BATTLE of the BARDS Rules – Sheralyn Pratt: Storyteller and Coach

RULES

This contest is open to anyone with a mailing address within the United States (to ensure all winners can receive their prizes).
All entries must be in English.
All submissions must be submitted by the original author.
All submissions must be previously unpublished and original.
All entries are due by 11:59 MDT August 14, 2019 (* or 10,000 total contest entries, whichever comes first).
All entries must be accompanied with a $10 fee per entry.
Contest can be entered exclusively at SheralynPratt.com.
Limit 8 total entries per person. All entries exceeding 8 will be deleted without refund.
No joint submissions (i.e., multiple authors).
Authors consent to work being published in full—first attached to a submission number, then with full attribution once judging is complete.
All anonymity is temporary. All submissions must have verified authors to credit once judging is complete.
Void where prohibited.

A displayable trophy.
A certificate of award.
One (1) prize offered per judge per category (e.g., 3 category judges = 3 prizes, etc.)
Each contestant can only win once per category.

Winners will be announced on social media, using Instagram and Twitter, on the Autumn Equinox of 2019.
Judges will announce their winners through a method of their choosing. Maybe they make it simple by tweeting out a number, or maybe they read or perform your work in its entirety to their followers and give you a shout out. It’s up to them.
Sheralyn will retweet/repost all announcements of winners on her feed to ensure they are seen.
An official list of winners will be also posted on SheralynPratt.com.
Prizes will be mailed to US addresses only.

Once judging is complete, you give Sheralyn Pratt the right to add your name to your submission for all the world to see.
Once the contest is over, you give Sheralyn Pratt the right to republish your work with full attribution in relation to future contests (e.g., if we all decide we want to do this again, winners of previous years can have their submissions posted in their entirety as a shout out to legacy).
You give Sheralyn Pratt the right to include a short excerpt of your work (up to 100 words) in a for-profit product, so long as your quoted material is less than 1% of the product’s content and includes attribution.

If your submission can be found in any digital or physically published source, it will be disqualified without refund.
All plagiarized work will be disqualified without refund.
Each competitor is allowed 8 (eight) total entries in the categories of their choosing. Any entries after the first 8 will be disqualified without refund.
One entry per submission. Any additional entries beyond the first will be deleted without notice to the submitter and only first entry will be entered.
Identifying your work before judgment is complete results in automatic disqualification without refund.
Harassing judges, officials, or other competitors is against the spirit of the competition. If distracting behavior requires you to be blocked on social media, your entries will also be disqualified without refund. (So if you’re going to be a jerk, wait until after you win to be a sore loser about it.)
If a judge finds your work offensive or profane, they have a right not to finish reading it. There are multiple judges in each category for this exact reason, but be well aware that if you don’t meet the professional standards a judge is held to themselves when it comes to creating content, that is considered permissible grounds for them dismissing a submission from consideration without refund.
All entries require a $10 entry fee. If you don’t pay, you’re not entered. Simple as that. Entries made without payment will not be considered.

All submissions and payments are final. You can request to be removed from consideration, but you will not receive a refund.