TERMS & CONDITIONS 2025  

1. By entering this competition, entrants agree to accept and be bound by these full terms and conditions when they submit an entry to the competition address. 
    
2. Entries must comply with the competition guidelines, published on the Big Finish website.  
    
3. This competition is open to anyone aged 16 or over, except for the employees (and their families) of Big Finish Productions (the Publisher), and any other company connected with the competition. 
    
4. Entrants must not have previously written for Big Finish. 
    
5. Entries must be submitted electronically to [email protected] formatted as per the competition guidelines. Entries that arrive timestamped after the closing date or that exceed the word count will not be considered. Neither the Promoter nor the Publisher are responsible for illegible, incomplete, delayed or lost entries. 
    
6. The competition closes at 23:59 (UK time) on Thursday 12 June 2025. 
    
7. Entrants may submit only one (1) entry to the competition. Each entry must be written by a single author. Multiple entries or authors will be disqualified. The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to produce the entry is explicitly prohibited. 
    
8. The entry must be an original work of fiction. It must not have been published, self-published, published on any website, blog or online forum, broadcast, have won or been placed (2nd, 3rd, runner-up, etc.) in any other competition. It must not have been submitted in any previous year’s Big Finish competition. 
    
9. All qualifying entries will be judged by a panel comprising Big Finish and independent judges.  
    
10. The Promoter and the Publisher regret that entries cannot be returned. 
     
11. A longlist of valid entries will be forwarded to a judging panel. A single winner will be notified by email by 18 July 2025. The winner will be the entry which, in the sole opinion of the judging panel, is the best. 
     
12. The decision of the judges is final. No correspondence will be entered into, nor will the Promoter, Publisher or the competition judges give feedback on individual entries, during the competition period or afterwards. 
     
13. All unsuccessful entries will be disposed of. 
     
14. The winner will be informed by 18 July 2025, and will subsequently be officially contracted to deliver a 5,000 word Short Trips story. As with all Big Finish writers, they will be expected to agree and meet all conditions, especially with respect to meeting schedules and accepting input from producers. For guidance purposes, it is expected a first-draft script would be due in mid-August 2025.  
     
15. Production is subject to the winner entering into a contract with Big Finish Productions. This will afford an exclusive licence to the Publisher, permitting the editing, adapting, publishing and licensing of all or part of the production in all editions, formats (including print and electronic), in all languages and territories globally. Should entrants not want to grant these rights they should not submit materials. In the event an agreement cannot be reached, as regards the contract, within 30 days of the discussions commencing, the winning entry will be returned to the entrant and an alternative winner will be selected. 
     
16. The BBC have the right to approve or veto the content of a selected story. Should there be unforeseen issues with the work, the writer will be invited to submit a new idea.    
     
17. The prize is otherwise non-transferable, and no cash alternative or other substitute is available. 
     
18. Notwithstanding anything set forth above, the Publisher reserves the right to choose the most appropriate format for the production. 
     
19. By entering this competition each entrant confirms that: 
    
    a) Their entry is their wholly-owned creation and makes no use of any third party materials or intellectual property rights (other than those explicitly allowed by the competition guidelines); 
    
    b) No deliberate attempt has been made to base any fictional characters in the production upon any real individual, living or dead; and no real individual, living or dead, is a character in the story;
    
    c) The submitted materials contain nothing that is illegal, obscene or of a defamatory nature. Entrants will keep the Promoter and the Publisher harmless from any claims that the entry infringes the personal or proprietary right of any other person. 
     
20. Events may occur that render the awarding of the prize impossible due to reasons beyond the control of the Promoter or the Publisher, and the Publisher may, at its absolute discretion, vary, amend, suspend or withdraw the prize with or without notice. No correspondence will be entered into. 
     
21. The winning entrant agrees to the Promoter’s and Publisher’s use of their name, country of residence and photograph in relation to related publicity material and activities. 
     
22. The Promoter or the Publisher may disqualify any entrant whose entry does not comply with these terms or whose actions, in the Promoter’s or the Publisher’s determination, are fraudulent, dishonest, criminal or unjust to other entrants. 
     
23. The Publisher will use the personal details of entrants only for the purposes of administering the competition. Entrants consent to the use of their personal data for this purpose. Personal details will not be kept on file by the Promoter. 
     
24. These terms are governed by the laws of England. 
     
25. Promoter: Big Finish Productions, Ground Floor, Arena Court, Crown Lane, Maidenhead, SL6 8QZ  

The Publisher is responsible for all elements of the prize.  

Last updated: 08 May 2025