Welcome to the first round of my contest! This competition will follow a traditional tournament-style bracket with 4 rounds. One writer will be eliminated from each pairing in each round. The general rules are as follows:

1. Entries are due at 12:00 pm GMT on 22 January, 2018. No late entries will be accepted*, however if all contestants submit their entries early, judging and the next round will begin early.
   
2. Entries must be exclusively yours. No collaboration is allowed.
   
3. Whether you advance to the next round of competition is determined solely by my judgment. The amount of diamonds or favorites on your submission will not count toward your chance of moving on.
   
4. All rounds require the submission of a short story of 500-5000 words in prose. Please leave a word count somewhere on your submission. Link your submission in the comments of this post.
   
5. Only the text of your story will be judged. Any visuals you use will not be judged, though they will be appreciated.
   
6. All submissions must be in the form of a blog post linked in a comment on this blog post before the deadline.
   

The challenge for the first round is dystopia. Dystopian fiction centers on a society that is somehow destroyed or undesirable, and often takes place in the future.

For this challenge, write a short story that follows a character or a group of characters in a dystopian world. I will give extra consideration to stories that go above and beyond the usual tropes of these types of stories.


The writers of this first bracket are:

JediJerboa vs. Pwr2TheLocalDreemurr

CaelChan vs. grxnt

Riftjaw22 vs. signcraft

JoblessJello vs. Happs

ExtremeSubtlety vs. Mekichi

TheFedoraLord20 vs. DiabolikMidnight

LucianasLucario vs. Orbiter

PantekGames vs. Ivain

You are seeded in the order that I can see your responses on my forum post.


The breakdown of judging criteria is as follows:

Originality – Make your stories new and interesting! I want to see you think outside the box, present plots in unexpected ways, write something I’ve not read before.

Quality – Write well and present clearly. Proofread your entries!

Cohesion – Organize your thoughts and finish your stories. Make sure that your story is a complete package as-is, without the need for “Part 2” or other accessories.

Let me know if you would like my in-depth feedback of your work and I will PM my thoughts to you. However, keep in mind that my writing is not perfect and I judge from my perspective as a reader and writer.

If you missed the entry for this contest and would like to participate in a future one, let me know and I’ll be sure to contact you when the next one happens.

Good luck writers!
*If you need more time than is currently allowed, contact me and suggest a new end date. A majority of the writers in the competition must agree to your extension in order for it to be valid.