Write-a-Book-in-a-Day 2016 Manual for Participants School, Open and Corporate Divisions

Write-a-Book-in-a-Day 2016 Manual for Participants School, Open and Corporate Divisions 1

Copyright Published by The Kid's Cancer Project, Box 6400, Alexandria, NSW 2016 Copyright The Kid's Cancer Project, Box 6400, Alexandria, NSW 2016 All rights reserved. This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher. Distributed in Australia and overseas by the publisher. 2

Contents 1. Introduction... 4 2. The Competition Rules... 4 3. Competition Entry Fees and Sponsorship. 5 4. Book Rules... 6 5. The Registration Process... 8 6. The Writing Day... 10 7. Judging and Awards... 11 Appendix 1 Book Summary Form... 13 Appendix 2 Sample copyright page... 14 3

1. Introduction Write-a-Book-in-a-Day (WABIAD) is not like other creative writing competitions. This is a short story competition with two unique ingredients in the creation of the books. The first element is the collaborative focus: all books are planned, written, illustrated, printed and bound by a team of writers. The second point of difference is the story starter: all the stories grow from a unique set of parameters provided to each writing team. The result is hours of entertaining reading for children in hospitals all around Australia. We hope you enjoy participating in this wonderful competition. Please read this manual which provides all the information on how to enter plus the full details of the competition and its rules. There are additional guidelines and suggestions available on the WABIAD website in the FAQ section. 2. The Competition Rules The Write-a-Book-in-a-Day competition is managed by The Kids Cancer Project Write-a-Bookin-a-Day Committee ("the Committee"). All teams and books must comply with the rules to be eligible for entry. 2.1 Competition Period The competition opens on 1 April and closes on 31 August. All books must be written within a consecutive 12-hour period on one day during the competition period of 1 April to 31 August. Writing, illustrating and binding is to commence no earlier than 8:00am and finish no later than 8:00pm on your chosen writing date. Your book must be uploaded to the website as a Word or PDF file by 8:00pm on the writing date. Use the Upload facility on the website. A bound hard-copy version of the book must be sent in the next available mail to: Write-a-Book-in-a-Day The Kids Cancer Project PO Box 6400 Alexandria NSW 2015 2.2 Competition Divisions Teams may enter the competition in one of the following Divisions: Primary School Years 5-6 Middle Secondary School Years 7-9 Upper Secondary Schools Years 10-12 Open 18 years and over Corporate 18 years and over, corporate sponsor Teams from Primary School Years K to 4 are not eligible to enter due to the demands of the competition in terms of understanding the parameters and the required word count in the books. 2.3 Competition Team Participants 4

Each book must be written, illustrated and bound by a team of writers. The minimum number of team members is 5 (five) The maximum number of team members is 10 (ten) For school teams, the year group of the majority of team members determines their Division, e.g. a team with 7 Year 9 students and 2 Year 10 students would enter the Middle Secondary School Division. 2.4 Competition Books All teams entering the WABIAD Competition must agree that their books are available for donation to children s hospitals in Australia. 3. Competition Entry Fees and Sponsorship The Write-a-Book-in-a-Day competition is a wonderful, fun event that raises valuable funds for children s cancer research. 100% of the sponsorship donations are given to medical institutions nationwide for their research so the more money raised by the competition, the greater the benefit to kids with cancer. It s a fun way to help a serious issue. You can read more about the research projects supported by The Kids Cancer Project at www.thekidscancerproject.org.au. The WABIAD website has suggestions for fun ways to raise your sponsorship money for your team. 3.1 Competition Entry Fee The entry fee for the competition is $300. Of this fee, $240 goes directly to childhood cancer research and $60 covers competition administration costs. Your team can raise the fee by having fundraising activities or getting sponsors to support your team to enter the competition. All teams raising $300 or more are eligible for judging in the State and National Division awards. For a minimum entry fee of $60, a team may participate in the competition but the books are not eligible for judging or awards. All additional sponsorship from the team goes directly to children s cancer research. 3.2 Sponsorship Donations There is no limit to the amount of sponsorship for a team and all donations are gratefully acknowledged by The Kids Cancer Project and the medical researchers. 3.3 Payment Due Dates Please note these dates carefully to ensure your team receives their parameters and your book is eligible for judging. The administration fee of $60 must be paid at least ONE WEEK BEFORE the chosen writing date. If it is not received, the parameters will not be emailed and the team will be deregistered. The competition sponsorship amount of $240 must be received by The Kids Cancer Project by 31 August for the team to be eligible for judging. All remaining sponsorship donations must be sent to The Kids Cancer Project by 30 September. 5

3.4 Payment Methods Credit card via the WABIAD website in the Registration section Direct deposit to: Account name: The Kids Cancer Project BSB: 032010 Westpac Account No.: 291311 Please put full school name as reference Cheque and money orders to: The Kids Cancer Project Write-a-Book-in-a-Day PO Box 6400 Alexandria NSW 2015. Please do not send cash payments. 3.5 Tax Deductible Donations Donations by sponsors can be tax deductible for the sponsors. This does not affect the money paid by schools as schools are tax exempt. As this is a competition, sponsorship by participating team members themselves does not qualify for tax deductibility. The easiest method for sponsors to receive a tax deductible receipt is to sponsor a team via the WABIAD website www.writeabookinaday.com/findstate.php. Write-a- Book-in-a-Day receipts will be issued from the website; tax deductible receipts will be issued shortly afterwards. There is a sponsorship collection sheet on the WABIAD website. If a team is using this sheet to collect sponsor details and tax deductible receipts are required, please submit these sheets (or a summary) to The Kids Cancer Project at the same time as the sponsorship money. This will ensure the tax receipts are processed in a timely manner. 3.6 GST Entry fees and sponsorship donations are free of GST. 4. Book Rules To ensure your book is eligible for submission and judging, it must adhere to the following rules. As long as your finished book meets all the criteria below, how you actually write it on the day is up to you in terms of time, words per team member, type of illustrations, etc. 4.1 Originality and Language 6

All stories must be original and not previously written or published. All stories must be written in English. 4.2 Word Count The word count for your story must be within the limit for your Division. Books outside the limits will not be eligible for judging. Primary School Division 2000 to 2500 words Middle Secondary School Division 4000 to 5000 words Upper Secondary School Division 4000 to 5000 words Open and Corporate Categories 8000 to 10000 words 4.3 Parameters Each team receives a unique set of parameters at 8:00am on the writing day. Your story must be based on and primarily written around these five parameters. These parameters will be: two human characters, one non-human character, a setting and an issue. The story may include secondary characters and settings but the parameters are the key components. 4.4 Random words All teams are assigned five random words to be included anywhere in the story. They must be included as written and without adaptation. e.g. free must be written as free, not freely, freedom, etc. The random words are the same for every team in the competition. Please write the random words in bold type to highlight their inclusion in the story. 4.5 Australian Identity Your story must be identifiably Australian in its setting and/or theme. This is an Australian competition for Australian readers. The competition also started at the home of a great Australian author, Katharine Susannah Prichard, now the Writers Centre that bears her name. 4.6 Target Audience Age Your story is intended for reading by children aged between 10 to 16 years who are patients in children s hospitals. Please keep this in mind when writing your story. Also please do not include excessive swearing, strong or excessive violence, and inappropriate topics. For school teams, we recommend teams consult their adult supervisor for advice. 4.7 Illustrations Illustrations are an important part of children s books. The front and back cover of the book must be illustrated, with further illustrations throughout the book. Illustrations may be created by hand or digitally. All illustrations must be original or copyright free. For helpful hints on how to produce and include illustrations in your book, please see the website - Information tab, choose the Resources section. 4.8 Style Be as creative as your story is, however the size and type of font should be legible. Chapters titles are optional. Page numbers are optional. 7

4.9 Compulsory and Optional Pages Your completed book must include the following pages in addition to the main story: a) an illustrated front cover which includes the title and team name b) Book Summary Form This form is sent in the email on the day of writing. Please bind it into your book as the first page after the front cover. A sample form is attached in the Appendix to this manual. Please complete all details on the form for the requirements below: State Division School or Group name Team name as on the book cover Team members Parameters Random words Final word count of your story Signed acknowledgement by supervisor c) copyright notice page see Appendix for example d) back cover which includes a summary blurb of the story, recommended reader age group, an illustration, and maybe reviews of your book Optional pages that can be added after the Copyright page may include: a) a chapter contents page b) a message to the children in hospital wishing them well c) an acknowledgement page to thank your sponsors 4.10 Digital Edition The digital version of your book may be either a Microsoft Word file or a PDF file. The final size for your book file must be no more than 50MB. This edition is uploaded to the website by 8:00pm on the day of writing. 4.11 Hard-copy Edition A final hard-copy version of the book must be completed on the day of writing by 8:00pm. This copy may be bound using staples, heatbinding, ring binding or other method. Please ensure it is easy to open for reading by the judges. 5. The Registration Process Once you have decided to enter the competition, please follow these steps to register your team(s). Registration is via the WABIAD website www.writeabookinaday.com 5.1 Group/School Details (under Group/School in Registration) There must be only ONE registration per school or group. A School or Group can have multiple teams enter the competition under this single registration. Please consult 8

with other staff at your school or in your group to ensure there is only one registration. a) School/Group name Put the full School or Group name with correct spelling Do NOT add a team name or year group to the School/Group name eg Wilson High School, not Year 9 Wilson High School b) Contact For schools, the Contact is the supervising adult/teacher/librarian for all teams at the school. It must not be a student name For Groups, the Contact id the key contact for the Group Please ensure the correct spelling and email address of the Contact If there is any change to the Contact person, please up date the website record to ensure you receive any communication and your parameters. c) Phone Include the area code in the telephone number. d) Username and Password Each year you need to create a new Username and Password to register for the competition and to use as your login. The Username and Password must each consist of 6 15 alpha/numeric characters. 5.2 Team Details (under Teams in Registration) Add as many teams as you wish to enter the competition under the single registration. Each team must be added one at a time. If the minimum payment of $60 is not received one week prior to the writing day, the team will be deregistered. Each team must have a different name. This name can be changed on the writing day; if so, this must be amended on the website on the writing day so that the team name on the book matches the website record. Enter the Division for the team. A School may have teams in different Divisions. Enter the writing day for the team. A School or Group may have multiple teams writing on different days. Please note this date is very important as the parameters will be emailed to arrive at 8:00am that morning. You must update the date if you change your writing day. You can delete a team up to one week prior to the nominated writing day. 5.3 Team Member Details (under Team Members in Registration) Highlight the radio button for a team to add the names of the team members Team members can change but the final team must match the names on the book. Please amend the website on the writing day to ensure the names on the book match the website team record. Please ensure correct spelling of names for the certificates of participation 5.4 Payment of Fees (under Pay Entry Fee in Registration) 9

Once your team(s) are registered, you can pay via credit card immediately on the website. You can pay the full competition entry fee of $300 or the minimum $60 administration fee or any amount in-between. The website will not accept an amount below $60. Alternatively, you can request an invoice for payment by choosing Invoice in the right-hand side bar of this page You can also pay via the methods outlined in section 3.4 of this manual. 6. The Writing Day 6.1 The Rules To ensure the fairness of the competition, we ask that you please adhere to the following rules on the day of writing: The supervising adult or Group representative must sign that no work was carried out on the book before 8.00am and after 8.00pm on the writing date School teams are required to have one adult (parent or teacher) present at all times for supervision and to ensure the team(s) keep to the time schedule Teams are not allowed to bring any written or illustrative material into the work area except a dictionary Teams must not obtain any information or assistance from any supervising adult or outside sources. 6.2 On the Writing Day An email will be sent to the School/Group contact prior to 8:00am on the day of writing. This will contain the Book Summary Form which has the parameters and random words for the team. Here is a suggested outline for the day. Teams may, of course, take less time than the full 12 hours but they must submit their book before 8:00pm and also update their website details. o Start at 8:00am go through the book rules with each team (section 4 above) so that they understand exactly what is required for their book o Morning: - brainstorming ideas and plots, developing characters, assigning book sections to team members; - writing and illustrating o Lunch break o Afternoon: - read-through of the story (preferably by one team member) to assess the story for continuity, writing style, missing parts, etc. - further writing o Late afternoon/evening: - editing and finetuning - printing and binding 10

- upload your book as either a Word document or a PDF via the Upload a Book tab on the website. If the book fails to load, please email the Word document or PDF to info@writeabookinaday.com. Once the book is finished, please login to the website under Registration and ensure all the team details are correct. Team names and members must match the names on the printed books. A bound hard-copy version of the book must be sent in the next available mail to: Write-a-Book-in-a-Day The Kids Cancer Project PO Box 6400 Alexandria NSW 2015 7. Judging and Awards Following the close of the competition on 31 August, a judging panel will determine the shortlist of finalists in each Division. These finalists will be judged by one or more literary professionals appointed by the Committee. These professionals may be recognised authors or writers, book publisher or specialist, etc. The judges decisions are final and no discussion or correspondence will be entered into. The judges will provide feedback on the winning books. Unfortunately, due to the large number of submissions, feedback is not possible on the remaining books. The eligible books will be judged on the following criteria: compliance with all rules outlined above story structure well-planned and executed; consistency of tone, plot and characterisation; imaginative literary excellence correct spelling and grammar; good vocabulary reader engagement and audience appropriateness illustrations contribution to the story; technical competence and appeal final appearance of the bound book. The awards for the books are: For each School Division by State (Primary, Middle, Upper) - best book, highly commended book, commended book - best illustrations - top fundraisers and creative fundraising Nationally for each Division (Primary, Middle, Upper, Open, Corporate) - best book - best illustrations The WABIAD Advisory & Judging Committee may decide to give other awards or to withhold any of the above awards at its discretion. The awards are announced in November and the winners and their books are listed on the WABIAD website. 11

Note: KSPFBC will have a non-exclusive right to publish copies of the book from each team for a period of two years. Should any of the books in the competition be published in any form or by any person (whether KSPFBC or otherwise), 50% of the royalties of that publication for a period of 2 years shall be paid to the KSPFBC fund and 50% to the copyright owner(s). In the absence of any other written agreement, all members of the team that wrote, illustrated, or otherwise contributed to the book will own copyright equally. 12

Appendix 1 Book Summary Form Write-a-Book-in-a-Day Manual This is an example of the form that is sent to the School/Group Contact on the morning of the writing day (prior to 8:00am). Please complete your team form at the end of the day and insert it in the book as the first page after the front cover. 13

Appendix 2 Sample copyright page Write-a-Book-in-a-Day Manual Copyright Published by Team name, Example High School, 11 Smith St., Suburb, QLD 4000. Copyright 2016 Example High School. All rights reserved. This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Enquires should be made to the publisher. 14