1. General Information. Below are some important guidelines about the stories that may be selected for publication on The Decameron Project’s website (the “Website”).  If you have questions about the terms and conditions of the Website, click (https://decameronproject.org/terms-of-use/).  For our privacy policy, click https://decameronproject.org/privacy-policy/.  For our privacy policy for minors, click https://decameronproject.org/privacy-policy-for-minors/.  Submissions may be made by following this link https://decameronproject.org/story-submission/ and completing the steps listed there.

2. Who Can Apply? You may only submit a story to the Website if:

• You are at least 13 years old,

• You are a student in grades 8 to 12

• If you are under 18 years old, your parent(s) or legal guardian(s) provide their consent.

3. What Are the Submission Requirements? We are looking for stories that fall under the broad realm of fiction, and that showcase the participant’s individual creativity, writing skills, and unique style.  We look forward to reading your stories!  Note that we can only consider stories that are:

• written in English,

• are under 1500 words long,

• are original works written by you, and

• do not contain defamatory, obscene, lewd, or inappropriate language, or any material owned by a third party.

4. What Do We Consider When Choosing a Story for the Website? We are looking for stories that showcase the participant’s individual creativity, writing skills, and unique style– we want to see how you excel in your written work. Among other things, we will evaluate the submissions based the quality of the writing, the creativity, and how interesting the story is to us.  We will make the final decision on which submissions to publish on the Website, and we cannot make any guarantees about which stories we will choose.  Please note that we are under no obligation to keep, post, or otherwise use any story that is submitted.

We will also disqualify any works that are not original works by you, or which contain defamatory, obscene, lewd, or inappropriate language, or any material owned by a third party.  To the extent we learn that a story contains such material after being selected and/or posted to the Website, we will remove the story.

5. What Are My Odds of Being Selected for the Website? The likelihood of your story being selected will depend in large part on the number of stories we receive.  We do not have a set number of stories we intend to publish, but we likely will receive many more submissions than we will publish on the Website or on its featured page. 

6. How Do I Submit My Story? You can go to https://decameronproject.org/story-submission/ to submit your story.  There are instructions for the submissions there.  By submitting your story, you (and your parent(s) or legal guardian(s), if you are under 18) are agreeing to these official rules, the terms provided at that link, and the Terms and Conditions of the Website, which can be found here: https://decameronproject.org/terms-of-use/

Please keep in mind that, once you submit your story, your submission is final.  You will not be able to make revisions after you submit your story.

7. What if There Are Submission Errors? Note that we may not be able to consider your submission due to delayed submissions, technical errors, typographical errors, or other issues.  The Decameron Project is not responsible for such errors.

8. When Is the Deadline to Submit My Story? You can submit a story whenever you like, but in order to be considered for being deemed a “winning” submission, you must submit at least 5 full days prior to the scheduled announcement of a “winner”. Note that, dependent on the volume of submissions we receive, we may not be able to consider your submission when determining a “winner” even if you submit before this deadline.

9. When Will We Choose the Stories to Publish on the Website? We attempt to publish stories to the Website as soon as our team of curators can review them. We aim for this to be below 48 hours, but if we receive a large volume of submissions, we may not be able to adhere to such a time constraint. We announce “winners” on scheduled dates, normally but not necessarily once every two weeks.

10. Will You Let Me Know if You Select My Story?   If we select your story, we will not let you know if we publish your story on the Website. However, we will notify you by the email you provide in the submissions form if we decide to post your story to our “featured” or “winners” pages. We may ask you for more information in such emails. Please note that we will not notify you if your story is not selected. Once we publish the stories on our Website, you will be able to see the ones that were selected for publication.

11. I Am Under 13 Years Old. Can I Submit a Story?   We are only seeking and accepting stories written by persons over 13 years old.

12. Are There Other Terms that Apply to My Submission?   When you complete the submission, you are agreeing to other terms included in the submission form, and to the Terms and Conditions of the Website.  The submission form can be found here: https://decameronproject.org/story-submission/.  The Terms and Conditions can be found here: https://decameronproject.org/terms-of-use/.

By submitting a story to us, you are also giving us permission to use your work in a wide variety of ways without further permission or approval from you.  This allows us to, for example, copy and edit them for review and publication.  Formally, this means you grant The Decameron Project a license to use, copy, change, publish, publicly perform, distribute, exhibit, or add to your work.  This non-exclusive license is perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable, and non-exclusive (with the right to sublicense).  We can use your work in any media, including online.  For further information, please see the Terms and Conditions of the Website, which can be found here: [link].

13. Does It Cost Money to Submit a Story?   You do not have to purchase anything or pay any money to submit a story.

14. Are There Terms and Conditions that Apply to Visitors to this Website?   They can be found here:  https://decameronproject.org/terms-of-use/.

15. Do You Have a Privacy Policy? Yes, here:  https://decameronproject.org/privacy-policy/.

16. What Do I Do if I Have Other Questions? You can contact us here: inquires@decameronproject.org. Please note there may be a delay in our response depending on how many questions we receive.

Last updated:  January 26th, 2021