International Democratic UnionBoard

Heya everyone! I'm Feria-Alkaline, Europe's former Home Secretary, and I'm proud to share with all of you an idea that's been bouncing around my head for a long time now: Feria's Interregional Writing Contest!

Let me first explain the premises of this competition. I'm looking for short stories only for this first (and hopefully not last, depending on how well it turns out) competition. Why? Well, partially because it's a good jumping-off point to later being able to judge more types of writing, such as poetry, and also because short stories are something we're all familiar with. NOTE - I know that in an earlier version of this contest, there were two "tracks" - European and Interregional. After losing the endorsement of Europe's Home Office, I've decided to consolidate both into a single track, so no more weird rules. For future contests, this may change; I'm currently eyeing Thaecia as a "home" track sponsor for the next contest.

The theme of this contest is Pandemic. Yes, I know, covid-19 sucks and we all have enough of it. But I don't want covid-19 pieces. Be creative with it! For example, perhaps the pandemic is a virus that turns people's hair into cotton candy, and your piece is a briefing on how, despite the fact that you have cotton candy hair, you should refrain from eating it since it'll increase your risk of diabetes. Don't take that idea, of course, but make your own.
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So I wrote my piece. Now what?
Send it to Korsinia with a disclaimer at the beginning that it's for this writing contest. Ideally, a Google Document would be best, but any way that can be easily copied and pasted into a mega-document for judging is okay.
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Some basic rules:

• Stick to the theme. If your submission has nothing to do with the theme, it will be disqualified.

• Keep it PG-13 - remember, minors use this site too. If you wouldn't show your writing to your seven-year-old nephew, don't send it in here.

• No word limit. That being said, don't submit an entire book to the competition. Keep it reasonable.

• No plagiarism. Plagiarism results in automatic disqualification and possible bans from future competitions.

• One submission per person. As much as we'd love to read fifteen stories from you... well, we don't have the time. Pick your best idea and nurture it instead.

• Don't trash others. If you include other NationStates players in your story, make sure they consent to how they're portrayed.

• Don't spoil it! You'll be sending your submissions in a telegram to Korsinia, who will blind them before passing them on to the judges. We ask that you don't tell others which submission is yours until the results of the competition are released - if we know who penned the pieces, bias might color the vote.

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When's the closing date for submissions? Since the contest is officially rekicking off on June 8, 2020 (EDT), your submissions will be due by June 30, 2020, 11:59 PM EDT - EXTENDED DEADLINE! Unfortunately, we can't grant any extensions to the timeframe. Results should be released around July 6th, but they may come earlier or later, depending on the amount of entries we receive.

How will this be scored?
The panel of judges (Novgorod-Pskov, Dizgovzy and myself) will each rate your entries on a 1-to-10 scale on five characteristics, which will be averaged out into one final score. If there is a tie, we'll vote on which piece we preferred.

The characteristics are:

• Creativity: 30% (Again, cotton candy hair pandemic. Even the way you write can be creative!)

• Engagement: 30% (Do I want to read THIS story to the end out of the pile I have, or will I pass? Are the characters interesting? Setting? Plot?)

• Realism: 20% (I don't mean how realistic the pandemic or anything else is - I mean how realistic the characters and writing are. If the characters seem fake or fabricated, lower points; if they act like real people would, higher points.)

• Succinctness: 10% (Make every word count! We're not here to read 15 pages of prose on ants if it's not useful. Chekhov's gun! Remember Hemingway's For sale: baby shoes, never worn.)

• Voice: 10% (Is this something any random person could write, or is this uniquely yours?)

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I have another question! Telegram me, Feria-Alkaline, with any and all queries.

I hope to see as many submissions as we can get! Be creative, be bold, and don't be afraid to write your heart out!