The Phoenix Prize — Official Rules and Conditions of Entry

1. The competition

1.1 The Phoenix Prize (the "Prize") is a competition of skill run by Curated Word to identify writers to be engaged as House Authors for the Phoenix imprint.

1.2 Curated Word publishes, under its Phoenix imprint, contemporary retellings of works in the public domain: books re-rendered in modern English, modern structure and modern sensibility, for readers who would not otherwise reach for the original.

1.3 There is no element of chance in this competition. Entries are assessed and ranked on merit against the criteria in clause 7. No purchase or payment of any kind is required to enter.

2. What is actually on offer

2.1 This is not a cash prize competition. Each entrant whom we commission for at least one title (a "Winner") will be offered an engagement as a Phoenix House Author under the Phoenix House Author Agreement (the "Agreement"), the current form of which is published at https://curatedword.com/phoenix-agreement and should be read before entering.

2.2 Under the Agreement, each Winner receives:

• an advance of AUD $1,500, recoupable against royalties, paid in two instalments (half on signing, and half on acceptance of the complete manuscript);
• a royalty of 15% of Net Receipts from Curated Word's exploitation of the published work, as defined in the Agreement;
• a named attribution credit on the work and its metadata in the form "[Title], retold by [Author name]";
• an author entry in the Curated Word specialist directory, and standing to progress on the Curated Word career ladder;
• free use of Curated Word's platform and AI-assisted authoring tools for the duration of the engagement (subject to our Terms of Service and Fair Use policy).

2.3 Copyright in the completed work will vest in Curated Word. A person who is not willing to assign copyright should not enter this competition. Clause 2.2 is the whole of the consideration offered.

2.4 The total number of titles commissioned is at our discretion and will not exceed six (6). We are not obliged to award any title if, in the reasonable opinion of the judging panel, no entry meets the standard.

2.5 How titles are allocated.

• (a) Each title on the Title List will be awarded to at most one Winner. We will not commission two or more Winners for the same title.
• (b) Not every title on the Title List will necessarily be awarded. If no entry for a title meets the standard, that title is not awarded, and we may re-open it in a later round or develop it another way.
• (c) There is no cap on how many titles you may be commissioned to write. You may propose on up to three (3) titles (clause 4.1), and we may commission you for as many of those proposals as meet our standard and remain available — up to all three.
• (d) If we name you a Winner, you will be commissioned for at least one title. This follows from clause 2.1 — being commissioned is what makes you a Winner. It does not oblige us to name any Winner at all: see clauses 2.4 and 2.6.
• (e) Each title commissioned is the subject of a separate Agreement, with its own advance and its own royalty. Three titles means three advances of $1,500 (totalling $4,500) and three separate royalties of 15%, not one of each divided across three books. The advance is intended to reflect the work done: more books, more advance. Delivery Dates for multiple titles will be staggered.
• (f) The cap in clause 2.4 counts titles, not people.
• (g) Entering for three titles does not improve your chances of being commissioned for any one of them. Each entry is assessed on its own merits against the criteria in clause 7, independently of your other entries.

2.6 The panel allocates. How many titles are commissioned, how many Winners there are, which Winner gets which title, and whether a Winner gets one title or three, are all matters for the judging panel's discretion, exercised on merit against the criteria in clause 7.

• (a) We may commission no titles at all. If the response to this competition is small, or if in the panel's reasonable opinion no entry meets the standard, we will commission nothing and say so publicly. Entering is not a promise of work, and running the competition is not a promise to proceed with the imprint.
• (b) Where entries are of comparable standard, the panel will prefer to spread titles across more Winners rather than concentrate them in fewer. We would rather build a house of six authors than commission one author six times. This is a preference, not a cap: a markedly stronger entry will not lose to a weaker one for the sake of distribution.
• (c) The only thing we guarantee is that every Winner receives, for every title commissioned, exactly what clause 2.2 says — that part is not discretionary and will not be varied.

2.7 Substitute titles. If the panel considers your entry to be of House Author standard but the title you entered for has been awarded to a stronger entry, we may offer you a title from the Title List that has not been awarded and that you did not enter for. Any such offer will be made in writing. You may decline it, without giving reasons and without affecting any other title you have been awarded. We are under no obligation to make such an offer.

3. Who may enter

3.1 You may enter if, at the close of the entry period, you are:

• (a) aged 18 or over; and
• (b) a resident of Australia or New Zealand; and
• (c) either
  • (i) enrolled in, or a graduate within the last three (3) years of, an undergraduate or postgraduate course in English, literature, creative writing, or a substantially equivalent discipline at a recognised tertiary institution; or
  • (ii) an Unpublished Writer as defined in clause 3.2.

3.2 "Unpublished Writer" means a person who has not had a Full-Length Work published by a Commercial Publisher.

"Full-Length Work" means a single work of fiction or narrative non-fiction of 30,000 words or more.

"Commercial Publisher" means a person or entity in the business of publishing which selects works for publication and publishes them at its own expense and commercial risk. It does not include:

• (a) self-publishing, in any form and at any scale;
• (b) any arrangement where the writer pays, or contributes to, the cost of publication — including vanity, subsidy, and paid "hybrid" publishing;
• (c) any platform, service, or site that hosts or distributes content posted by the writer — including Medium, Substack, Wattpad, Royal Road, Archive of Our Own, Patreon, personal newsletters and blogs — regardless of whether the platform is a commercial business, whether the platform or your readers paid you, and however large your readership is.

3.2A To be completely clear about clause 3.2, because we would rather over-explain this than lose you:

You remain eligible if you have published short fiction, poetry, essays, journalism, criticism, academic writing, or work in anthologies or literary journals — paid or unpaid, at any volume.

You remain eligible if the bulk of your writing life has happened online. A serialised novel on Royal Road, a Substack with paying subscribers, years of essays on Medium, a fanfiction corpus longer than anything on our Title List — none of that makes you a published author for the purposes of this competition. Those platforms are commercial businesses, but they did not commission you, select you, edit you, or take the risk on you. You published yourself. That is not the thing this clause is screening for, and if you have been doing it seriously for years you are exactly the kind of writer we are hoping to hear from.

You are not eligible if a Commercial Publisher has published a Full-Length Work of yours — whenever it happened, in whatever territory, however it sold, and whether or not it is still in print.

3.2B If you are genuinely unsure whether you are eligible, email phoenix@curatedword.com before you enter, describing your situation. We will give you a written answer and we will honour it.

3.3 You may not enter if you are an officer, employee, contractor, or judging panel member of Curated Word, or an immediate family member or household member of any of them.

3.4 If you are a student, it is your responsibility to confirm that entry and any resulting engagement is consistent with your institution's intellectual property policy, scholarship terms, and any visa conditions. We do not warrant that it is.

3.5 Entry is personal. You may not enter through an agent, as a syndicate, or on behalf of a company.

4. The titles

4.1 The Phoenix starting list is published at [URL] (the "Title List"). You may enter for up to three (3) titles from the Title List. You may not enter for a work not on the Title List.

4.2 Each title is entered separately and assessed separately. Three entries means three complete submissions under clause 5 — not one submission naming three books.

4.3 We have selected the Title List on the basis that each source text is in the public domain in Australia. You must work from a public domain edition of the source text. Do not work from, adapt, or draw on a modern translation, modern annotated or "critical" edition, abridgement, introduction, or any other later editorial layer, as those may themselves be in copyright. If your entry shows evidence of derivation from an in-copyright edition it will be disqualified.

5. What to submit

For each title entered, submit:

5.1 Approach Statement — up to 1,200 words. What stands between this book and a modern reader, and what you would do about it. Be specific. We are looking for a governing idea, not a book report.

5.2 Adapted Extract — 1,500 to 2,500 words. A passage of the source text, retold by you as it would appear in your Phoenix edition. Nominate which passage of the original you have worked from (chapter and approximate page).

5.3 Comparison Note — up to 300 words. Why you chose that passage and what your version does that the original does not.

5.4 Structural Outline — up to 800 words. Your proposed chapter or part structure for the complete work, including anything you would cut, compress, reorder, or reframe, and why.

5.5 Author Note — up to 400 words. Who you are, your eligibility basis under clause 3.1, and why you.

5.6 Declarations — the declarations at clause 9, made through the entry form.

5.7 Format: one PDF or .docx per title, 12pt, double-spaced, your name in the header, page numbers. Entries not meeting the word limits (±10%) may be disqualified at our discretion.

6. How and when to enter

6.1 Entries open 00:01 AEST, 01 August 2026 and close 23:59 AEST, 30 September 2026 (the "Entry Period").

6.2 Entries must be submitted through the form at https://curatedword.com/phoenix-competition. Entries by email, post, or any other channel will not be accepted or read.

6.3 An entry is received when our system records it. We are not responsible for entries that are lost, delayed, corrupted, or not received for any reason, including any failure of our own systems. Do not leave it to the last hour.

6.4 Shortlisted entrants will be notified by 15 November 2026. Winners will be notified by 31st December 2026. All entrants will be notified of the outcome of their entry, whether successful or not.

7. How entries are judged

7.1 Entries are assessed by a panel appointed by Curated Word, comprising at least three people including at least one person external to Curated Word. The panel composition will be published at [URL] before entries open.

7.2 Judging is on merit against these criteria:

7.3 Entries are read blind to the extent practicable: the panel assesses clauses 5.1–5.4 without the Author Note at first pass.

7.4 The panel may shortlist entrants and require an interview (by video call) and/or a further short writing task before final selection. Any further task will be no more than 1,000 words.

7.5 The panel's decision is final. We will not enter into correspondence about individual entries and are unable to provide individual feedback. Nothing in this clause limits any right you have under the Australian Consumer Law or other law that cannot lawfully be excluded.

8. Your work stays yours unless you win

8.1 You retain copyright in your entry. Entering does not transfer any copyright in your entry to us.

8.2 By entering, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to store, copy, and internally circulate your entry for the sole purposes of administering and judging the competition, verifying eligibility, and maintaining our records. That licence is limited to those purposes.

8.3 Entries we do not commission. This clause applies to every entry we do not commission you to write. That includes entries by a Winner: if you enter for three titles and we commission you for one, this clause protects your other two entries exactly as if you had not won at all.

In respect of any such entry, we will not publish, exploit, or commission any work based on it; we will not disclose it, circulate it, or make it available to any other author, whether or not that author is writing the same title; and we will not disclose it outside the judging panel and our administering staff. We will retain it for 24 months for record-keeping and then delete it, unless you ask us to delete it sooner.

8.4 Entries we do commission. In respect of an entry for a title we commission you to write, clause 8.2 continues to apply until you sign the Agreement for that title. On signing, the Agreement governs that entry and that title, and the copyright position in clause 2.3 applies to the commissioned work. Clause 8.3 continues to apply to all your other entries.

8.5 Independent development. You acknowledge that we, our staff, and other entrants may independently be considering approaches to the same public domain source texts, and that many approaches to a well-known book will be obvious or arrived at independently. Nothing in these Rules prevents us from developing or publishing a work that resembles your entry where we have not in fact used your entry. This clause does not limit clause 8.3, and does not apply to your actual expression — your prose is yours and we will not use it.

9. Declarations you make by entering

By entering, you declare and warrant that:

9.1 The entry is your own original work, written by you, and is not copied from or substantially derived from any other person's work, other than the public domain source text.

9.2 AI use. You have not used generative AI to author the entry. AI-assisted spelling, grammar, and dictionary tools are permitted. You must disclose on the entry form any use of generative AI in preparing the entry, however minor, and the nature of that use. We may require you to produce drafting history, version history, or notes to verify authorship, and may disqualify you if you cannot. See clause 9.3.

9.3 Why we care about 9.2, plainly: copyright in Australia requires a human author. If a work is substantially machine-generated, copyright may not subsist in it at all — meaning there is nothing for us to own, nothing for you to be paid a royalty on, and no basis for the imprint. The Phoenix imprint's entire value proposition is human literary judgement. AI tools are provided to House Authors to assist with that judgement, not to replace it. We will treat undisclosed generative AI authorship as disqualifying at the entry stage and as a repudiation of the Agreement afterwards.

9.4 Your entry does not infringe any person's intellectual property, is not defamatory, and does not breach any obligation of confidence.

9.5 You meet the eligibility criteria in clause 3, and the information you have given us is true.

9.6 You have read the Phoenix House Author Agreement at https://curatedword.com/phoenix-agreement and, if selected, are willing to enter into it.

9.7 A breach of any declaration in this clause 9 entitles us to disqualify you at any time, including after selection, and to terminate the Agreement.

10. If you win

10.1 We will offer you the Agreement in the form published at https://curatedword.com/phoenix-agreement, subject only to completion of the schedule (title, delivery dates, word count).

10.2 You must execute and return the Agreement within fourteen (14) days of the offer. If you do not, we may withdraw the offer and select another entrant, or select no one.

10.3 The Agreement is offered on standard terms and is not negotiable as to copyright, advance, or royalty rate. You are strongly encouraged to obtain independent legal advice before signing. We will contribute AUD $250 towards the cost of that advice on the production of an invoice from a registered legal practitioner, whether or not you go on to sign.

10.4 We may require evidence of your identity, age, residency, and eligibility before confirming an award.

10.5 If you are awarded more than one title, a separate Agreement applies to each, with a separate advance and separate royalty.

11. Publicity

11.1 If you win, you agree that we may publish your name, photograph (supplied by you), institution, and a short biography in connection with the Phoenix imprint and its promotion. We will not use your image in a way you have told us in writing you object to.

11.2 If you are shortlisted but not selected, we will not name you publicly without your written consent.

12. Privacy

12.1 We collect your personal information to run this competition, assess eligibility, contact you about your entry, and if you win, to contract with and pay you. We handle it in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and our Privacy Policy at https://curatedword.com/privacy.

12.2 We will not disclose your personal information to any third party except our service providers acting on our behalf, our judging panel, and where required by law. We will not add you to marketing lists without your separate opt-in consent.

12.3 You may request access to or correction of your personal information, or complain about our handling of it, by contacting privacy@curatedword.com.

13. General

13.1 No fee. There is no entry fee and no purchase is necessary.

13.2 Costs. You bear your own costs of entry.

13.3 Changes. We may amend these Rules or the Title List before the Entry Period opens for any reason. During the Entry Period, we may amend them only where necessary to comply with law or to correct a manifest error, and will publish and email notice of any change to all entrants. We will not amend clause 2.2 (what you get) during the Entry Period.

13.4 Cancellation. If circumstances beyond our reasonable control make it impossible to run or complete the competition fairly, we may cancel or suspend it. If we do so after the Entry Period closes, we will notify all entrants and destroy all entries.

13.5 Liability. Nothing in these Rules excludes, restricts or modifies any consumer guarantee, right or remedy under the Australian Consumer Law or any other law that cannot be excluded. Subject to that, we are not liable for any loss arising from your entry, other than loss caused by our own negligence or breach.

13.6 Governing law. These Rules are governed by the law of Victoria, Australia. You and we submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of that State.

13.7 The promoter is Foundation Networks Pty Ltd, ABN 83 633 580 588, P.O. Box 1166, Caulfield North, VIC, 3161. Enquiries: phoenix@curatedword.com.