Magazine Information
Will You Win the Tantalizing Tales Fiction Contest?
Our first ever writing competition with monetary prizes
Thanks to an anonymous sponsor Tantalizing Tales is thrilled to announce its first fiction writing contest. In this post you will find all the information you need to enter.
Here is a friend link for anyone who may need it — https://readmedium.com/will-you-win-the-tantalizing-tales-fiction-contest-cc790f34b7ca?sk=ef5429b66a3c56a67ed13d44adf47af7
Duration
The contest will run from 15th February until the 31st March.
Submit your story at any time during this period. If you are not a writer with us, but regularly pen fiction on Medium, and want to enter the contest, please leave a comment below.
Rules — Word Count, Theme, Tags, Image
- Authors may only submit one story but can write in any genre.
- The story must be between 750 and 2000 words and incorporate the theme of Change.
(At the bottom of this post you will find some examples of tales about changes in case you want to check them out for inspiration.)
- A competition submission from a writer must have the tag/topics of change and fiction — the remaining three are your choice, depending on the content of the tale.
- All entries will receive priority publishing, but will not be edited by us.
- You must supply an image and provide the copyright caption. (No AI narrative, although AI images are fine.)
- Read here how to layout your story — we need you to send a polished draft.
Marking Criteria
We will be using a panel of judges, as we fully understand that a member with many subscribers will likely generate more engagement on their story than a newish writer.
Here are the criteria the judges will be looking at when marking a story.
- Characterisation: Does the author create believable characters (whatever the genre) — with individuality?
- Plot: Has the author constructed a clear, compelling storyline with a recognisable beginning, middle and end?
- Theme: How effectively and originally does the story use the contest theme?
- Writing: Are there grammatical or punctuation errors? Are words spelled or used incorrectly?
- Storytelling: Does this story engage the reader’s emotions and lead them to invest in the characters and plot?
The areas above will be marked out of ten by each judge, then the top 3 or 5 stories (depending on how many entries) will go through to the final and be assessed again with the addition of another judge, at which time we will come up with a winner and runner-up.
Judges
We have six judges, with one joining us for the final countdown. You can learn more about them by clicking on this bio article. But here is a brief rundown in alphabetical order:
- Grandma Smillew — Drinks cocoa.
- Marie A. Rebelle — Oozes creativity.
- Marsha Adams — Speaks her mind.
- May More 💜 Tales — Talks to chickens (live ones).
- Posy Churchgate — Loves dogs.
- Teresa Wymore 🏳️🌈 — Advocates for trans rights.
And Mrs. K — will be joining us for the final round of judging.
All the judges have varied writing experience and probably enjoy different kinds of writing styles, but they all appreciate original storytelling.
Prizes
- The winner will receive $50 from an anonymous, kindly sponsor, plus a one year paid membership FREE to Posy Churchgate’s Ream stories. Not to mention the fame of being our first ever competition winner!
- The runner-up will receive $20 from me. I recently won a Medium fiction contest, so will be paying some of that forward. Plus a one year paid membership FREE to Marie Rebelle’s substack.
- Third place will receive a one year paid membership FREE to me — May More’s substack.
The top three stories will be featured at the start of the magazine for the month of April.
Writers — ALL welcome
Here are a few writers I think may be interested, but please spread the word —
— F. Leonora Solomon, Arpad Nagy, Simone Francis Nevena Pascaleva, CD Richardson, Ginger Bangs, Alexander Martin, Zatanna Dark, Debdutta Pal, Patricia Ray, Sloan James, Ryan Klemek, Ann James, Rhobeau, Celia McKinley, Clara, Marcello Spektor, Sonja Glucksberg, Asmi, H.R. Parker, Lorelei_Sands, Laura Knapke (Nap-Key), Jackson Goode, J.D. Masterly, GK Grayson, Richard Steele, Glenn M Stewart, Hardison Parker, Mark S R Sterling, Solomon Sinn Seer, Asrai Devin, Alex Irvine and YOU.
Example Stories about Change
By Alexander Martin, Alex Irvine, Marsha Adams, May More, Marie Rebelle and Posy Churchgate
