Document centre

Katha Challenge rules, policies and support

The versioned document centre for Katha Challenge entrants, guardians, judges, partners, and support requests.

Everything here is a draft. No document on this page is approved or in force, and none can be accepted for entry yet. The drafts explain the current service. Nothing here announces a fee, prize, entry date, territory or approved judge panel; those appear only after they are approved and published.

All 14 documents

Official Competition Rules

Public draft · interest phase

The controlling framework for entry, participation, submission, judging, results, and enforcement.

Version
Rules v0.x
Effective
Not effective for paid entry
Updated
21 September 2026

Current phase

Katha Challenge is currently open for interest registration and manuscript checkpoints. Both are free and reversible. Neither is a competition entry, reserves a place, or creates any entitlement to a prize.

Activation

A fee, prize, language track, schedule, or judging panel is published only after that item is approved. Formal entry opens only when the competition is placed in its entry stage and the full terms are published for acceptance.

Entry integrity

A future entrant must use an account and eligible Katha story they control, provide accurate information, accept the effective document versions, and preserve requested evidence of authorship and rights.

Submission record

A manuscript checkpoint is an immutable, provisional record of a story as it stood. It is not an entry and is not judged. A formal entry is made separately, under the terms published for entry, and is confirmed by Novira as its own immutable record. Later edits to the live story change neither.

Competition Entry Terms

Public draft · interest phase

What an entrant agrees to when formal registration becomes available.

Version
Entry Terms v0.x
Effective
Not effective for paid entry
Updated
21 September 2026

Separate decision

Interest registration and competition entry are separate actions. Novira will present the applicable rules, price, disclosures, and consent controls before a person can enter.

Acceptance record

Formal entry will store the accepted document versions, account, story, language track, timestamp, declarations, and any required guardian consent. Acceptance cannot be inferred from an interest record.

Changes

Material changes after acceptance require notice and, where required by the published policy, renewed acceptance or another stated remedy.

Competition Privacy Notice

Public draft · interest phase

How competition-related records are used and protected.

Version
Privacy Notice v0.x
Effective
Applies to the interest service as described
Updated
21 September 2026

Interest data

Novira stores the signed-in account, selected story, story language, registration time, withdrawal state, security metadata, notices, and support cases needed to operate the interest service.

Future entry data

Eligibility, payment, guardian, submission, judging, winner, and payout information will be collected only when the corresponding workflow is approved and opened.

Use and access

Records are used to operate the programme, protect integrity, answer support requests, comply with law, and maintain audit evidence. Access is limited by operational role.

Choices

Interest may be withdrawn from the entrant dashboard. Other privacy requests can be made through the published privacy and contact routes.

Retention

Interest records are kept while registration stays active. Withdrawing deactivates the record immediately — it stops counting toward active interest and is excluded from public counts — but the row itself is retained as a competition participation and audit record, consistent with the site-wide data retention and erasure policy. It is not deleted on withdrawal. Other privacy requests are handled under the site-wide Privacy Policy.

AI Assistance and Disclosure Policy

Public draft · interest phase

A transparent record of how assistive and generative tools were used.

Version
AI Policy v0.x
Effective
Not effective for paid entry
Updated
21 September 2026

Disclosure

Creators declare AI assistance in Katha Story Settings. The declaration remains connected to the story and may be included in future submission evidence.

Human authorship

The final policy will distinguish assistive uses, such as spelling or formatting help, from material generation or rewriting. Entrants remain responsible for accuracy, originality, rights, and truthful disclosure.

Review

A disclosure or integrity concern may be reviewed using submitted evidence and a documented decision path. The final allowed, restricted, and prohibited examples will be published before entry opens.

Originality, Copyright and Adaptation Policy

Public draft · interest phase

Rights, originality, plagiarism, translations, and adaptations.

Version
Rights Policy v0.x
Effective
Not effective for paid entry
Updated
21 September 2026

Rights

Entrants must own or control the rights needed to enter the work. Entry does not transfer ownership of the story to Novira.

Originality

Plagiarism, unauthorised copying, deceptive attribution, and entry of material without sufficient rights may lead to review or disqualification under the final rules.

Translations and adaptations

A translation or adaptation must have the required underlying rights. Approved language tracks and the authoritative judging text will be stated before formal entry.

Eligibility and Disqualification Policy

Public draft · interest phase

Who may enter, what must be verified, and how decisions are reviewed.

Version
Eligibility Policy v0.x
Effective
Not effective for paid entry
Updated
21 September 2026

Published criteria

Age, residence, language, account, story, employee or partner exclusions, and any entry limits will be published from approved competition configuration. Unannounced criteria will not be invented by the page.

Truthful information

False information, duplicate or manipulated entries, rights violations, prohibited content, payment abuse, or material policy breaches may trigger review.

Fair process

Where practical, an affected entrant receives a reason, an opportunity to provide requested evidence, and the appeal route stated in the final rules.

Judging, Conflicts and Appeals Policy

Public draft · interest phase

How entries will be assigned, scored, reconciled, and challenged.

Version
Judging Policy v0.x
Effective
Not effective for paid entry
Updated
21 September 2026

Published rubric

The criteria, weights, tie process, language coverage, panel structure, and relevant calendar will be published before submissions are judged.

Conflicts

Judges must disclose conflicts and recuse where required. Sponsors do not receive unpublished entries or control competition outcomes.

Corrections and appeals

Score corrections require an auditable reason. Appeals address process or eligibility errors under the published window; they are not an automatic re-judging request.

Prize, Verification and Tax Terms

Public draft · interest phase

Prize funding, verification, payout, taxes, substitution, and forfeiture.

Version
Prize Terms v0.x
Effective
Not effective for paid entry
Updated
21 September 2026

No announced prize

No prize is currently announced. A prize appears publicly only after its amount or benefit, funding status, conditions, and approval are recorded.

Winner verification

Future winners may need to confirm identity, eligibility, payment or tax information, rights, declarations, and acceptance within the published timeframe.

Taxes and payout

The final terms will state withholding, documentation, payout method, timing, substitution, forfeiture, and unclaimed-prize treatment applicable to the approved programme.

Cancellation, Postponement and Refund Policy

Public draft · interest phase

What happens if the programme changes, cannot proceed, or a payment must be reversed.

Version
Competition Refund Policy v0.x
Effective
Not effective for paid entry
Updated
21 September 2026

Current phase

Interest registration is free, so there is no competition entry payment to refund during this phase.

Before paid entry

Any future fee, tax, cancellation right, refund window, minimum-entry condition, postponement remedy, chargeback treatment, and force-majeure term will be shown before checkout.

System of record

Payment entitlement and refunds will be based on verified server and provider records, with idempotent processing and a visible status in the entrant account.

Minor and Guardian Consent Policy

Public draft · interest phase

Consent and verification requirements when an approved programme permits entrants under 18.

Version
Guardian Policy v0.x
Effective
Not effective for paid entry
Updated
21 September 2026

No automatic participation

A minor interest record does not create a competition entry. If under-18 entry is approved, verified guardian consent must be completed before participation.

Consent record

The approved flow may record guardian identity and relationship, verified contact, consent version and time, revocation, and acceptance of applicable privacy, rules, publicity, prize, and payment terms.

Data minimisation

Novira will request only the information required for the approved verification process and restrict access to sensitive evidence.

Winner Announcement and Publicity Choices

Public draft · interest phase

How a winner, pen name, excerpt, image, or statement may be presented.

Version
Publicity Terms v0.x
Effective
Not effective for paid entry
Updated
21 September 2026

Publication choices

The final flow will state whether a legal name, pen name, story title, approved excerpt, likeness, biography, or winner statement is required or optional.

Limited permission

Any promotional licence will identify its material, purpose, channels, duration, territory, and withdrawal limits. It will not transfer ownership of the entrant’s story.

Sponsor and Advertising Disclosure

Public draft · interest phase

How partner relationships are labelled and kept separate from judging.

Version
Partner Disclosure v0.x
Effective
Applies when an approved partner is displayed
Updated
21 September 2026

Confirmed partners only

A company appears on the challenge page only after its identity, relationship, public label, logo permission, link, and display window are approved.

Separation of roles

Prize support, technology support, distribution, in-kind support, and advertising are recorded separately. A commercial relationship does not grant access to entrant data or influence judging.

Advertising

Paid placements use a clear disclosure such as Sponsored. Delivery reporting, cancellation, refunds, credits, and make-goods follow the applicable written commercial agreement.

Platform Policies and Accessibility

Live cross-reference

The Novira-wide terms that continue to apply while using Katha.

Version
Cross-reference v0.x
Effective
Current platform policies apply
Updated
21 September 2026

Relationship

These competition documents supplement the Novira platform policies. If a final competition document expressly addresses the same competition issue, that specific term controls for that issue.

Accessible support

Entrants can request help with access, account, privacy, or competition issues through the challenge dashboard or the public contact route.

Terms of ServicePrivacy PolicyRefund PolicyContent GuidelinesHelp Center

Support, Complaints and Disputes

Live for interest registration

Where to ask for help and how an issue receives an auditable record.

Version
Support Process v0.x
Effective
Effective during the interest phase
Updated
21 September 2026

Entrant support

Registered writers can open a private case from the entrant dashboard. The case stores its topic, subject, details, status, and staff response history.

Public contact

Email [email protected] or use the public Contact Us page. Include the account email and relevant case or entry reference, but do not send passwords, payment credentials, or unnecessary identity documents.

Disputes and escalation

Eligibility, payment, submission, judging, privacy, rights, and sponsor issues are routed to the responsible operator. Formal windows and remedies will follow the effective rules for that competition phase.

Version archive

Every version that has been published, including ones since replaced or withdrawn. Open a document to see its history.

Competition rules 1 version
  • Rules v0.x Current public draft Interest registration only. No earlier public competition-rules version is archived.

Need a clear answer?

Email [email protected], use the contact page, or open a private case from your entrant dashboard.

Entrant dashboard Contact support