Summary

The Press Box (TPB) is hosting its first-ever writing tournament on Medium, with a $100 prize pool, open to all TPB writers and those who join by June 1st, featuring multiple rounds with specific prompts and deadlines.

Abstract

The Press Box, captained by Gaurav Jain (alias Vain Jaguar), has announced an inaugural writing tournament on the Medium platform. The competition, which begins immediately, offers a chance for writers to win prizes worth $100. Participants must submit their work by May 31st to qualify, and the tournament will proceed through various rounds, including Open Qualifiers, Quarter Finals, Semi-Finals, and Finals, each with its own prompt and submission deadlines. The tournament is designed to showcase writing skills, with a focus on passion and storytelling, and aims to foster a sense of community among TPB writers. The entries will be judged by a panel familiar with various sports, and the winners will be announced on June 30th. The tournament also features a summer edition starting July 1st, providing another opportunity for writers to participate.

Opinions

The tournament is seen as a way to engage the TPB community and encourage new writers to join.
The captain of TPB, Gaurav Jain, expresses pride in the team's growth and excitement about the tournament.
The editorial team at TPB values the quality of writing and storytelling, emphasizing that the competition will be judged primarily on these skills.
The prompt for the opening round is personal and emotive, asking writers to connect their love for a sport with a letter to a loved one.
The tournament structure is competitive yet inclusive, with clear rules and opportunities for writers at different stages to participate.
The finals are designed to be challenging, with a tight 24-hour deadline for the top two writers to produce their best work.
The TPB Editorial Board is committed to fair play and encourages writers to support each other by sharing each other's stories.
The tournament is also viewed as a platform for writers to practice their craft, expand their reader base, and become more integrated into the TPB community.

The Press Box Announces its First Ever Writing Tournament on Medium

Do you have it in you to make it to the top bracket?

**Will you like to see your name in one of those brackets?** (Image created by author in Canva)

Howdy-doody!

It’s me, Vain Jaguar, the captain of The Press Box (TPB). If you’re wondering who the heck is Vain Jaguar, it’s an anagram of my name, Gaurav Jain.

In cricket, we say a captain is as good as his team. And boy! How good have you made me — and the entire team — look in the last couple of weeks since we entered the Medium stadium.

But this post is not about giving you a scorecard of how we are doing.

Today, I want to announce our first ever writing tournament on Medium. Yoo-hoo!

The tournament starts as soon as I publish this newsletter. There will be exciting prizes worth $100 for the winner and runner-up. Stay tuned for details!

Let’s talk about the tournament format, timelines, and RULES. Hey! There ain’t no sport without rules.

OPEN QUALIFIERS

Between now and May 31st, all the writers and followers of TPB are invited to enter the opening round.

Wait! You are still not a writer with TPB. Whaaaatttt?

Don’t worry, we got you covered. You are still welcome to take part. But you must become a writer with us before clocks in New York strikes midnight on June 1st. Follow the instructions in this post to become a writer with us.

Don’t wait until the eleventh hour, okay?!

We won’t consider any submissions received after May 31st for the tournament. We will still be happy to publish them with TPB if you choose to do so.

Now, the exciting part. The prompt for the opening round is…. 🥁….

“Write a letter to a loved one, preferably a child, telling them about your favorite sport and why you love it the way you do.”

If you like, feel free to include basic rules to introduce them to the sport, your favorite player or whatever you like to tell them about it.

Please keep in mind our judging panel might know a lot about your favorite sport. We are dependent on your words, and we will be judging your stories primarily on your writing skills.

Make us feel your passion, your love.

*Suite 1984 editors can take part in this round, but they won’t be eligible for qualification to the next round. Sorry guys, but it will be cheating.

The Quarter Finals

Our editorial team will review all the submissions from the opening round. We will pick the top eight writers who will make it through to the Quarter Finals.

We will announce the top eight bracket and a new quarter-final prompt on June 8th. The quarter finalists will have until June 16th to submit their entries.

*If a quarter finalist can’t submit their entry within the specified timeline, their opponent will get a bye to advance to the semi-finals.

The Semi-Finals

We will announce the semi-finalists and the semi-final prompt on June 20th.

Like sports tournaments, the stakes will get higher at this point. Hence, we need to make it harder. The top four must submit their entries by June 23rd.

*If a semi-finalist can’t submit their entries within specified timelines, their opponent will get a bye to advance to the finals.

The Finals

We will announce the top two and the final prompt on June 25th.

They will have twenty-four hours to produce a masterpiece to win the first TPB tournament.

What?! Don’t look at me like that. It’s the finals, baby!

We will announce the winner and the runners-up on June 30th.

And guess what? If you didn’t make it big in the spring, the “The Press Box Summer Writing Tournament” kicks off on July 1st.

Oh yeah! Like the tennis slams, you get another shot at it.

Rules

These general rules apply to all the rounds. We will notify you of any new rules for the knockout rounds in future posts.

The articles should be at least six-hundred words long but not more than one-thousand words. The word limit applies for only the body of the article. It does not include the title, subtitle, kicker, and image captions.
Please use “TPB Spring Tournament” as one of the tags on your submissions. It will help us feature your post under the “Writing Tournaments” column on TPB’s home page.
You are free to use any titles, subtitles, or kickers but ensure they are in the proper format.
Please do not forget to add credits to the images you are using.
You must share two stories from two other TPB writers at the end of your articles. We won’t count the extra words to share these stories against the one-thousand-word limit.

I encourage you to use this opportunity to practice your writing skills, build your reader base, and become a part of the TPB community.

Best of luck! We will see you on the field.

The Press Box Editorial Board

One last thing

I apologize if you don’t like included in a tag blanket. We want to ensure none of our writers and followers miss out on this communication. To play fair, I am not monetizing this post. So, I won’t get any benefit from doing this. 🙂

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