1. The competition is run by the Society of Authors, 84 Drayton Gardens, London SW10 9SB (“SoA”).
2. By entering the competition, entrants together with any other member of the public involved (all such persons being referred to as 'you') agree to be bound by these rules, and by any competition instructions.
3. Over September 2011 SoA will launch a short story tweetathon on #WriterWednesday at 11am. Each short story will be told in five parts. Each week a first line contribution will be tweeted from a famous author. You are invited to complete the next line. Contributions cannot exceed the 140 character limit, including #SoAtale, A guest judge will select the best contribution. The chosen contribution will be posted on the SoA website, following which there will be a further half an hour to submit contributions for the next line on the same basis until all five lines of the story are completed.
4. The decision of the Judges shall be final in every instance . No correspondence will be entered into or comment issued on any matters concerning any competition, and no reasons given for any decision made by the Judges.
5. No prizes will be given. The competition is for fun only.
6. There is no minimum age for entry.
7. There is no restriction on the number of entries per person.
8. The winning entry will be posted on the SoA website. Winner(s) will also be notified by tweet.
9. Winners' Twitter identities only will be published on the SoA website. Winners will be invited to contact us and give their real name and if they do so, this will also be published on the website with their Twitter id.
10. You retain the copyright in your contribution but SoA shall have an exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide licence to first publication of the resulting short story on the SoA website; and a non-exclusive licence to publish, syndicate, distribute, reproduce and exploit the contribution in all present and future media and formats and to sub-license these rights to others.
11. SoA will not be liable for any circumstances beyond its reasonable control that prevent the competition being fulfilled, or a winner or winners being chosen. In the event of any error, whether printing, technological or otherwise, which affects the competition in any way, the judges reserve the right to administer the competition as though the error had not occurred.
12. SoA reserves the right to cancel the competition at any stage, if deemed necessary in its opinion.
13. This agreement is governed by the laws of England and Wales.