Run backhome
We've been receiving lots of entries with insufficient postage. Since the Royal Mail changed it's pricing a while ago you need to be more careful about the postage you've put on envelopes.
A few have got through marked "Insufficient postage" but the Royal Mail are now asking for payment on receipt before they'll deliver entries and we can't accept them. These are being returned to sender.
Also, a lot of SAEs enclosed for numbers are inadequately stamped. If we post these out then the recipient will likely be charged £1.61 to take delivery.Our plan is therefore to send out only those SAEs which have enough postage and to hold on to all the others to hand out on the day.
The postage now depends on whether you want to send it 1st or 2nd class, how heavy the item is and how big the envelope is, even it's thickness!
For the full guide, see the Royal Mail website: 1st class 2nd class
Your entry should weigh well under the 100g limit so weight shouldn't be a problem
If you use a full A4 sized envelope (which is overkill, I think) then it'll cost 44p first class and 37p 2nd class.
If you use a half A4 sized envelope (called C5 size which is actually 230mm x 163mm) or smaller then postage will be 32p 1st class and 23p 2nd class.
The official Pier to Pier entry form (the half that you cut off to return) is slightly smaller than a C5 envelope and will easily fit without being folded.
For the SAE I advise using the same size of C5 envelope and folding it in half before placing in your other envelope OR use the next size down which is called a DL sized envelope (about a third of the size of an A4 sheet of paper) and it'll fit without being folded. The SAE will then need the same postage, 44p or 23p.
I hope that helps!