You will receive a confirmation email upon successful submission.

The contest is open to high school students, adults, everyone, regardless of location. We encourage writers of all experience levels to participate.

• Submissions are accepted until the deadline at which time the contest begins. During the first round, each person will receive two stories to review over a 48 hour time period. During this time, provide feedback for each story and then vote on which of the two you would prefer to move onto the next round.

• Each round continues like this until all voting is completed and/or the max of 5 rounds has been met.

  If a participant doesn’t choose a winner during a round, the default is none.*

• Defaulting to “none” if a participant doesn’t select a winner in a round ensures every round produces a valid comparison. And, it prevents ties or uncompleted comparisons from affecting the overall results.

  However, it’s essential you clearly understand this process. If you are not sure how to approach rounds where you find it challenging to choose a clear winner, look for other options. For example, consider factors like storytelling quality, character development, originality, and emotional impact to help make your decision.:

• NOTE: When providing feedback make sure to talk about what worked well for you, what didn’t work well and why? What did you like; let them know! Did something feel wrong? Why? Be diplomatic in your opinions and suggestions. Here’s some key points:

  • Talk about your responses: “When I read this sentence, I wondered if the paragraph was going to be about this topic.”
  • Feedback sandwich: Praise – Critique – Praise

  *You should not receive your own story for review/voting. If you do in error, then don’t chose a winner and let it default to “none” to ensure it does not affect the overall results.