I do think that the "get out" clause is pretty cheap. If they said, "If your book stinks, we'll give you the 20,000 but we won't publish it," that would be reasonable; it would be a cash-prize contest with a chance of being published. Even "5,000 cash prize and a chance at a 15,000 advance" would seem reasonable. But "WE'LL PUBLISH YOUR BOOK AND GIVE YOU $20,000 IF YOU WIN! (but only if we feel like it)" seems like an excessive stacking of the deck for themselves. On the first-sentence thing: If I'm looking for a new author (to read, that is), I judge books on the "first paragraph test". I just do. If I don't find a writer's writing engaging, nothing else is enough to make up for it, and if the first paragraph isn't engaging to me, the odds are fair that the rest of the book won't be either. Of the samples, I liked the "talking to the dead" one and the bechamel sauce one; the other has a pseudo-profundity that would warn me off. Neither of the ones that I like are exciting; I don't need exciting. I need engaging.
I thought about that a bit. I think what put me off all three (and you're so right about the middle one being gag-inducing) is that they all pose a riddle that needs to be solved. What dead one? What screaming? What is important about bechamel sauce and death? Okay, this may get people who like riddle-solving to read on. But for me it's an irritation. And a gimmick. And it does not launch me into the world of the story at all. I much prefer an opening sentence like the one in the book I'm reading now, by the contemporary Newfoundland author Micheal Crummey. River Thieves: It was the sound of his father's voice that woke John Peyton, a half-strangled shouting across the narrow hall that separated the upstairs bedrooms in the winter house. No gimmick there, but it launches us into the story.
I think that the full Terms & Conditions for most competitions can sound rather alarming if you go through them in fine detail. As Tenderiser says, some of the more interesting clauses are there simply to protect those involved if things go wrong. I think it's unlikely that they're trying to deliberately mislead anyone, or that they intend not to award a prize. Ultimately, as I understand it, it's free to enter. The worst that can happen is... nothing.
You can only enter if you are from the UK. I read through the whole thing not knowing that until the end. That's annoying. But yeah, I'd only be worried if there was a clause where they could take your work and completely remove you from the process. It seems as is the worst that can happen is they don't like it and send you ten free books.
