This is the third year of our children’s fiction competition and it works like this: all the manuscripts are read by the Chicken House’s team of experts — then Barry Cunningham reads the very best of them and the top five go to our brilliant team of judges to make the final choice.

Last year Sophia Bennett’s Threads romped home ahead of a very talented pack, but we can also tell you that the Chicken House is steadily working with a number of the other shortlisted writers, who now have high hopes of publication.

How to enter Send your manuscript (see submission criteria below) to The Chicken House, 2 Palmer Street, Frome, Somerset BA11 1DS, marked “Children’s Fiction Competition”. Entries must be clearly labelled with your name, address and telephone number, and must be received by the last post delivery on Friday, October 30, 2009. E-mail submissions will not be accepted.

The shortlist The Chicken House reading team will select a shortlist of five entries, to be announced in February 2010. The judges will choose a winner from this shortist, to be announced at Easter 2010. Keep an eye on timesonline.co.uk/childrensauthor for up-to-date information.

The prize The winner will be the entrant whose story, in the opinion of the judges, demonstrates the greatest entertainment value, quality and originality. The prize is the offer of a worldwide publishing contract with Chicken House, with a royalty advance of £10,000. There are no cash alternatives or variations to this offer available except as specified below.

The judges Barry Cunningham, publisher, Chicken House; Jenny Valentine, award-winning author of Finding Violet Park, Broken Soup and The Ant Colony; Ros Bartlett, past chairman of the Federation of Children’s Book Groups and assistant head at Earls High School in the West Midlands; Miranda McKearney, director of The Reading Agency; Amanda Craig, children’s book critic, The Times; Christopher Little, literary agent; Sarah Clarke, Waterstone’s children’s buying manager.

Submission criteria Entries must be the original work of the entrant and not previously published. The entrant must not have previously published any book in any country, whether fiction or nonfiction. The entrant must personally submit the entry: any submissions from or found to be from agents will be void and rejected. Entries previously submitted to the 2007 and 2008 competitions are ineligible.

The entry must be a full-length manuscript of no more than 80,000 words. The entry should be suitable for a worldwide children’s audience aged between 9 and 16. Each entry must be accompanied by a brief synopsis, plot plan and a letter of submission explaining the book’s appeal to children. (A plot plan is a chapter-by-chapter breakdown, with a couple of sentences on each, paying attention to the roles of the main characters, dramatic high points and the most important strands of the plot. The synopsis should be no more than a page, giving an overview of the story, including key characters, events and settings.) Picture books and graphic novels will not be accepted and illustrations will not be considered. Entries must be in English, typed, double-line spaced, with numbered pages. Entries that do not meet these criteria will not be read. Proof of posting cannot be accepted as proof of delivery.

Entries should be secured using elastic bands and placed in a cardboard wallet (not a ring-binder or lever-arch file). They must be clearly labelled with the entrant’s full name and contact details (including an address and telephone number). The entrant must retain his or her own copy — no entries will be returned. Entries will be acknowledged only if accompanied by a stamped, addressed postcard, placed at the front of the cardboard wallet, clearly visible.

If entrants who have included a postcard have not received confirmation of receipt 28 days after submission, they should assume that their entry has not been received. Entrants in this position may resubmit their manuscript. There will be no feedback provided on any entries, either during or after the competition.

Terms and conditions For full terms and conditions please visit timesonline.co.uk/childrensauthor or write to The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition, T&C request, Customer Liaison department, 1 Pennington Street, London E98 1PL, enclosing an SAE. The competition is open to all entrants aged 18 or over, except employees of the promoters — Times Newspapers Limited (TNL) and Chicken House Publishing Limited (Chicken House) — and their associated, affiliated or subsidiary companies, and their families, agents or anyone connected in any way whatsoever with the competition.

Entry is limited to one per person. Entrants retain all rights to their entries, except in the case of the winner, to whom a publishing contract will be offered. The winner will retain the copyright to the work and shall exclusively license worldwide publishing rights in the entry to Chicken House on completion of the publishing contract.

The publishing contract with the winner will be in line with industry standards for a debut children’s novel with a royalty advance of £10,000. By entering, all entrants give TNL a worldwide royalty-free perpetual licence to edit, publish and use segments of each entry in any and all media (including print and online) for publicity and news purposes.

The promoters will not be liable for any failure of receipt of entries.

By entering, the entrants, including the winner, agree to allow the free use of their names, photographs and general locations for publicity and news purposes during this and future promotions by TNL or any associated or subsidiary company of News International Ltd.

In the event that a publishing contract cannot be agreed between Chicken House and the winner, or that no entries are deemed suitably creditworthy for publication, then Chicken House and TNL reserve the right to offer an alternative prize of an editorial consultation (see full terms and conditions for details).

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