Authors who submitted works to the first three contests are, of course, invited to participate again. Obviously, they must submit a different work.
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: November 1st, 2012. The competition deadlines have previously been set 5-6 months after the announcement, and this seems to have worked well.
Original rules as follows:
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Authors may choose between
a) Public Display of their submission in the writing forum.
b ) Private submission directly to judges.*
*Grand Prize submission will be made public on MalazanEmpire.com/forums regardless of how the work was originally submitted.
ALL SUBMISSIONS MUST BE MADE TO: malazanwriting@live.com
Submissions sanctioned for public viewing will be posted in the writing Forum in a special thread created for the contest. Link: (to be created later)
Submission guidelines (short version):
a) Original work of the person entering the submission.
Any subject matter/topic is allowed. The work does not need to be fantasy or science fiction.
c) 7,500 words or less.
d) English language only, except where other language is necessary for storytelling purposes.
OFFICIAL RULES (long version):
1) Volunteer Judges are not eligible to submit short stories for the contest.
2) Any previously published works and works currently considered for publication will not be accepted for this contest.
3) All works must be original creations of and by the person submitting them for the contest. NO THIRD PARTY SUBMISSIONS ALLOWED.
4) Any professionally edited (by editors, professors, english teachers/tutors) are not eligible. This will be on the honor system, so if you have submitted a story for review in a magazine, newspaper, college or high school english course, it is not eligible for this contest.
5) Works must be 7,500 words or less (per Wikipedia's short story definition). This is not a hard and fast number, if you submit 7,563 words this is not an issue.
6) A submitted work can be a story the author has already begun at the time of this announcement, IF the work has never been professionally edited or submitted for publication. Therefore, works not started specifically for the purpose of this contest ARE eligible. (If you've had something sitting in your computer forever but have never finished or edited it, this is your chance).
7) Only standing members of MalazanEmpire.com/forums are eligible. User ID's created after the date of this rules post will NOT BE ALLOWED to submit works. (Exceptions made under special circumstances, please contact me via PM).
8) If a volunteer judge opts to be anonymous and informs Shinrei via Private Message of this desire, Privacy of said judge's ID will be honored.
9) Maximum of 1 submission is allowed per user ID. Single ownership of multiple IDs necessitates that ONE ID must be chosen under which to submit the work. In other words, only ONE SUBMISSION per ONE PERSON regardless of number of User ID's held.
10) Submitted works are intellectual property of the owner and author. Copyright will be honored and any reproduction or use of submitted works without express written consent of the owner/author is prohibited.
Prizes:
TBA
In the past, top finalists have received Amazon vouchers up to 25dollars/pounds and original artwork by MalazanEmpire artists.
Volunteer Judges Are:
the more interesting wade-newb
loki
HD
Past winners have been:
1st Contest: Yellow
2nd Contest: jitsukker
3rd Contest: Riot
This post has been edited by Shinrei: 28 June 2012 - 11:42 AM