Terms & Conditions

Acceptance of Terms

Your use of National Novel Writing Month’s Young Writers Program website (“YWP website”) represents an understanding and acceptance of the following terms. If you do not agree with the following terms, you, your children, and/or your students should not use the YWP website.

The following terms may be updated occasionally, at National Novel Writing Month’s (“our”) discretion. National Novel Writing Month (“We”) will make reasonable effort to notify you of any substantive changes. We suggest that you regularly review the terms to ensure your continued understanding and acceptance.

If you are under 18, you must review the following terms with a parent, guardian, or educator facilitating the Young Writers Program (“YWP”). Your parent, guardian, or educator must give you permission before you establish an account.

Authorized Users

The YWP website is intended for the following audiences:

  • Young writers under 18 years of age
  • Educators facilitating the YWP in schools, libraries, or community spaces
  • Parents or guardians facilitating or reviewing the YWP

If you are not part of one of these audiences, you may not use the YWP website. If you are not part of one of these audiences and have established an account, it will be immediately deleted and your access will be blocked.

The YWP website does not allow search-indexing or public access to user profiles, novels, or forums.

Personal Information

The YWP website collects the following information upon registration:

  • Username
  • First name or educator name
  • School name (educators only)
  • Birthdate
  • Email address
  • Password
  • Security question answers

You have the option to provide:

  • Avatar graphic
  • Non-identifying profile information (e.g., favorites and interests)
  • Novel information

The YWP website also collects IP addresses and uses browser cookies. We use these only to help you interact with the site, not to gather any further personal information.

National Novel Writing Month will not share any of your information with third parties, unless it is necessary for safety or legal purposes.

We make every reasonable effort to comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (“COPPA”), and we collect and display information differently for young writers under 13 years of age.

View full Privacy Policy.

Account Security

National Novel Writing Month makes every reasonable effort to keep your YWP website account secure. We will not be held liable for unauthorized access to your account or personal information.

Emails

Establishing an account on the YWP website automatically subscribes you to National Novel Writing Month mailing lists. We use a third party for our mailing-list management, but your information is only accessible by National Novel Writing Month.

You may unsubscribe or update your email preferences at any time.

Marketing

National Novel Writing is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and offers no paid services.

We will occasionally offer opportunities to donate or purchase programmatic merchandise. These transactions are hosted on a store platform outside the YWP website.

We will occasionally share program-related offers on behalf of our corporate sponsors. These messages will be distributed via our email or content systems, not by the sponsors themselves.

We will not share any of your personal information with third parties for marketing purposes.

Intellectual Property

You will not knowingly share any content that has been created, copyrighted, and/or trademarked by another person or entity. We will immediately delete any content we determine to be plagiarized.

The educational materials on the YWP website created by National Novel Writing Month are under Creative Commons license. You are free to share and adapt them, with attribution, for noncommercial purposes. (View full Creative Commons terms.)

This license does not apply to user-created novels or any other user-created content.

National Novel Writing Month retains trademarks on the following:

  • “NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program”
  • “National Novel Writing Month”
  • “NaNoWriMo”
  • “Camp NaNoWriMo”
  • NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program logo and all derivations
  • National Novel Writing Month logo and all derivations
  • Camp NaNoWriMo logo and all derivations

Codes of Conduct

You will abide by our Codes of Conduct, including grounds for content, discipline, and account deletion.

User Novels

The YWP website allows you to create, host, and share your novel(s).

National Novel Writing Month claims no copyright on novels created, hosted, or shared on the YWP website, and will not be held liable for any content therein. We reserve the right to publish non-substantive excerpts in our marketing materials, but will make reasonable effort to seek permission before we do so.

We will make every reasonable effort to host your novel(s), but the YWP website is not a permanent storage solution. You will regularly back up your novel(s) outside the YWP website. We will not be held liable for accidental novel deletion.

User Content

The YWP website allows you to share profile information and post in public forums.

National Novel Writing Month claims no copyright on user-created content, and will not be held liable for it. We reserve the right to publish user-created content in our marketing and editorial materials.

Classrooms

The YWP website allows registered educators to create online classrooms to facilitate the YWP.

By creating a classroom, educators accept that:

  • You are an authorized educator associated with an established educational institution.
  • You will abide by the Parent Proxy Agreement.
  • You will act as an administrator and moderator for your students on the YWP website.

By joining a classroom, young writers accept that:

  • You are a young writer participating in the YWP with the educator who has created the classroom.
  • You grant the educator the right to view and edit your personal information, novel(s), and user-created content.
  • You will abide by any further conduct or content guidelines beyond the existing Codes of Conduct, as established by the educator.

National Novel Writing Month will immediately delete unauthorized classrooms.

Third-Party Links

The YWP website may contain links to content hosted on other websites. National Novel Writing Month will not be held liable for any third-party content.

General Limitation of Liability

National Novel Writing Month will not be held liable for any damages associated, directly or indirectly, with your use of the YWP website.

General Rights Reserved

National Novel Writing Month has made reasonable effort to account for common terms of use above, but we know this won’t cover everything. We reserve the right to take any and all action on your YWP website account, novel(s), and user-created content at our discretion.

Contact Us

If you have questions about these Terms & Conditions or any other concerns related to the YWP website, please email us.

A PROGRAM OF NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH, A 501(C)(3) NONPROFIT THAT BELIEVES YOUR STORY MATTERS.