Guidelines

Fiction and Non-Fiction Guidelines

Leaf is looking for previously unpublished work only - this includes work published online.
You may enter either by post or online. If you enter by post and are successful, we may ask for an electronic version of your story or poem at a later date.
Please type all work. Use 1.5 or double-spacing for short stories and single spaces for poetry and micro-fiction (under 500 words). Use a readable font, ideally Times New Roman or Arial 12 point.
Please number pages and staple them together. Do not put staples through cheques.
As all work is judged anonymously, your name should not appear anywhere on the manuscript: only on the entry form or covering letter.
Enclose a stamped addressed postcard or envelope marked 'receipt' if you'd like acknowledgement of receipt.
Enclose a SAE marked 'results' if you wish to receive a hard copy of the competition results.
Due to the volume of entries we are unable to return manuscripts so please don't send out your only copy.
Please note that critiques for competition entries will not be returned until the winners have been announced.
*Please* ensure that you get your entry weighed and correctly franked when you send it to us: since the postal system has changed, we have understandably received several items of mail with incorrect postage - we have to pay not only the shortfall but a £1 correction fee.