Romance Includes Everyone Terms & Conditions

Terms and Conditions:

  1. This competition is promoted by HarperCollins UK of The News Building, 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF.
  2. The first prize for this competition is a publishing contract with Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsUK. 'Winner' means the winner of the competition.
  3. There will be five shortlisted entrants who will each receive a written critique of their submission from a Mills & Boon editor.
  4. The first prize will be awarded for the most original and exciting work of fiction from the romance genre focusing on LGBTQI+ romances, and excluding science fiction, fantasy, erotica or Young Adult genres (the ‘Content Criteria‘).
  5. The competition is open to everyone who wants to write or has written a LGBTQI+ romance. Entrants must be resident in the UK or Ireland. Entrants can have an agent or be unagented, and may previously have had a book published in any format worldwide. These requirements are referred to as the ‘Entrants' Criteria’.
  6. The competition will take place on the 21st May 2021 between the hours of 8am and 8pm BST.
  7. Entrants must submit the pitch for their novel via Twitter (@MillsandBoon) or Facebook (facebook.com/millsandboon). Each pitch must be 500 characters max, the equivalent of one Facebook post or two tweets on Twitter.
  8. Entrants must include the hashtag #LGBTQLoveStories on their pitch.
  9. If we give your pitch a ‘like’ that means you have made the longlist. Please send the first chapter (no more than 5,000 words), a synopsis and a short paragraph on why you feel passionately about LGBTQI+ romance in commercial fiction to submissions@millsandboon.co.uk by 7th June 2021. Please include your Twitter handle or Facebook name and the hashtag #LGBTQLoveStories in the subject line.
  10. We may respond to your pitch after the entry window has closed.
  11. If we do not ‘like’ your pitch then you have not made it to the next round, please do not send your submission to the email address provided.
  12. This can be work that has previously been written by the entrant but MUST be unpublished.
  13. Submissions must be in English and must be double spaced. Submissions should be in Word format and the name of the document should be your own name, followed by Romance Includes Everyone. Submissions must be made to submissions@millsandboon.co.uk
  14. Submissions will be judged on the originality of the writing. Judges will not be looking for a perfectly polished piece but for something that shows imagination and writing skill.
  15. Members of the RNA must include their RNA membership number in their submission, as well as the password supplied by the RNA.
  16. A shortlist of up to ten submissions (the ‘Shortlisted Submissions’) will be chosen from entries received in accordance with these Terms and Conditions by members of the Mills & Boon editorial team.
  17. Shortlisted entrants will be contacted no later than 30th July 2021 and must submit their completed manuscripts by 30th August 2021
  18. Shortlisted entrants who are asked to send in a complete manuscript (roughly 80,000 words) will be judged on the originality and quality of the writing, and the potential based on their synopsis for a full-length book.
  19. Any submissions received outside these specified times and dates, and any submissions that do not meet the requirements of these Terms and Conditions, will not be eligible for entry to the competition.
  20. Submissions must be submitted via email to submissions@millsandboon.co.uk in Word format.
  21. The Judges will then select the Winner from the shortlisted submissions.
  22. The winning submission will be the one that best meets the Content Criteria, has the best quality of writing and the most potential to be a full-length book, and is from an entrant who meets the Entrants’ Criteria. The Judges’ decision is final.
  23. The winner will be notified no later than 24th September 2021.
  24. The Winner will be offered a publishing contract with Mills & Boon for publication in ebook. Mills & Boon may, if it chooses, offer a contract for publishing in print as well as in ebook.
  25. Mills & Boon reserves the right not to select a Winner from the Shortlisted Submissions if no suitable entry meeting the Content Criteria can be found.
  26. By submitting their work entrants undertake and warrant that their submissions will consist of their own original work and will not infringe the intellectual property rights of anyone. If a third party’s material is used – such as lyrics of a song – the entrant will secure the necessary permission and will provide it to Mills & Boon on request. The entrant further warrants that the work will not contain any material which is defamatory, private or confidential or which is unlawful in any way. Any submission in breach of this clause will be disqualified from being considered for the shortlist or by the Judges.
  27. The Winner will be announced on 24th September 2021
  28. The competition is not open to employees of HarperCollins UK or their families, or to anyone professionally connected to the competition or to the Judges either themselves or through their families.
  29. An entrant may only submit one submission. Further submissions will be disqualified. Submissions will not be accepted via agents, third parties or in bulk.
  30. HarperCollins UK is not responsible for contacting or responding to entrants who provide unclear or incomplete information or for submissions that are lost, misdirected, delayed or destroyed.
  31. HarperCollins UK reserves the right to cancel the competition and to alter the details of the prizes or judging panels without notice. No cash alternative or other alternatives to the prizes will be provided.
  32. The names and email addresses of entrants (‘Information’) will be collected by HarperCollins UK and will be used in accordance with GDPR rules and HarperCollins' privacy policy, which can be found at https://www.harpercollins.co.uk/corporate/privacy-policy/.

In order to ensure our competition is reaching writers who themselves identify as being part of the LGBTQI+ community and to collect data (that does not attach a name) for the purpose of informing our business what proportion of entrants identify as being part of the LGBTQI+ community and to assess how far our reach is in the LGBTQI community entrants will also be asked via a survey to confirm whether they identify as being part of the LGBTQI+ community. It is not mandatory to disclose this information in order to enter, and you do not have to identify as a member of the LQBTQI+ community in order to enter. We will only use this data in an aggregated way, eg to identify what percentage of entrants identify as being part of the LGBTQI+ community. We will not use this information in any way to judge the entrant’s submission and these answers will be anonymised.

We will only store this data for the duration of the competition until the first book is published, after which point it will be removed from our record.

Information will not be shared with anyone outside HarperCollins without an entrant's permission. Entry to the competition is free.

  1. By entering the competition, each entrant agrees that the entire Entrants' Criteria have been met and agrees to be bound by these Terms and Conditions. Any entrant failing to meet the Entrants' Criteria will be disqualified.
  2. These Terms and Conditions and any disputes or claims (including non-contractual disputes or claims) arising out of these Terms and Conditions shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of England, whose courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction.