Perito Prize - Writing Competition

The Perito Prize is an international, annual, short fiction competition which was formerly run by Perito Ltd but will be operated from 2022 by the inclusion non-profit CIEDA C.I.C but will remain known as the Perito Prize. Entry via the Zealous platform is remaining by popular demand and please also see the CIEDA website for the latest up to date information at cieda.org. The competition information below is only for guidance and formal rules of entry are available on the CIEDA website and the Zealous platform. Please click on the blue link buttons below to be taken to the entry management system. From 2022, there will also be a Schools specific competition and the link to this can also be found by going to the CIEDA website and the Zealous platform. For more information please contact CIEDA on info@cieda.cc

2019 celebrated the first year of the Perito Prize with a wide selection of high quality stories from writers of all ages, based all over the world. The Prize was created to get people thinking in different ways about inclusive environments, inclusion, diversity, accessibility and inclusive design!

For some people this conjures up thoughts of wheelchairs, hearing aids, and guide dogs, but we see the simple concept that all people should be able to contribute, participate, engage and have access to the world we all live in. Issues with access to spaces, social exclusion, lack of opportunity and different experiences can happen to anyone at any time - whether social, environmental, technological, physical, mobility impairment or injury, mental health, or less visible neuro-cognitive conditions.

We think there are so many great stories out there to celebrate the diverse world we live in. We want to hear them and share them so both our writers and readers start to try and think, analyse and design for inclusive environments in absolutely every we do.

The Perito Prize will be awarded to outstanding new short fiction of between 1000 and up to 2000 words. The cash prize goes to the 1st place but there will be special mentions and the option for various fun interviews, readings, with or without musical accompaniment, on the Perito website for 2nd and 3rd places. The finalists and a selection of the best stories from the year will also be published in that year’s Perito Prize Anthology which will be available to buy with all profits going to a selected charity which will change year by year. The Perito team will be the judges and their decisions are final.

Make sure to read through all the segments below for more information.

Submit

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What do I have to do to enter?

Firstly, don’t start worrying about whether what you're going to do is right or good enough. Save that sort of stuff for later. What we are primarily interested in is understanding what inclusive environments, accessibility and inclusive design means to you.
Spelling and grammar isn’t as important as the story and the way you tell it.
You’re going to bring your story to life us by writing it down, making an audio recording (a mini audio book) or let us know if you would like to use some other way to tell your story. It will need to comply with the rules of entry.
It has to be of your own creation and make sure it hasn’t been published anywhere before.
Your story must be told in English and include a written transcript to show it meets the word count limits.

At Perito we think inclusive environments, accessibility and inclusive design are meant to be holistic and that, fundamentally, these themes are something that can benefit everyone. With that in mind, this competition is open to everyone, there is no location, age specification so this includes international writers too! The Perito Prize 2019 demonstrated that there are some brilliant writers from right around the world and we want to share your amazing short stories.

You just have to make sure the story is centred around the theme of accessibility, inclusion, diversity & inclusive environments. Also make sure it is able to be printed on the website so please don’t swear or write anything with potentially offensive content. This means no Fifty Shades of Access Auditing...

Here are some ideas to get you thinking but also check out some of the previous entries on the website for a look at what people have done in the past:

A story about the benefits of social inclusion.
A story about the damage of exclusion whether economic, accessibility, environmental, social, money, friendships, cultural etc…
A story that shares the experiences of the characters in a novel way so that readers get a new found understanding of the issues facing people.
How distant future technology plays a role.
How near future technology and innovation might develop.
Why neuro-diversity is important to everyone.
What accessibility or inclusion might have been like in your favourite historical time period.
Language, communication and symbols both now and in the future.
A story about an event that impacted on your story’s protagonist.
How you feel about the themes at this moment in time.
It must be a short story and read like a story.

This is meant to be fun so make sure you incorporate that into your journey. If you are a great technical writer, then that’ll shine through but the spirit of the prize is who can best put their impressions of accessibility and inclusive design into a story format. Overall readability is important to us, grammar errors are not.

Submit

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Any fine print I should know about?

First Prize is a cash prize of £500 and the story will be uploaded to the Perito Prize section of the Perito Ltd website. You should be OK with participating in the Anthology and ideally with the podcasting and other items on the Perito website and social media and other related promotional activities.

Second and Third Prize is a special mention and the stories uploaded to the Perito Prize section of the Perito Ltd website as well as inclusion into the Anthology and the option to participate in the podcast/readings and other social media.

The Perito Prize Anthology is a printed and published collection of the best stories from each year. The book will be available to buy from Amazon (published via KDP at the moment) and all profits will be donated to an access and inclusion charity highlighted on the blog section of the website each year. If you would not like to be published in the Anthology please let us know when you submit your story. We do not require exclusive publishing rights - this book is meant to be fun and rewarding for all not a hassle!

Please be sure to read all the details on this page before submitting.
Open to writers from all over the world and of all ages. It is the story that counts!
There is a limit of one entry per person.
Submissions of over 2000 words (or indeed under 1000 words) won’t be accepted so cut it down to size before sending it in.
The piece of work must incorporate the themes of the Perito Prize.
Please send the story to us on commonly used file formats via the contact form below unless already agreed. This will make it much easier for judging.
All submissions must be previously unpublished, and you confirm that Perito Ltd has rights and permission to publish the story and details of the story on our Website, Anthology and Perito’s social media channels.
Due to the number of entries Perito Ltd does not communicate with entrants and does not provide feedback on the stories.
You are able to submit in multimodal forms including audio and sign. Please ensure that entries are also accessible to signers and non-signers and, if selected, could be incorporated into the printed Anthology and can be proven to comply with the word count criteria.
You can access an audio recording of the entry rules on the Perito Podcast available here

The Perito Prize opens for submissions from 0900 GMT on the 1^st of July each year. With the competition closing on the 1^st of October at 23:00 GMT. Get creative now so you’ll have a great piece of work to send into us!!! Entries received before this time won’t be accepted but you can definitely submit it to the prize the following year.

Please let us know if your story does get published elsewhere

I’m interested, any thing else I need to know?

Check out the Full Terms and Conditions below:

By submitting your entry, you agree and warrant that (i) your entry has not been published before; (ii) your entry is entirely your own original work; and (iii) nothing in your entry is defamatory, private or an infringement of copyright or other intellectual property right or in any way a breach of another’s rights. Any entry in breach of this clause will be disqualified from participating in and winning the competition.

One winner will be selected from the entries received in accordance with these terms and conditions based on the following criteria: originality, relevance to theme, writing skill and strength of character depiction.
All entrants retain copyright in their entry. The winner of the competition grants the Company a non-exclusive licence to publish their entry, in whole or in part, on the Company’s website, podcasting and social media sites.
Only one entry per person allowed. Second or subsequent entries will be disqualified. Entries will not be accepted in bulk or on behalf of someone else. Joint submissions will not be accepted.
The Company is not responsible for contacting or forwarding prizes to entrants who provide unclear or incomplete information or for entries lost, misdirected, delayed or destroyed.
The Company reserves the right to alter the prizes, these terms and conditions or cancel the competition.
Any international winner will have the cost of sending the prize money abroad, via a compliant, safe and secure method, deducted from the prize total.
The Company will make available the name and country of the winner to anyone who requests this information by writing to the following address: Perito Ltd, 282 Leigh Road, Leigh on Sea, SS91BW.
The email addresses of entrants will only be used for the purpose of contacting the winner and administering the competition. It will not be possible for the Company to contact unsuccessful entrants, give advice or feedback on unsuccessful entries or to enter into correspondence.
By entering the competition you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.
This competition is being organised by Perito Ltd.
These terms and conditions and any disputes or claims (including noncontractual 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.

What our clients say

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"As a business owner I am interested in making sure my facilities are as accessible to my clients as possible. I wasn't sure where to start but Perito have been great in making the complex law straightforward and they provided me with a nice report. I was pleased that a lot of the suggestions were really practical and easy to sort out by my regular maintenance team and cost almost nothing to implement. The Perito inspection team were very discreet and courteous. Thanks Perito!" - Ikandu Ltd

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