Have you always dreamed of being a travel writer? Do you have an unusual story to share about a trip you have taken in Ireland or abroad – one that involved an adventure of one kind of another.
The Irish Times, in association with Travel Department, is inviting aspiring writers to compose a travel story for consideration for publication in The Irish Times Magazine. The author of the best entry, as selected by our judges, will have their article published in The Irish Times Magazine, and will win a holiday in Tenerife next April.
Your adventure might have involved a holiday disaster or a lucky escape, a voyage way out of your comfort zone, an item lost or stolen, or a new friendship or romance.
How you tell it is as important and the story you tell. If you can convey atmosphere and drama, write dialogue, avoid cliché and tell a good story in 500 words or less ... you might just win.
(if you are reading this on the app, click here)
Closing date: November 4th, 2019.
Want some tips?
• Write an opening paragraph that grabs the judges' attention.
• Break the story down to its basic elements, eg: What you expected, what happened instead, how you survived, what you learned.
• You have a short wordcount, so think carefully about which words you deploy, and avoid overused terms like "amazing", "fantastic", "gorgeous" or "delicious". Try harder.
• Favour short, simple sentences over long, flowery ones.
• Irreverence and humour are welcome.
The prize
Tenerife coast and country
The winner of the competition wins a seven-nights holiday for two people to Tenerife, departing Dublin on April 21st, 2020.
If you are considering a holiday that combines amazing scenery with a relaxing stay by the sea, then look no further than Tenerife Coast & Country. Tenerife is the most popular of the Canary Islands for visitors and on this 7-night escorted holiday you will experience the very best of what it has to offer.
Highlights include: A guided excursion to Santa Cruz; A trip to the Unesco World Heritage site of La Laguna; a visit to Mount Teide National Park; a full-day guided excursion to Icod de los Vinos & Las Americas; plenty of time to relax at your own pace.
Terms & Conditions
Competition terms and conditions
• The promoter is The Irish Times Limited, The Irish Times Building, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2. Additionally, this promotion is in conjunction with The Travel Department, Harmony Court, Harmony Row, Dublin 2.
• The prize is a seven-night holiday for two people to Tenerife, departing Dublin on April 21st, 2020. This will include flights, accommodation and meals ( note on the day where there is a full day island tour of Tenerife lunch will not be included).
• The winner is responsible for and must have a valid passport.
• The winner must be available to travel on the dates set by the promoter.
• As part of the prize the winner may be required to submit a piece for publication in The Irish Times. Publication of this piece is at the discretion of the promoter. The winner assigns all copyright in this piece to the promoter and waives all moral rights. The promoter may amend, modify and alter this piece as it sees fit
• There is no cash alternative. Prize is non refundable and non transferable.
• Employees or agents of The Irish Times, and their families or other persons connected with this promotion are not eligible to enter.
• Employees or agents of The Travel Department, and their families or other persons connected with this promotion are not eligible to enter
• The promotion is open to all residents of the island of Ireland aged 18 or over. One entry only per person.
• No purchase is necessary to enter this promotion.
• A valid entry consists of a submission of up to 500 words of original writing on the theme of a recent holiday trip in Ireland or abroad, accompanied by the entrant's name and email address.
• Entries must be entered via the electronic form provided from 12.10.19 to 04.11.19
• Entries not submitted in accordance with these rules will be disqualified.
• Entries may be published in The Irish Times or on irishtimes.com. All entries will become the property of the promoter. The entrant assigns all intellectual property rights in his or her submission to the promoter and waives all moral rights. The entrant confirms that all entries submitted by him or her will not breach the intellectual property rights of any third party and agrees to indemnify The Irish Times in the event of any claim by any third party that his or her intellectual property rights have been breached by the entrant's submission. The entrant agrees that the entry submitted by him or her will not contain any defamatory material.
• The promoter's decision is final and binding in all matters and no correspondence will be entered into.
• The promoter reserves the right to change any aspect of the prize and amend these terms and conditions without notice.
• The prize will be subject to any additional terms and conditions of the suppliers of the prize to the promoter.
• The promoter is excluded from liability for any loss, damage or injury which might occur to the winner arising from his or her acceptance of the prize.
• Entry to this promotion shall be deemed full and unconditional acceptance of the terms & conditions.
• The promoter reserves the right to amend these terms and conditions.
• These terms and conditions shall be governed by the laws of Ireland and subject to the jurisdiction of the Irish Courts.
• Details of the competition winner may be published on irishtimes.com and in The Irish Times.
• Closing date for entry is Monday, November 4th 2019.
• Winner will be announced on Saturday, November 16th 2019.
• Read the full privacy policy of The Irish Times here
Submission of material terms and conditions
• These Terms and Conditions govern the submission of material by you through the attached form to The Irish Times, for publication in the printed edition of The Irish Times, on the irishtimes.com website and other digital products and services offered by The Irish Times DAC (hereafter referred to as "The Irish Times", "us" or "we") such other products and services including but not being limited to mobile applications and RSS feeds, in accordance with our privacy policy.
• By submitting material to us, you implicitly acknowledge and agree that the material may be published in the printed edition of The Irish Times, on the irishtimes.com website and on other digital products and services offered by us from time to time including but not limited to mobile applications and in any other publication of our choosing, at our sole discretion.
• Submission of material does not guarantee publication and the decision to publish material is at the sole discretion of The Irish Times. The Irish Times reserves the right to contact you in order to obtain further information in relation to the material submitted. In addition, we may publish, check, edit or remove all or part of any material which you submit to us, at our sole discretion but we are under no obligation to take any of the above steps.
• All material submitted for publication must be true, complete and accurate information. If you provide any information that is untrue, incomplete or inaccurate; or if we have reasonable grounds to suspect that such information is untrue, incomplete or inaccurate, The Irish Times reserves the right to not publish the material submitted and to amend or remove the material submitted as we see fit.
• No material which could, in The Irish Times' view, be considered to be offensive, unlawful, defamatory, plagiarized or otherwise objectionable will be published by us and The Irish Times' decision in this regard will be final.
• By submitting the material, you agree to assign all intellectual property rights in that material to The Irish Times and to the extent permitted by law, you waive your moral rights. You acknowledge that we own all intellectual property rights in any material published by us in any publication of our choosing, including but not limited to The Irish Times printed edition, on www.irishtimes.com, and on any other digital products offered by us from time to time.
• You agree to indemnify and keep indemnified The Irish Times and its officers, directors, employees and data providers from any and all claims, liabilities, costs and expenses, including legal costs, in relation to any action or complaint taken by a third party against The Irish Times in relation to the publication of any material submitted by you or arising out of a breach by you these Terms and Conditions.
• If you are under the age of 18, we will require the explicit consent of your parent or legal guardian before we can consider any material for publication. We reserve the right to verify this consent by making contact with your parent or guardian.
• If any part or provision of these Terms and Conditions is found to be unlawful or unenforceable, this shall not affect the validity of any other part or provision of these Terms and Conditions.
• These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by the laws of Ireland and subject to the jurisdiction of the Irish Courts.
