Paying Entry Fees

Some programs charge an entry fee. Payment is processed by Stripe and goes directly to the organizer; AwardKit never holds your money.

What you pay

The price shows next to each category on the first step of the entry form, and a fee summary in the sidebar keeps a running total.

The amount can depend on:

• Category: programs can price categories differently
• Pricing period: early-bird pricing before the standard price, or a late fee after it; the form shows the price in effect right now
• Entrant type: programs with member pricing ask a membership question on the form; your answer sets the fee, and it locks once you pay
• Multi-entry discount: some programs discount automatically when you enter enough categories or entries, like 10% off 2 or more. No code needed; the summary shows the saving as soon as you qualify
• Discount code: if the organizer gave you a code, paste it into the discount code box on the form and click Apply
• Tax: tax-registered organizers declare VAT, GST, or sales tax. The summary shows the tax line and whether it is added on top or included in the fee

Pay now

Click Continue to Payment, confirm your email with the 6-digit code, and you land on a secure Stripe Checkout page. Pay with a card or any other method the organizer's Stripe account offers for your currency. When Stripe confirms the payment you return to your entry page and receive an email titled "You're all set: payment received for {program} ({total})". If the organizer charges tax, the receipt shows the tax line, so business entrants can reclaim what they paid.

Pay later, pay once

Entering more than one piece of work? Next to the payment button the form shows Pay later, add more entries. It submits your entry immediately and adds its fee to your balance instead of opening checkout, so you can go straight into the next entry. You receive an email titled "Payment due for {program}: {amount}" as a record.

Your balance follows you around the program: a banner on the program page reads "N unpaid entries, {amount}" and the top bar shows a chip with the same count. Clicking either opens Pay your balance, a summary of everything you're about to pay for: each entry with its categories, any multi-entry discount earned across all of them, and any tax. Pay now starts one Stripe checkout that settles the whole balance.

If the program offers a multi-entry discount, paying together is how you earn it: two works submitted one at a time still reach a "10% off 2+" threshold when you pay them together, because the discount counts everything in the checkout.

A few things to know:

• Payment is due before entries close. Unpaid entries are received but not in the running until they're paid. AwardKit emails you a reminder inside the last 72 hours before the deadline.
• Discount codes always pay immediately. If you enter a code, that entry checks out on the spot and the code applies to it alone.
• Your entry page shows the state. An unpaid entry reads Payment due with "Your entry is received and added to your balance. Payment is due before entries close." and a Pay balance button.

If a payment doesn't go through

Your entry and everything you typed are kept whatever happens to the payment. The entry page tells you where things stand:

An abandoned checkout returns the fee to your balance automatically. If a delayed payment ultimately fails, you receive "Payment failed for {program}: {amount} still due" and the fee is back on your balance. If a pricing period changed in the meantime, a restarted checkout uses the current price.

Refunds

Refunds are handled by the organizer through Stripe. When one is processed you receive "Refund processed for {program}: {amount}". Contact the organizer with any question about a refund.

Your payment record

Your entry page shows a payment card with the Amount, the Pricing period that applied, any Discount, and, for tax-inclusive programs, the line "Includes VAT" (or the tax the organizer declared). Entries settled from a balance note "Paid in a combined checkout of {total}".