Rogue’s Writing Contests
April Short Story Contest
- DEADLINE: April 30th at 23:59 Pacific Time.
- Write a short story inspired by at least two elements from the current contest’s suggested prompts (below).
- Aim for 1,000 to 4,000 words.
- Submit your short story entry here: April 2024 Contest Submission Link (Google Form)
- Have questions? Reach out to Turnip or Jenai on the Discord server, or email Cenlyra at contest@roguewriters.net
The Prompts
Include at least two (2) of the following prompts in your short story (you will later identify your choices in your submission form):
- Visual Prompt : Photo of the Crooked Forest, Poland
(This may be taken as-is or as a typical forest, a single tree, or something else that is unusually crooked or bent. It may appear as a painting or tattoo.) - First Line Text Prompt : “Five minutes ago, the trees looked normal.”
(You may interpret this broadly. Do the trees actually look different? Or do they merely appear changed after an event cast them in new light?) - Trope Prompt : Genius Loci – meaning “a sentient location”
(A sentient location may be any location. For instance, may be abstract and appear in a dream, or be represented in a song or legend.)
Visual Prompt
Photo of the Crooked Forest, Poland
(click photo to view larger)
The Prize!
- An anonymous Rogue Writer is donating a fabulous grand prize to April’s contest’s winner!
- The winner will choose a $150 gift card from one of the following online stores:
- The donor meticulously researched online shopping options that should work internationally for delivery and/or redemption. So, if an option does not work in your country, another one should.
Additional Rules & Info
- Open to Rogue Writers members only. Nonmember submissions will be discarded. It’s easy to join Rogue Writers and costs nothing!
- Limited to one submission per member. If you submit more than one story, please tell us which one you wish to be judged.
- Please aim for 1,000 to 4,000 words; we understand if you go over a bit, but please keep in mind that our judges may be judging a whole bunch of stories.
- All Rogue Writers should be allowed to read your story, regardless of age. In other words, please ensure that your story is appropriate for all-ages (13 years and older). Failing to follow this rule may result in your story being disqualified.
- Please include any trigger/content warnings when sending us your entries (there is space for this in the submission form).
- No depictions of real people. Exceptions may include public figures (world leaders, celebrities, etc.), historic people who died before the year 1900, obscured & renamed people you know, and yourself. If you are unsure about a character, please reach out to either Turnip or Jenai for confirmation.
- As per general Rogue Writers rules, AI-generated content is NOT allowed. If we discover that a submission used AI-generated content, the submission and author will be disqualified from the contest.
- Submissions will be judged equally on technical aspects (ex: having a coherent theme) and emotional aspects (ex: reader immersion).
- Entries will be received by a member who is neither judging nor participating in this contest, thus ensuring the submissions will be presented and judged anonymously.
- Judges can only read as fast as they can read. Once entries have closed, we will estimate how long judging will take based on how many pieces we have received. At that point, we will follow up with a timeline for announcing the winner.
- Primary prizes are bragging rights and a digital certificate, but we reserve the right to design and award custom trophies and other prize packages as time and resources allow.
- Rogue Writers does not retain rights to submitted works and does not have a policy against submissions to multiple contests or journals. We encourage and support your efforts to publish!
To preview future tentative contests and events, check out the Rogue’s calendar!