Here at Leaky we love to know what you think!

If you've got any suggestions about future or past contests, please let us know!
Whether it's regarding the rules, the format, or your entry, you can leave a comment or ask a question here. This is also just the place to suggest your own ideas for new contests!

As well as this, you can also email the Contest Crew at contests@the-leaky-cauldron.org .

If you'd prefer it, you may also address queries in a PM to Lily (accio_lily) or Bethany (mjk) if you don't wish to post questions here. (Although you're very welcome to - nobody bites!)

Are there any prizes for this competition?

At this time, Leaky doesn't offer prizes in the way of a new Cadillac or a big screen TV (the fear is that the judges would immediately abandon their posts, so they could compete!). Winning entries are published on The Leaky Cauldron's main page, and here in the Contest Corner, so, basically what you win is name recognition and a little bit of fame!

I'm really excited about this, and I've already started writing. I have a bit of a dilemma, though; when is the deadline? Simply the end of June? Because I'm a terrible perfectionist and it tends to take me weeks to finish a piece, rewriting and rephrasing etc. Also, what are the boundaries on our imagination? JK Rowling herself has said that the last encounter will mean some form of 'revenge' for Harry, whether magically or otherwise. Do we have to follow this, or are we allowed to ignore this, and put our imaginations to the test?

Thanks for your time, and I anticipate your response.

June 30, midnight EST! So you've got about three weeks to submit your entry.
The only limits are your imagination, a 2000 word limit and a PG-13 rating! Of course, keeping to canon as much as possible will add to your story, but you don't need to follow the "canon" Jo's hinted at for the final chapter, as no-one really knows yet!
We look forward to reading your entry!

ive just sent mine but i didnt include my age, only my name. is that ok?

Yep, that's fine.

As long as you're over 13 years old (as the rules state), you don't have to supply your age.

Hi.

I have a question.

is it all right to write a short separate introduction (my chapter is not the start of the book) to explain the situation at the start of the chapter, or does that count in the 2000 words?

Take care,
Dobby

After consulting with the Competition staff, we have decided that you may include an intro to your chapter. Please label it as an intro, and it counts towards your 2000 word limit. Thanks for your interest!

Thank you...

what is the canon?

"Canon" is anything written in the "Harry Potter" series by J.K. Rowling, herself. Therefore, basing characters on "canon" means that you should not distort their characters by, say, turning Hagrid into a refined gentleman, sipping tea in his study. You should also not change a characters' known background, for example, turning Peter Pettigrew into a true and loyal friend of the Potters. There is certainly room to insert your own ideas and interpretations of the characters, but it must be believable based on what we know of the characters from the "Harry Potter" books.

Let me see... Dear Mar, don't panic this is not really the end... hmmm

Dear Maritza, In any language Harry, will always be here for you. no, hmmm?... thinking.

Hi there I have a quick question about the rules. It seems that if there were restrictions based the countries to which this contest is open, then that would have been stated. However, just to be absolutely sure, is this contest open to non-U.S.A. residents? I'm Canadian can I enter?
Thanks!

MmeRosmerta, since there is nothing to be won here but honour and fun, I don't see why you shouldn't participate in the contest. I did - and I am no US citizen nor resident either. The chances are overwhelmingly high that I will never ever encounter JKR, let alone have her sign one of her books for me - but just this nil-probability makes it all the more fun to imagine that it actually happened against all odds. The autograph text actually just swished into my head, without a lot of strenuous thinking ...

Please keep in mind that this is the Contest Crew's forum for questions, if you want to enter, you must follow submission guidelines outlined in the rules.



The contest is open to anyone over the age of 13 in any country.

I have just sent my inscription for the contest but forgot to add a my name as required. What do I do???

question
what exactly is the grand prize for the 2 winners?

I accidentally sent my submission, but it wasn't ready. So I re-sent it and underneath my entry, I wrote what happened. Right now i just recieved an e-mail from the LC contest team and they said it was all right. Maybe you should try that ,too Emeraldgreen. Good Luck!

Please go ahead and resend the entry with your preferred name in the e-mail. If it's sent from the same e-mail address, all the better!



The grand prize is -- are you ready? -- bragging rights and the winning entries posted on TLC's main site.

I would just like to add to this that anything on Jo's site, or said by Jo in interviews, relating to the HP books is also "canon". This doesn't include things that she later changed her mind about, but there are a lot of things on jkrowling.com which she has told us about that isn't in the books.

I entered!!!

Hi. I've just sent my entry in, and my story is called "The Dursley Blunder." If you can, can you let me know if you got it? I'd like to be sure that it was received.

Sorry if that sounds demanding, but it's my first time doing a contest on Leaky.

As stated in our FAQ, we don't normally send out confirmation e-mails. As long as the e-mail address is entered correctly (I'd double, triple check!), you should be fine.

Also, for anonymity purposes, if you would like us to check something about your entry either a) resend it to contests@the-leaky-cauldron.org and tell us you're resending it so we don't look at your entry twice or b) ask here without any hints/clues about which entry may be yours and we'll tell you what to do. The key is to try and not give us any clues which entry is yours! We want to be surprised and judge objectively without any influences that we may know you or in case we suddenly become greatly enamored with you from your post in here.

Good luck on your first contest entry!

Thanks, I'll be sure to remember it for future cases.

when will we find out whos won?

We had a lot of entries for this Contest! We'll judge the entries as soon as we can, but it may take a few weeks to post the winners.

We not only have this one, but also the Autograph Contest to judge, as well as planning some other things (more on that soon ).

Please be patient with us; we promise to get the winners posted as quickly as we can.

If the compotition closes on Wednesday, first thing, how long should it be for a winner to be announced?

Contest winners are usually announced about two weeks after a contest closes, the exception is fanfictions, which take longer to judge. We are going to try and have winners for this contest announced before the release of Deathly Hallows.

Well, I sent in my entry. Don't guess it quite fits the "orgianlity" specs, but it would be exactly what I'd want J.K. to write in my book, if I were EVER lucky enough to have that happen.

To a "Harry Potter" fan through and through,
As you enter the arena one last time, keep your head held high.
Remember, those we love never truly leave us.
The next great adventure awaits you at "The End".

J.K. Rowling


Yup, that's what I'd want.

Hey guys,

If you submit an entry for ANY of our Contests, please don't post it here or say which one is yours; it makes it easier on us Judges. We don't wish to know who's entry we are marking until the winners have been chosen: We want to be able to Judge objectively. Not that any of us would ever let it influence our decisions, but this way if, for instance, a Staff member wins, you guys know that we didn't know who's entry it was.

i love this competition and think its a wonderful gift to anyone in Leaky as the true die hards are all members of this place!!!

i entered and can only dream of winning and if i ever did it would be a most wonderful treasure to pass to my children and grandchildren when im older!!!

Although it saddens me to think it will be the last i would like to use this post to thank all of the Leaky Staff who have done soo much for all of us these past few years and have been with all of us every step of the way.

what a brilliant competition and i hope Leaky will continue for many yrs to come while we all hope and pray for another series or possible HP book from the unbelieveably fantastic JKR.

What a phenomenon to be a part of, i am so privelged and proud to be a part, however small it may be.

Okay, just to clear up any confusion, the prize for this contest is not an autographed copy of the book (don't we wish we had that kind of pull!). Contest winner's will be published on the main page of The Leaky Cauldron, where it will be seen by many, many people.

[/quote]

Okay, just to clear up any confusion, the prize for this contest is not an autographed copy of the book (don't we wish we had that kind of pull!). Contest winner's will be published on the main page of The Leaky Cauldron, where it will be seen by many, many people.
[/quote]


oops, how very silly of me LOL. ty pyxis for clearing that up for me, i still think its a brilliant contest and love the comment about having that kind of pull. i suppose i was maybe hoping too much eh?(i wonder if this is why dreams is in my Leaky name?lol)

And sorry if i got anyones hopes up, just me being silly old me, i still hope i win it LOL, and hey i can save it and send it to everyone i know and its the next best thing to an autographed book and thats always a good thing.

But there is always hope. Maybe - if you win - JKR reads your entry here on Leaky and is moved so much by it that she actually decides to send you an autographes copy?

thanx viola that would be a neat thing if JKR did do that and here's hoping!!!

But if not i am quite happy to have it put up on leaky so that everyone i know see its LOL and if i dont in then well done to the person that does.

Are you still there? I am dying to see the results. Will you e-mail to notify winners? How many entries will post online? I bet you got a lot of good stuff....

I just read some of the winners. Although the story about Petunia being under the imperious curse was pretty good, I was a little disappointed otherwise. It didn't seem that some of the stories followed the rules very well. Most of the winning stories had many spelling and grammer errors and one was 300 words to long.

How strict are you about enforcing the rules? I'd just like to know for any future contests I enter.

Thank you Leaky!

I'm Avamar, and while I agree my entry was flawed, it's very nice to have my effort recognised. I really enjoyed writing it.
I have as yet only read the first placed one, which I thought was WAY better than mine, so I don't feel hard done by.

As to the previous post criticising word count, spelling and grammar, perhaps what you say is true, but very negative. Also try to avoid the pitfalls of critcising grammar or spelling when you yourself do not spellcheck?!

Sorry that sounds catty.

Really very chuffed, though!

Constructive criticism most welcome. This is my frst time writing anything like that; I enjoyed the challenge it presented and I'd do it again.


Ava.

I guess that did sound a bit negative. I dont' really mean to be but I really do want to know how stict the rules are. I'm new to Leaky and this was the first contest I entered. I had to cut down my story quite a bit in order to be within in the word limit. I really like this site and am planning on entering many more contests. If the rules are not going to be strictly enforced, that's fine. As I said, I really enjoyed the story but it may affect how I proceed with contest entries in the future.

okay!

Doyou write alot of fan fic? I've never done it before. What was your plot?

Ava

I can tell you first hand that they do adhere to the rules, because this was not the first submission I've placed myself. And I agree with the other user, that it was negative to say that the stories were not good, or flawed. They beat out many others who had submitted, so they must have had some merit.
It's not really fair to have worked hard on something and actually find it earning recognition, only to have someone come on here and say that it wasn't worth it, much less that it had grammar/spelling issues.
I personally take exception to that as I am working on my first novel, and am very careful about grammar and spelling. It's poor sportmanship to tear those who did win down, you should be happy for them instead.

As I have already stated, I don't think the stories are bad. In fact I quite enjoyed the story about Petunia. It was certainly more creative than mine.

I'm assuming that the rules are guidelines rather than absolutes since a few of the winning stories don't follow the stated rules. There is absoutely nothing wrong with that. I know when you are reading a story, you don't sit there and count every word or watch out for grammar mistakes especially if it's an interesting story.

Unfortunately I don't think there's any way to ask a question about the rules without it sounding negative and everyone assuming I"m being a total jerk. I'm really not trying to be. I'm just curious. I just want to know if this is the case since it may influence future submissions that I make to contests.

Just to answer the couple of questions about judging. Please remember that The Leaky Lounge draws members from around the world. It is true that some of the winning entries had grammatical and spelling errors, in some cases that might be because English was not the first language of the author, and in other cases creativity and character development caused the overall score to go higher. Judging any work of art is a subjective matter, that is why we had six judges who reviewed the entries separately from each other, then we pulled our top choices and as a group we ranked them.

Entries that are over the word limit are subject to judging penalties, a reduction in their overall score. Any entry over the limit that then places has done so because the overall content merited placement.

We appreciate the enthusiasm of all of our entrants! These two contests were particularly difficult to judge because we had so many fabulous entries.

Just wanted to say thank you so much to the TLC judging staff, getting fifth place for one night's work sitting in the Border's cafe is truly an honor!
3 days everyone! I can hardly get through the workday!

I posted a question in the Reading Group Contest forum, but I haven't received an answer. Maybe someone in here can help? My question is: I can't draw so I like to purchase clip art. Can I use clip art in my submission?

Thanks!

Sorry it took so long!! There is some book coming out that everyone is all excited about...

Clip art should be fine, thanks for your interest!

What book?

Thanks!!!

dilly, dilly, dilly did they accidentally pickle your brain before you left the Brain Room for OOTP?

Enjoy several hours of glorious reading!

Winners of Leaky's Contests will have a button attached to their Leaky Lounge profile. This button can be seen whenever you make a post, and will proudly advertise the fact that you are a WINNER!