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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 13, Issue 12 (March 1, 1939.)

Rules and Conditions

Rules and Conditions.

It was also decided that the meaning and effect of the terms “Long and Short” as used in the various classifications should be left entirely to the judges to interpret. For it was felt that if any arbitrary length were prescribed an excellent entry might have to be disregarded simply because it had a few words or lines too many. Also, and in particular, it seemed to us to be too difficult to define a “short” poem with any exactitude. For instance a poem of the length of Milton's L'Allegro might well be deemed short and thus eligible for the prize if its merits otherwise were sufficient. As a matter of fact, the winning poem just filled the colmun of the Sydney Morning Herald, when published by that journal after the announcement of the prizes. So that it will be seen that the term “short” was given a very elastic interpretation by the judges. It was also decided that the “Australian” authors from whom entries were invited should, for the purposes of the competitions, mean a writer who had been born, or naturalised, in Australia, New Zealand, or the British South Pacific Islands, or had been a bona fide resident of any of those places for the three years preceding the closing date. In this respect the competitions were more liberal than those which have been arranged for the New Zealand celebrations, the latter being confined, I understand, to New Zealand writers only. This wide proviso was made the first of the conditions governing the competitions which we then issued to the public, the remainder reading as follows:—

2. All rights, including book, serial, dramatic, cinema, radio, and gramophone, are reserved to the author.

3. Works entered for the competition must not have been published in any form, in whole or in part or in abridgment (“published” for this purpose shall include stage or radio performances, lectures or public readings).

4. Works entered for the competitions must not be published in any form, in whole or in part or in abridgment, until the Judges announce their decision.

5. Every work must be submitted under a nom-de-plume, and the correct name and address of the author, with the nom-de-plume, must accompany the M.S. in a sealed envelope. The author's name must not appear on the M.S. Entries which do not comply with this rule will not be eligible. Conditions 3, 4 and 5 do not apply to the entries in the novel class.

6. Every competitor must give his consent to the publication of his real name and address in the event of him winning a prize.

7. No competitor may enter more than three works in one section, but any competitor shall be eligible to enter works in all or as many as he or she wishes.

8. Stamps for return must accompany all Mss. which should be typewritten. While every care will be taken of entries, no responsibility will be accepted for loss or damage, and competitors are advised to keep duplicate copies.

9. The decisions of the Judges shall be final and binding on all entrants, and in all other matters arising out of the competitions entrants must accept the ruling of the Literary Committee.

A treasure of the Alexander Turnbull Library: A Gothic book of hours dated 1508, gorgeous in its illumination.

A treasure of the Alexander Turnbull Library: A Gothic book of hours dated 1508, gorgeous in its illumination.

10. Members of the Literary Committee shall not be eligible to enter for the competitions.

11. The closing date shall be at noon on Friday, 31st December, 1937, and all entries received after that hour, whether delivered or posted, shall not be eligible but shall be returned to their authors.

12. All entries shall be addressed to Mr. S. Elliott Napier, Chairman Literary Committee, Australia's 150th Anniversary Celebrations, G.P.O. Box 3845T, Sydney, and plainly marked Literary Competitions with the title of the Sections for which entry is intended.

13. The Literary Committee reserves the right to make no award in any particular section, or to lessen the number of awards.

14. The Literary Committee reserves the right to bracket competitors.