do so. The Press is not and shall not be responsible for:

(A) any lost, late, misdirected, mutilated, damaged, illegible, unintelligible, or otherwise ineligible entries;

(B) any electronic mistakes or other mishaps including without limitation transmission errors which may result in omission of, interruption of, deletion of, defect in, delay in the delivery of, theft or destruction of, unauthorized access to, or alterations of, any Entries or other materials furnished to the Press in connection with this Competition, or any materials otherwise distributed to or intended to be distributed to or by Entrants in connection with this Competition; or

(C) any network, telephone, electronic, computer, hardware or software, or other technical or machine related malfunctions or limitations of any kind; or

(D) any inaccurate transmissions of or failure to timely receive Entries or other material by the Press or by any Entrant on account of any technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website; or

(E) any combination of the foregoing in whole or in part.

If for any reason the Internet or email communications relating to the Competition are not capable of running as planned, including infection by computer virus, “bugs”, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, “force majeure”, or any other causes beyond the control of the Press, which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of this Competition, the Press reserves the right at its sole discretion to disqualify any Entrant that tampers with this Competition, its Official Rules, and/or its and their procedures; and the Press may terminate, modify, or suspend the Competition as a result.

29. Warning – Any attempt or action taken by any Entrant or other person or entity to damage any website, disrupt the process or progress of any email, or otherwise undermine the legitimate operation of the Competition, may be a violation of criminal and civil laws; and, should such attempt be made or activity occur, the Press reserves the right to disqualify such persons from the Competition and further interaction with the Press, and seek damages and other legal and equitable relief from and with respect to any such person or entity to the fullest extent that the law will allow.

30. Mistakes and Force Majeure – In the event of any instance in which the Press has reason to believe that a mistake in the running of the Competition has occurred; or that one or more of the Entrants may have engaged in fraudulent activity or otherwise violated the Official Rules or other Press Communications; or that one or more of the Entrants or other persons or entities are abusing the Competition and/or its Official Rules; or if a “force majeure” event occurs in whole or in part during the time periods cited herein, (for example but not by way of limitation, a failure of the Internet to allow for any Communication to be disseminated), which prevents or threatens to prevent the Competition from proceeding as planned, then:

(A) All Entry Fees received from the Entrants will be refunded to the Entrants as originally paid by them; and

(B) the Press may take such other and further action as the Press in its sole discretion sees fit. Any re-scheduling of the Competition and prizes thereafter, if any, will be at the sole discretion of the Press. If there is any disagreement as to what constitutes a “force majeure” event, then the Press’ determination shall be final, conclusive, and binding.

31. Administrator – The Administrator of this Competition is: TL;DR Press, 11420 E 26th Ave, Aurora, CO 80010-1270. The Administrator shall award all prizes and retain all records relating to the Competition. No walk-in visits to the Press are allowed, nor are any in-person communications with the Press. A Winners List will be posted on the Internet and through email to the Entrants.

32. Privacy Policy – All Entrants to the Competition are protected by the Press’s Privacy Policy, which details how and where Entrant data is stored and protected. The Press will not share the Entrant’s data with any third party group or individual (excluding data outlined in paragraph #23) without the Entrant’s expressed permission. The Press will not contact Entrants outside of the Competition (i.e. newsletters) unless the Entrant agrees to receive those communications.