Rules and Conditions

1. CANVAS' Romeo Forbes Children's Story Writing Competition is open to all Filipino citizens anywhere on the planet. Minors may join, but will require additional legal documents if their entries are selected as the competition winner.

2. CONTEST SUBMISSIONS.

• Entries must not have been previously published, and all entrants warrant the originality of their submitted entries.

• Writers may submit only one (1) entry. For entrants with duplicate, multiple, or correction files, only the first submission will be considered in the competition.

• Submissions must be in English or Filipino (Tagalog).

• For this round, entries must follow a strict and absolute limit of three hundred (300) words. Hitting above the limit, even by just one word, will be enough to disqualify an entry. Story titles are not included in the word count. Submissions with fewer words are acceptable.

• Entrants are free to choose the theme for their story but must use this edition's contest piece, a new artwork by CJ Tañedo (shown above), as the inspiration or basis for the entry.

3. JUDGING. The Artist will select the winning story from a shortlist selected by the CANVAS panel, which will review all stories received and deliberate on anonymous entries based on the following criteria:

★ Originality and Storyline (40%)

• Is the story appropriate for children 6 years old or younger?

• Is there an exciting introduction or hook?

• Is the hero of the story a child or child-like character? Is the hero the one making decisions and moving the story forward?

• Is there an engaging conflict that needs to be resolved? Is there a definite connection between the conflict and the resolution?

★ Imagery (30%)

• Does the story fit the picture-book genre?

• Are there interesting characters and elements?

• Do the sequences revolve primarily around actions?

• Is the story relevant to the contest piece? (See full image of the contest piece here.)

★ Quality of Writing (30%)

• Are the introduction, conflict, and resolution distinct?

• Do the scenes transition smoothly from one to the next?

• Does the story use modern and youthful language? Do children characters, if any, speak like actual children?

• Does the story employ proper grammar and punctuation?

4. SUBMITTING STORIES.

• Submit your story through this page, which contains additional guidelines. The page is locked. Enter the password onemillionbooks to access the submission form.

• The deadline for submission of entries is 5:00 p.m. (Manila time) on October 11, 2024 (Friday). Nevertheless, entries received after the deadline, even if sent earlier, will no longer be considered for the Competition.

• CANVAS shall not be responsible for entries that are not received or that are received after the deadline, due to technical failure or for any reason whatsoever.

• CANVAS will no longer send an acknowledgement email for every entry that we receive. Instead, you will be asked for a pseudonym to go with your entry. Upon entry submission, you will be able to confirm receipt of your entry by viewing an automated list of pseudonyms collected from the entries we received.

• CANVAS shall not retain any rights to entries that are not selected as the winner, except where separate written agreements are reached with the concerned authors.

5. WINNING THE CONTEST.

• There shall be only one winner, who shall receive a cash prize of PHP 45,000.00 (less applicable withholding tax) for his/her entry. The winner shall be responsible for all applicable taxes.

• Should the winning entry be published, the winner shall be entitled to five (5) free copies upon publication of the book. While it is the objective of CANVAS to publish the winning entry as a full-color children's book, CANVAS reserves the right not to publish the same for any reason whatsoever.

• The winner shall retain his/her full intellectual property rights over his/her story. However, by entering this contest, the winner agrees to grant and assign to CANVAS a concurrent, royalty-free, and non-exclusive right to exercise the same copyright and all other intellectual property rights granted to the author (and his/her assignees), with respect to the winning story. The prize money that will be awarded shall constitute full payment of such concurrent, royalty-free, and non-exclusive grant of intellectual property and publication rights to the winning story.

• By submitting an entry to this competition, the winner also agrees to support the One Million Books for One Million Filipino Children Campaign by allowing CANVAS to

  • enable free and full access to, and sharing of, the winning story to the general public, including making the same freely downloadable on the internet;

  • publish copies of books based on the winning story for free distribution to children in public schools and disadvantaged communities throughout the Philippines; and

  • sell copies of books based on the winning story in support of the One Million Books for One Million Filipino Children Campaign, with authors entitled to a discount of forty percent (40%) off the retail price.

• CANVAS shall exercise full and final editorial and artistic control over the publication of the winning entry and resulting book.

  Notwithstanding the above, CANVAS shall endeavor to work with and ensure the participation and collaboration of both artist and writer in the process. Specifically, CANVAS shall make arrangements for the artist and the writer to meet and exchange ideas and shall facilitate meaningful collaboration between both parties to the extent that they are comfortable with. CANVAS will also work with and solicit the inputs of the artist and writer as regards edits, changes, modifications, and refinements that may be involved in publishing the winning story.

6. ANNOUNCEMENT OF RESULTS.

• The winner of the CANVAS competition will be announced three months after the deadline, if not earlier. The winner will also be notified via email/text on the same announcement date.

• The decision of CANVAS in selecting the finalists, and the Artist in selecting the winner shall be final, and no correspondence or inquiries into the same—including requests for comments/feedback on received entries—shall be entertained.

7. DISQUALIFICATION.

• Employees of CANVAS, and members of their immediate family, as well as the Artist's immediate family, are disqualified from participating in the competition.

• The automated list of pseudonyms only confirms receipt—not acceptance—of an entry. Any entry which does not fully comply with the terms and conditions for submission shall be disqualified.