Submit a short story (max 1,500 words) on the theme 'Lost and Found'.

• The story must be written in English.
• It must be your own, individual, original work. It must not have been published before or submitted to another competition.
• It can be fictional or non-fictional.
• It must be a maximum of 1,500 words (not including the title). There is no minimum number of words, and your story does not have to be this long. Any script over 1,500 words will not be read by the judges. 
• Your submission must relate to the 'Lost and Found' theme. 
• Give your short story a title as this will avoid confusion with the other entries. 
• No pictures and/or drawings are to be part of the entry.
• Poems or other formats will not be considered.

• The story must be clearly typed or copied and pasted into the field on the entry form. 
• The title must appear in the appropriate field on the submission form. 
• You must complete your personal details on the submission form, but your entry is anonymous to the judges. Your personal details will not be seen by the judges.
• Your name, u3a, or any local identifiers MUST NOT appear in your story.

• The competition is open to current members of any u3a, including Interest Groups Online. For the avoidance of doubt, any entrant must be a member on 21 August 2025 and remain a member until the end of February 2026.
• Entry is free but limited to one story per person. 
• Entries must be received by 12 noon on Friday 17 October 2025.  
• You must submit your entry via the online form on the Third Age Trust website, which will open on Thursday 21 August and will close at 12 noon on Friday 17 October. You can send an entry in as soon as it is ready, within this window only. 
• Please ensure you submit your entry in good time and preferably not on the last day. Please note that the Third Age Trust can make no allowances for any technical issues which prevent or delay submission such as internet problems, and you are encouraged to submit your entry in good time.
• Third Age Trust staff will try to help wherever possible with technical issues but if the issue is with your online set-up we may be limited in what we can do.
• We regret that postal entries cannot be accepted.

• It is important that we protect the work of creative individuals. Whilst stories can be inspired by the work of others, there is without doubt a grey area where inspiration carries over to plagiarism or close copying.
• For this competition plagiarism is where, to a reasonable person, the submitted entry appears remarkably similar in significant important respects to a body of work created elsewhere. All shortlisted stories will be passed through a testing process for plagiarism. If detected the entry will be disqualified.
• Entrants must not use any apps or artificial intelligence tools to produce any part of the text of their submission. All shortlisted stories will be passed through a testing process for artificial intelligence. If detected the entry will be disqualified.

Judging Criteria  

Judges will consider: 

• imagination and creativity
• the ability to engage interest
• interpretation of the theme
• sentence construction, spelling and grammar

 The Judging Process

• All the entries will be judged in randomised groups. The best entry in each group will be decided by a panel of judges and the shortlisted entrants will be notified.
• Each of the shortlisted entrants will then be judged against each other to identify an overall winner.
• The winner will be announced in January 2026. 
• The overall winner and shortlisted entrants will have their short story published on the Third Age Trust website. 
• The writer of the first prize will be awarded five books, donated by Bloomsbury Publishing.
• The second and third place prizes will each receive two books, donated by Bloomsbury Publishing.
• Further runners-up on the shortlist will receive one book, donated by Bloomsbury Publising.

• Worldwide copyright for the short story will remain with the author but all entrants must give permission as the author of the submitted short story for the Third Age Trust and Third Age Trust Trading Ltd. to hold, process and display the work on their website, social media accounts and in other Trust media e.g. u3a matters magazine, in relation to this competition. You will always be credited by your name alongside your story, if chosen. 
• The Third Age Trust and Third Age Trust Trading Ltd. will have the right to edit & publish the submitted work on its website, social media accounts, in u3a matters and/or in an eBook. 
• The Third Age Trust may contact you only in relation to your short story and the competition and your data will not be used for any other purpose. 

The Judges’ decision is final in all matters. 

Judges and organisers will not enter into any discussion with any entrant about their entry. 

Any short stories not conforming to the above rules and specifications will not be accepted. 

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