The competition has now finished, and is closed to entries!
The competition is open to all age ranges and countries.
All entries with the exception of the Most Original category (see special rules) must be sent via this website's entry form. Do not email us any entries - such entries will be disqualified.
Entrants are only allowed to enter each category once.
Entries must be no longer than 250 words long. Please see the category details to find out more about specific length suggestions. Entries longer than 250 words cannot be submitted using our form and will be disqualified.
Entries will only be accepted from 0:00am October 4th to October 13th.
Winners will be announced within three days of the end of the competition. Winners will be sent their prizes within 28 days of the announcement.
Cash prizes will be sent to winners either via Paypal or as Amazon gift certificates (winners will be emailed to state a preference). Other prizes will be mailed to winners.
The judges' decision is final and no correspondence on the nature of assessment or the results is guaranteed. However, we may choose to release judges' comments on entries.
By entering this competition, entrants grant First Words and the Mars Society International non-exclusive rights to republish their entries in any type of media in perpetuity.
Please contact us if you require any clarification of these rules.
Text entries, e.g. poems and song lyrics, should be entered into the entry form as normal.
Entries that can be recorded digitally, e.g. music and artwork, should be uploaded to the Internet and the address placed in the entry form. Music must be recorded as 128kbit mp3, and artwork must be saved in the JPG format. All such digital entries must be kept below 5MB in size.
Physical entries, e.g. sculptures and models, should be photographed. The photos should be uploaded to the Internet as JPGs and the addresses placed in the entry form. The total size of the photos must be below 1MB in size. If the photos are not taken by a digital camera, they can be scanned in. These entries must be photographed from at least two different angles and a reference guide must be placed alongside them for scale (e.g. a ruler).
Do not even think of emailing us any entries for this category. All such entries will be disqualified. As stated above, all text entries can be sent via this website's entry form. Everything else must be uploaded to the Internet, and the addresses of the files sent via the entry form. Again, do not email us any entries. We like our mailboxes nice and empty, thank you very much.
In extreme circumstances, other arrangements can be made by contacting us. Don't try this unless you really think it's warranted though - chances are that we'll tell you to put it on the Internet. Exceptions will not be made for these rules.