Thursday, January 12, 2012

JOIN THE 2012 ROMEO FORBES CHILDREN'S STORY WRITING COMPETITION!!!

Imagination. Originality. Vision.

Bring it on!

The 2012 Romeo Forbes Story Writing Competition is now officially open! And this year, artist Jon Jaylo provides us with this inspiration piece.

Untitled piece by Jon Jaylo
36x36 inches, oil on canvas (2012)

The contest rules are provided below.

But first, here are a few more pictures of the painting's details. Enjoy, and we look forward to reading your entries soon!!!



Contest Rules a
nd Conditions

1. CANVAS' Romeo Forbes Children's Storywriting Competition is open to all Filipinos.

2. Entries must not have been previously published or submitted in any other competition, and all entrants must warrant the originality of their submitted entries.


3. Writers may submit only one entry, which may be in English or Filipino.
The entry must not exceed 1,200 words.

4. There is no particular theme, other than the use of Jon Jaylo's untitled contest piece, shown above, as the inspiration or basis for the entry.

5. Judging Process. A CANVAS review panel shall read and award points for all stories received based on the following criteria:


* Originality and Storyline (35%)
* Imagery (35%)
* Quality of Writing (20%)
* X-Factor/Judges' discretion (10%)

Based on the points received, CANVAS shall forward a shortlist of at least five stories with the highest scores to the Artist. The Artist shall then provide comments on any or all the stories, for consideration by the panel of judges.
The panel of judges - taking the contest criteria and Artist comments into non-binding consideration - shall collectively choose the winner from the shortlist of stories. If the judges cannot come to a consensus on the winner, they shall take a vote and the entry that gains the most number of votes shall be declared the winner. None of CANVAS' review panel, the judges or the Artist shall see the entrant's name until the winner is chosen.

6. Entries must be submitted by email, as a Microsoft Word attachment, to storycontest@canvas.ph with the subject heading 2012 ROMEO FORBES CHILDREN'S STORYWRITING COMPETITION. In the body of the email, entrants must provide their name, the title of their entry, mailing and email address, and telephone/cellphone number. Only the story title should appear on all pages of the attached entry.

7.
The deadline for submission of entries is 5:00 p.m. (Manila time), Friday, 06 April 2012. Entries received after the deadline, even if sent earlier, will no longer be considered for the competition.

Kindly note that CANVAS acknowledges each and every entry that we receive. If you submitted a story, and do not receive an acknowledgment from us within 24 hours, please assume that your story was not received and kindly resend it to us.


CANVAS shall not be responsible for entries which are not received, or which are received after the deadline, due to technical failure or for any other reason whatsoever.


8. All entrants hereby agree to authorize CANVAS to post their entries on its website, as CANVAS deems fit, and free from any payments, royalties or fees whatsoever.


9. There shall be only one winner, who shall receive a cash prize of PhP 35,000.00 (less applicable withholding tax) for his/her entry. The winning writer shall also be entitled to five (5) free copies upon publication of the book. The winner shall grant and transfer to CANVAS all intellectual property and publication rights to the story, including any translations, adaptations or modifications thereto. It is hereby understood that the cash prize to be awarded to the winner shall include consideration of such intellectual property and publication rights to the story, and the writer shall not be entitled to any other royalties or fees from earnings, if any, that may result from future publication of, licensing of, or other transactions on the same.

(Please see our note below on why we have this rule.)

10. Except for the right to publish any received entry on its website, CANVAS shall not retain any other rights to entries that are not selected as the winner, except where separate agreements are reached with the writers.

11. CANVAS shall exercise full and exclusive editorial and artistic control over the publication of the winning entry and resulting book.
While, it is the full intention of CANVAS to publish the winning entry as a full-color children's book, CANVAS reserves the right not to publish the same for any reason whatsoever.

12. The winner of the CANVAS storywriting competition will be announced on this blog and on our facebook page on or around the second half of June 2012. The winner will also be notified via email and by text message on the same announcement date.


13. CANVAS reserves the right not to award the top competition prize in the unlikely event that the judges decide that no entry was received that is deserving of the top prize. In such event, however, CANVAS shall have no right whatsoever over all entries that were received; and shall not publish any entry, in its website or in any other venue, without the prior written consent or agreement of the author.


14. The decision of the competition judges shall be final, and no correspondence or inquiries into the same - including requests for comments/feedback on received entries - shall be entertained.

15. Employees of CANVAS, and members of their immediate family, as well as the Artist's immediate family, are disqualified from participating in the competition.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Why We Ask for the Transfer of Rights

The competition rules (Rule 9) clearly state that the winning author should agree to transfer all rights to CANVAS and "...shall not be entitled to any other royalties or fees from earnings, if any, that may result from future publication of, derivative works, licensing of, or other transactions on the same."

This rule has understandably raised quite a few eyebrows in the writers' community, and this note is just to clarify where it is that CANVAS is coming from.

First of all, having complete ownership of the story rights makes it easier and less complicated for us to quickly give it away.

We have always liberally shared and give our consent to anyone who may ask for permission to use the winning story.
It is for this very reason that the stories and illustrations of books we publish are all available for free viewing and enjoyment on our website (www.canvas.ph), despite the concern of some that the easy availability of the stories on the Internet could eat into the sales of our books (which, happily, has not proven to be the case).

We have, in fact, taken it several steps further.

All our stories are now available and
downloadable on our website FOR FREE, in both English and Filipino. Just as we were fortunate enough to have been given permission to adapt "The Man Who Planted Trees," into our maiden publication - "Elias and His Trees," - we hope that the stories that we work on will inspire similar creativity.

We've also started to publish subsequent versions of the stories as collections, that are then given away for free to public schools and hospitals all over the Philippines. You can read about this effort on our Global Giving update page.

A second reason why we ask for the transfer of rights is that CANVAS is a small nonprofit, and is not equipped to document and track royalty shares that ideally should accrue to authors and artists. It is for this reason that our prizes (we think), are quite substantial and approximates (if not exceeds) what writers would normally expect to receive in royalties.


Third, we are also trying to get the stories published abroad. Should we get really lucky and end up on the NY Times Bestseller List or say, get our book endorsed by Oprah, be assured that we will make things right with the artist and writer (you'll just have to trust us on this).
But until then, having demonstrably complete ownership over the rights makes it easier and less complicated for us to approach and negotiate with would-be publishers and agents (who hopefully would not be spooked by our giving out downloadable e-books for free in the first place).

Finally, we are also trying to be financially sustainable. We rely on a small amount of grant funding to conduct our activities, including co-sharing the publication costs of the books. We can only hope to recoup the expenses so that we can do these activities on a continuing and recurring basis in the years to come.


Please be assured of our continuing effort to balance our desire to contribute to the public domain in a manner that is also fair to the writers and artists, on the one hand; and our need to also be fiscally responsible with the grants that have been entrusted to us, and to the publishers that we partner with, on the other.

47 comments:

Unknown said...

Inspiration piece is epic!

Cherille Lim said...

Is there an age-limit here? I'm sixteen and I would like to take a shot at it.

CANVAS said...

No, there is no age limit. Go for it! Good luck! :-)

Cherille Lim said...

Thank you very much! Have a great day!:)

Lazaro said...

Hello,
What is the target age group for the story? I will need to tailor my writing to that specific group.

Thank you!

CANVAS said...

Hi. We leave that up to you. It could be for beginning readers, or it could be for advanced readers, say ages 9-12, or somewhere in between.

So if you take a look at the books/stories that we have published (which can be seen at http://canvas.ph), the target range varies. "Message in the Sand" and "The Boy Who Touched Heaven", for example, are geared more for a younger audience, than more text heavy stories like "Elias and His Trees" or "The Rocking Horse."

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that imagery (and of course the story itself) is very important for us. Our books are generally 40 pages long, mainly because we ask the artist to create at least 20 paintings for each story.

Hope this helps. Thanks and good luck!

washi reyes said...

hello Canvas, just want to ask regarding number 2 on the mechanics.. do we need to scan and attach an Affidavit of Ownership to assure that the work is really ours?

and also, this may be a dumb question but i kinda dont get the number 6 on the mechanics.. i mean the part "Only the story title should appear on all pages of the attached entry"..

anyways, sorry if my questions are not so valid... thank you so much and Godbless...

CANVAS said...

Hi. Even a simple statement in the body of your email when you submit your story which says something like "I warrant that the attached entry is my original story" would be fine. No need for a formal scanned affidavit. :-)

For number 6, the stories are going to be blindly judged - i.e., the judges should not know who wrote what story. So on the entry itself, only the title should appear (together with the story, of course).

Thanks.

eng said...

I love the painting! Is it for sale?

CANVAS said...

Sorry, no.:-)

Anonymous said...

are u strict about the maximum number of words used in an entry? i consumed 1,422 words in my story.. that's equivalent to 4 pages 1.5 space.. please reply
thank u.

CANVAS said...

Hi, yes, we are very strict about the maximum limit. Even one word above the 1,200-word limit would be enough to disqualify your entry.

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Hello. Is there no leeway on the length or number of words for the story? If the story exceeds 1,200 words, will this be a basis for elimination? thanks!

CANVAS said...

Hi. Yes, 1200 words is a strict and absolute limit. Entries that go over this limit will be eliminated. No exceptions. :-)

Miloque said...

Love the concept of the website. Though at first I was perplexed by rule 9 but after reading the reasons, I guess it is quite understandable. I am still trying to shave my work to 1,200 words until I can enter it. Now, hopefully, you might try reconsidering the 1,200 word limit for some average number of words on most children's books are around 1,300 max. Till, then. Here's hoping for more contests like these from your group. Your artworks are quite inspiring for starting writers like myself. Thank you.

CANVAS said...

Thank you. Actually, if ever we change the word limit, it would likely be to lessen it even more. :-) Our books contain both Filipino and English texts, so the less words there are, easier and more aesthetically pleasing it also is to layout the book, without having it appear to be too wordy.

There's still a lot of time to work on your story. Looking forward to reading it when the judging starts! Good luck! :-)

Joanne said...

Hi, i would just like to ask if the story that we will make should be fitted for a picture book or just a children's story book?

Paula Dias Garcia said...

Is it for filipinos only?

Thanks!

CANVAS said...

Hi. It is primarily a children's story, but imagery is a major criteria, as the artist will use the story to in turn create a series of paintings, all of which will be used as illustrations for the book.

Thanks.

CANVAS said...

Yes, the competition is open only to Filipinos. :-)

M said...

Will the winning author have a by-line at least on the story if ever published?

CANVAS said...

Yes, of course. The author is always recognized for his/her work in all our books. :-)

Anonymous said...

Hi! I'd like to know how we're supposed to post the title on each page? Should we center it? And will the title be included within the 1,200 limit?

CANVAS said...

Thanks. There are a number of ways to do it. You can type it on each page, but the easiest way is to just put the title on the header portion the file. It should automatically appear on each page.

And, no, the title does not count in the 1200-word limit. :-)

Anonymous said...

Will will get an email to know that you guys received it?

CANVAS said...

We will acknowledge receipt of each and every entry. If you don't hear from us within 24 hours of submitting, please assume that we did not receive your entry, and resend the same to us, BEFORE the deadline. We are not responsible for missent or unreceived entries. Thanks. :-)

Anonymous said...

Hi, i've sent my entry twice already and I still dont have a notification..

CANVAS said...

Hi. To what email did you send it to? We've already received dozens of entries, and you are the first one to indicate this problem. We've also checked our spam folder and have not seen any entry there.

Kindly resend to storycontest@canvas.ph. And just to be sure, please cc info@canvas.ph. If you still don't receive an acknowledgement, please let us know.

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Hi!Are we required to make the story based on the entire painting or could we just use one of the details presented in the painting? (like could we just use the apple man or something?)

CANVAS said...

You can just use the painting (or any detail or element in it) as the inspiration for your story. :-)

Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Hi I still haven't received any notification and I sent it thrice already.. (Still the same person)

CANVAS said...

Hi, please send us an email at info@canvas.ph, so that we can correspond privately. We think we may have received and responded already to your entry, but are not sure because your comment was anonymous.

In any event, please do check your spam/junk mail folder. Any chance our replies have been going there?

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

I sent it there already and still no reply. Is the title of the story that you've responded by any chance called "Miguelito?"

CANVAS said...

Yes, we've just received your entry, and did send a reply. :-) Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Must the story contain a moral or can the story be as whimsical as anything?

Anonymous said...

Must the characters be of the Filipino race?

CANVAS said...

The story can be whimsical as anything.

The characters need NOT be of the Filipino race.

Thanks and good luck! :-)

CANVAS said...

The story can be whimsical as anything.

The characters need NOT be of the Filipino race.

Thanks and good luck! :-)

Anonymous said...

What is the desired MINIMUM number of words?

CANVAS said...

There is no desired minimum. Only a limit on the maximum. :-)

Anonymous said...

Will you still be accepting entries on Good Friday?

CANVAS said...

yes, up to 5pm manila time. :-)

Niki said...

Hi. Will the deadline be extended? I hope you guys extend the deadline. Me and some friends would like to join, but learned about the contest too late. Hope you reconsider! :)

CANVAS said...

Hi, sorry but no, we cannot extend the deadline.

We will have other competitions in the future and hope you will participate then. Just follow us on our facebook page (www.facebook.com/canvas.ph) or here through our blog, to get updates on the contests.

Thanks and best regards,

--CANVAS

Anonymous said...

Will we be notified if our entry didn't get to be atleast shortlisted? Or if we didn't win? When will the announcement of the winner be? Thanks a bunch! ;)

Anonymous said...

Hello!!! kailan po malalaman kung ano yung winning entry??? atsaka paano po malalaman???

CANVAS said...

Because of the high number of entries received, it will take some time beofre we will be able to shortlist the stories and finally select the winner.

We expect to complete the process and declare a winner by midJune. We will announce the results here on this blog, and also on our facebook page.

Those who participated by submitting stories will also be emailed directly.

Thanks!