Submit Your Story

Our contest is open for submissions

If you have questions, please refer to our FAQs and contest rules.

Good Luck!

Name*
First Last
Select a Grade*
- 6th grade
- 7th grade
- 8th grade
- 9th grade
- 10th grade
- 11th grade
- 12th grade
Age*
Street 1
Street 2
City
State
Zip
For international students with a 4-digit mailing code, please enter 0 for the first digit, then the four digit code.
Email*
Phone*
For students with an international phone number, please enter only the first ten digits. Do not enter the international code.
School Name*
School City & State*
Parent / Guardian First Name*
Parent / Guardian Last Name*
Parent/Guardian Email*
How did you hear about the contest?*
- Internet Search
- Advertisement/Flyer
- Friend
- School
- Other
May we add your email address to our contact list to receive periodic updates from the foundation?*
Contributor Agreement*
By selecting I Agree you are agreeing be bound to a legal contract defining your rights and responsibilities regarding your work, your copyright ownership, and our license to it. It's exactly the same as if you signed a paper contract! If you have questions, please consult with your parents or send us an email at [email protected].
This contributor agreement (the “Agreement”) is entered into by The Leyla Beban Young Authors Foundation (the “Foundation”) and contributing author (the “Author”), as of the date of submission (the “Effective Date”).

Background
A. The Foundation sponsors creative writing contests and publishes creative writing in a journal, on its websites and in other physical and digital media and methods of publication or public dissemination (“Publications”).

B. Subject to the terms of this Agreement, the Author wishes the Author’s original work of creative writing submitted pursuant to this Agreement (the “Work”) to be entered into one of the Foundation’s contests or to be published by the Foundation in its journal, on its websites or otherwise and the Foundation wishes to enter the Work in that contest or publish the Work.

Agreement
Now, therefore, in consideration of the parties’ mutual promises in this Agreement and other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, the parties agree as follows:

1. Author’s Ownership of Copyright and Reservation of Rights.
(a) The copyright in the Work will remain with the Author.
(b) Subject to the License and the terms of this Agreement, the Author retains all rights in the Work. If the Foundation publishes the Work in its journal, on its websites or otherwise, the Author will clearly and accurately identify that publication (including the name and, as applicable, edition of the journal, website or other place of publication by the Foundation and the year of that publication) in any subsequent use of the Work and require any person the Author grants rights in the Work to do likewise.

2. Author’s Grant of Rights. The Author grants to the Foundation a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, sublicensable license (the “License”) under copyright, moral rights, all rights of privacy and publicity and all other applicable rights, for all media and methods of publication, reproduction, distribution, performance, and display, whether now existing or later invented, to

(a) reproduce the Work,

(b) distribute copies of the Work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending,

(c) perform the Work publicly, (d) display the Work publicly, (e) translate the Work into any language (in which case the Foundation will have the same rights in the translation of the Work as in the original), and (f) authorize any third party to do any of the actions permitted by clauses (a) – (e) of this sentence. The License includes all copyrights, trademarks, trade names, rights of privacy or publicity, moral rights and any other similar form of intellectual rights in intangible property or proprietary rights, statutory or otherwise, whether registered or not, and whether applied for or not and all other forms of protection of a similar nature or that relate to intangible property, ideas or expression, as they may exist anywhere in the world (“Intellectual Property Rights”).

3. Author’s Warranties and Undertakings. The Author warrants that:

(a) The Author is the sole author [(or joint author with the persons identified as joint authors in the submission form)] of the Work and has the power to convey the rights granted in this Agreement;

(b) the Work contains the original thoughts and words of the Author and properly credits the source when the thoughts and words of another are utilized;

(c) the Work has not been previously been published, in whole or in part, domestically or outside the United States;

(d) the Work does not infringe any Intellectual Property Rights of any person;
and

(e) the Work does not contain matter that is defamatory, violates another’s civil right(s), or other legal right, or is otherwise unlawful; and

(f) if the Work reproduces any textual or graphic material that is the property of another for which permission is required, that material has been specified in writing to the Foundation and the Author has obtained written consent for that reproduction.

4. Editing and Printing. The Author authorizes the Foundation to edit and revise the Work prior to publication, but the Foundation will not publish an edited or revised version of the Work (other than formatting and other immaterial changes) unless it is acceptable in its final form to the Author.

5. Indemnification and Litigation. The Author will indemnify and hold harmless the Foundation and its officers, directors, employees, agents, subcontractors, attorneys,
successors and assigns from and against any and all third-party claims, demands, actions, losses, liabilities, expenses and judgments, including attorneys’ fees, costs of
investigation, the fees and costs of experts and other dispute resolution costs (“Damages”), arising out of or related to (i) the use of the Work by or on behalf of the Foundation or sublicensees in conformance with the License, or (ii) the Author’s breach of any warranty or covenant in this Agreement.

6. Miscellaneous.

6.1 Governing Law. This Agreement will be governed by and construed under the substantive laws of the State of California, without regard to its choice of law provisions. Exclusive venue for the resolution of any dispute between the parties will be in the state and federal courts for San Mateo County, California, and the parties hereby submit themselves to the personal jurisdiction of those courts and agree to the service of process by any means constituting notice under Section 6.3.

6.2 Severability; Disaffirmance by Minor Author. This Agreement is intended to be performed in accordance with, and only to the extent permitted by, all applicable laws, ordinances, rules and regulations of the jurisdictions in which the Foundation does business. If any provision of this Agreement or the application thereto to any person or circumstance will, for any reason and to any extent, be invalid or unenforceable the remainder of this Agreement and the application of that provision to other persons or circumstances will not be affected thereby, but rather will be enforced to the greatest extent permitted by law. If the Author is a minor as of the Effective Date, the Author may disaffirm of this Agreement, if and only to the extent permitted by nonwaivable applicable law, only by notice to the Foundation delivered no later than 180 days after the Author reaches majority, which period the Author acknowledges and agrees is a reasonable time after majority in which to exercise any right to disaffirm. The Author hereby waives any waivable statutory or other rights to disaffirm or otherwise avoid this Agreement or limit the License, including any moral rights.

6.3 Notice.

(a) All notices, consents, waivers, and other communications under this Agreement must be: (i) in writing and (ii) delivered by U.S. Express Mail, internationally recognized overnight delivery service (e.g. UPS) or e-mail. Absent fraud or manifest error, a receipt signed by the addressee or the addressee’s authorized representative, a U.S. Express Mail receipt, a signed delivery service confirmation or a fax or e-mail confirmation of transmission will constitute proof of delivery. The actual receipt by the addressee of any notice will constitute delivery notwithstanding the failure to have complied with any provisions of this Section

6.4.
(b) Notice will be deemed to have been received on the date and time of the signed receipt or confirmation of its delivery or transmission, unless that receipt or confirmation date and time is not a business day or is after 5:00 p.m. local time on a business day, in which case notice will be deemed to have been received on the next
succeeding business day. Notices to a party will be addressed as set forth below, or as set forth in any notice of change of address previously given to the other party by notice:

To the Author:
Address and email provided on the submission form.

To the Foundation:
The Leyla Beban Young Authors Foundation
PO Box 610005,
Redwood City, CA 94061
[email protected]

6.4 Caption. Any paragraph titles or captions contained in this Agreement are for convenience only and will not be deemed part of the context of this Agreement.

6.5 Binding Effect; Assignment. The parties hereto hereby agree that the obligations entered into herein will be valid and binding on their respective representatives, successors and permitted assigns. The Author may not assign the Author’s rights or obligations under this Agreement and any purported assignment is null and void. The Foundation may freely assign its rights and obligations under this Agreement.

6.6 No Third Party Beneficiaries. This Agreement is entered into by the parties for the exclusive benefit of the parties and their successors and permitted assignees. The
Agreement is expressly not intended for the benefit of any other person. No third party will have any rights under this Agreement.

6.7 Amendment, Modification, and Waiver. This Agreement may not be amended, modified or supplemented except pursuant to an instrument in writing signed by each of the parties hereto, except that any party to this Agreement may waive any obligation owed to that party by another party under this Agreement, provided the waiver is in writing. The waiver by any party hereto of a breach of any provisions of this Agreement will not operate or be construed as a waiver of any subsequent breach.

6.8 Definitions and Construction. Capitalized terms in this Agreement have the meanings assigned to them in this Agreement unless the context otherwise requires, which meaning will be equally applicable to both the singular and plural forms of those terms. In this Agreement, unless a clear contrary intention appears, (a) ”Section” and “Exhibit” refer to sections of and exhibit to this Agreement; and (b) ”including” (and with correlative meaning “include”) means including without limiting the generality of any description preceding that term.

6.9 Entire Agreement. This Agreement contains the entire understanding among the parties and supersedes any prior understanding and agreements between them respecting the within subject matter. There are no representations, agreements, arrangements or understandings, oral or written, between or among the parties relating to the subject matter of this Agreement which are not fully expressed in this Agreement.
- I have read the Contributor Agreement and I understand and agree to the terms.
I have read and understand the contest rules:*
Contest Rules

Eligibility: The $1000 for 1000 Words fiction writing contest is open to all students enrolled in grades 6-12. Each entrant may submit a fiction piece consisting of exactly 1,000 words (not including title or author's name). The fiction piece can be on any topic, as long as it is not vulgar or offensive, does not use inappropriate profanity, and is the original work of the entrant not previously published. At the discretion of the Foundation, all submissions may be published in the Bluefire journal or on the Foundation website. Entrants retain copyright on his/her own individual work. All entrants must include a completed Entry Form, and must agree to the terms of the Contributor Agreement. Only one entry per person per year will be accepted. Previous scholarship winners are not eligible.

Submission Guidelines: Entries must be submitted using the entry form on the website. You can copy and paste from a file created with your favorite word processing program or text editor. Please note that non-standard formatting, fonts, and characters may not transfer properly into our submission form, so it is best not to elaborate beyond standard fonts and formatting.

Entries must be *exactly* 1000 words. The entry form will not allow you to submit stories that are more or fewer than 1000 words. You need to copy and paste the body text only (i.e., not the title or your name) into the box provided. The title of your story, as well as your name and other required information, go into separate boxes on the form as required fields. If the form tells you that your story is not exactly 1000 words, please edit your piece to add or remove the necessary words. The word count may be slightly different between the form and your word processor or editor. Our form is how we determine word count irrespective of what your word processor or editor say. Do not include your name or title in the body of the story or you will be disqualified.

Contest Dates: The deadline for the $1000 for 1000 Words contest is February 1, 2021 Entries received after February 1, 2021 will not be considered. The contest start date is November 1, 2020. Join our mailing list or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to learn more.

Selection: Entries will be judged on originality, creativity, and length. Entries over or under 1,000 words will not be considered, and stories will only be accepted through our website submission form. All entries are blinded before judging. The identities of the winning authors are known only after the judging is completed and the winners selected.

Prizes: Two $1,000 scholarship prizes will be awarded, one for grades 6-8 and one for grades 9-12. Seven $100 cash prizes will also be awarded for winning entries, one per grade level. Stories selected for publication into Bluefire, but not selected as a grade-level or scholarship winner, will receive a $50 cash prize. In a given year and grade, if no entry is deemed to merit an award, no award will be given.

Decisions: The panel of judges consists of members of the board of The Leyla Beban Young Authors Foundation and invited judges. All decisions made by the judges are final.

Copyrights: The author retains all copyrights to the submitted work. At the discretion of the Foundation, winning pieces may be published online on the Foundation's website and in a forthcoming edition of our journal, Bluefire. By entering the contest, you consent to the publication of your work if it is selected, and you grant permission for the Foundation to print the work in future journals and publicity pieces, and other formats or contexts determined by, and at the discretion of, the Foundation. Please note that other publications may not accept as "unpublished" work that has been previously published in Bluefire. If you do subsequently publish your work in another publication, proper attribution must be given to Bluefire and/or the Foundation website. As a condition of submission, you will be required to agree to the terms of the Contributor Agreement specifying your rights and obligations under the contest terms.

Notification: Winners will be announced in April and will be notified by phone or email. Names of the winners will appear on the website and in other publicity pieces, including, but not limited to electronic announcements, press releases, and news articles. Young authors selected for publication in our journal will be invited to participate in our award celebration held in May.

Privacy Policy: The Leyla Beban Young Authors Foundation collects personal information for the purpose of notifying contest winners. All information submitted is kept in confidence, used solely for notification purposes, and shall not be made public by the Foundation. The Leyla Beban Young Authors Foundation does not lease, sell, or share personal information collected. Minor children must have parental permission to enter the contest.

For purposes of privacy, if you are selected for publication, you will only be identified by your first and last name, grade, and state/country. For example, you would appear in Bluefire as Leyla Beban, Senior, California, USA. If you need to provide confirmation of publication to, for example, school admissions offices, write us at [email protected] and we can prepare a letter for you.
- I have read and understand the Contest Rules.
Story Title*
Paste Your Story Here*
Copy and paste from your favorite word processing program.
Having trouble with the submission?
Double blank lines between paragraphs count as a word in our text box. Also, a number or a transition note such as ------ or ------ may count as a word, too. So please put only one blank line between paragraphs and review your story for numbers, etc. and try again. If there is an error message indicating you have over 1000 words and you know you have 1000 only, edit the story in the text box. 1. Try making sure that the last word has a period after it. 2. Try expanding a contraction, then contracting the same word.