Bright Light Multimedia’s "True Love" Writing Contest 
Agreement and Guidelines

• By entering this contest and submitting your material to Bright Light Multimedia, you are consenting and agreeing to the terms, conditions and guidelines outlined on this page.

• All entries must be uplifting, entertaining and ultimately positive and based on the theme of "True Love".

• All entries must be free from hate, racism, sexism, violence, pornography, crudity, pessimism, cynicism, religion and politics.

• All cultures are welcome but all entries must be submitted in the English language, with checks for spelling and grammatical errors already completed.

• Each written piece must have a title and include an accurate line or word count.

• All entries must be the original, and unpublished work of the entrant.  There must be no legal reason why you cannot submit your creation to Bright Light Multimedia.  Full financial and legal responsibility for copyright violation rests entirely with the entrant.

• An entry is 1 to 2 written pieces submitted on the same entry form.  These 2 pieces may be poems, short stories or articles or any combination thereof.

• Each poem must be 50 lines or less.

• Each short story must be between 300 and 1,000 words.

• Each article must be between 300 and 800 words.

• An entry fee of $5AUD must accompany each and every entry (i.e. 2 written pieces submitted on a single entry form) to the Bright Light "True Love" Writing Contest, except for the one FREE entry available to all "Brilliant!" newsletter subscribers.

• One entry, and one entry only, (an entry is 1 to 2 written pieces submitted on a single entry form) is FREE for all "Brilliant!" subscribers ("Brilliant!" is the free monthly e-newsletter from The Bright Light Café and Bright Light Multimedia).  Any successive entries by "Brilliant!" subscribers, after the initial FREE entry, must be accompanied by the AU$5 entry fee to be eligible for the contest.
• There is no limit to the amount of entries you can send, however each entry (1 to 2 written pieces submitted on a single entry form) must be accompanied by a $5AUD entry fee (except for the one FREE entry for "Brilliant!" subscribers).

• There will be one overall winner, a second place prize-winner and a third place prize-winner.  There will also be 3 Highly Commended winners.  All winners will be considered for future Bright Light Multimedia product releases.

• First prize is $100AUD and a Bright Light Multimedia product of the winner’s choice. Plus publication and performance of the winning piece at The Bright Light Café website.
• Second prize is $50AUD and a Bright Light Multimedia product of the second place prize-winner's choice.  Plus publication and performance of their winning piece at The Bright Light Café website. 
• Third prize is $25AUD and a Bright Light Multimedia product of the third place prize-winner's choice. Plus publication and performance of their winning piece at The Bright Light Café website.
• The three Highly Commended Winners will receive publication and performance at The Bright Light Café website.

• The Bright Light "True Love" Writing Contest will close on December 31st, 2005.  Entries received after this date will be ineligible for consideration.

• Eight to ten finalists will be announced on the Bright Light Multimedia and The Bright Light Café websites on January 31st, 2006.  Their work will then be displayed and professionally narrated at The Bright Light Café website.  The 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place winners and Highly Commended winners will be chosen from these eight to ten finalists.  All finalists will be notified by email.

• The names of the finalists will also be announced in the February 2006 edition of "Brilliant!",  the free monthly e-newsletter from The Bright Light Cafe and Bright Light Multimedia.  There will also be a link to their successful entry.

• During February, our online audience will be given the opportunity to “Guess The Winner” of the “True Love” Writing Contest.  All correct guesses will be placed together, and a winner will be chosen at random.  The prize will be $20AUD.

• The Winners of the "True Love" writing competition and the "Guess the Winner" competition will be announced at the Bright Light Multimedia and The Bright Light Café websites on February 28th 2006.  They will be notified of their victory, via email, at this time.

• The names of the Winners will also be announced in the March 2006 edition of "Brilliant!", the free monthly e-newsletter from The Bright Light Cafe and Bright Light Multimedia.  There will also be a link to their winning entry.

• Information about the writers and their winning poem, short story or article may be used for general media publicity purposes.

• Australian entries may be lodged either online using the electronic entry form located on this website, or by completing a hard copy entry form and sending it by regular post.
• Overseas entrants (i.e. non-Australian residents) must enter using the online entry form and pay their entry fee by the electronic payment process using a credit card, as the bank processing fees on overseas cheques now makes the cost prohibitive. (It costs almost twice the entry fee to process an overseas cheque!)

• Please read the How to submit online (all entrants) and How to submit by hardcopy/regular mail (Australian residents only) pages for step by step details on successfully submitting your entries.

• We do not return entries, so please keep the original, or a copy, of your work.  Bright Light Multimedia assumes no responsibility for the receipt, return, acknowledgement or publication of entries or submissions. All unused entries will be deleted or destroyed.

• We do not acknowledge receipt of entries, unless chosen for publication on The Bright Light Café website.  We will contact the successful contributor/s via e-mail to advise you of your imminent publication.

• Copyright stays with the author at all times.  By entering a Bright Light Multimedia contest, the author grants to Bright Light Multimedia all print, performance and electronic rights, both international and domestic for published entries.

• Entrants may use a nom de plume for publication, but must include their legal first and last names (no pseudonyms please).

• If the winner/s is an Australian resident, then Bright Light Multimedia will pay the prize money by business cheque, sent by registered mail through Australia Post.  If the winner/s is a non-Australian resident, then Bright Light Multimedia will pay the prize money via a Paypal account.  This means that if the winner is a non-Australian resident, then they will need to have a PayPal account set-up in order to receive this payment.  Paypal personal accounts are free and easy to set-up.  This payment method significantly reduces transfer fees and charges to both Bright Light Multimedia, and to a non-Australian resident, should they be the winners of the competition.

• All entries must be accompanied by an entry form and will be subject to payment or newsletter-subscriber verification before they are accepted. 

• At least 20 valid entries must be received to make this a valid competition, otherwise the competition will be void and entry fees will be returned.

• Bright Light Multimedia reserves the right to exclude any entrant not complying with these conditions. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.