Contest Rules

Entrants must be between the ages of 12 and 18 and be a resident of Hamilton or a neighbouring city.
Do not put your name anywhere on your work. Your name must be on the entry form only.
A maximum of one (1) poem and or one (1) short story per person may be submitted. If submitting both, each entry must have a separate entry form.
Short stories cannot exceed 2,500 words in length. Poems may be any length.
Entries must be typed or neatly printed, double-spaced and all pages numbered. Paper copies are required for mailed and hand-delivered submissions, but NOT for online submissions.
Typed entries must be double-spaced, with font Arial or Times New Roman, size 11 or 12 points.
All works submitted must be original. If based on another work (i.e. fanfiction), the work of inspiration must be clearly named.
The decision of the judges is final.
Judged submissions will be available for pick-up the evening of the awards ceremony or during the month of January at Central Library.
All entries will be scanned to ensure originality. Plagiarism will result in automatic disqualification.
Hamilton Public Library is not responsible for lost, misdirected, misplaced, illegible, unintelligible, incomplete or late entries.
Hamilton Public Library reserves the right to substitute the contest prizes with alternative prizes of equal or greater value.

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