There will be 15 categories broken into ten main categories, four huge categories, and one showdown category. Let me explain.
Main categories are the core categories you'd expect in any contest. They have 10-12 slots.
Huge categories are more competitive categories judged more strictly and offer more prizes. These have 20 slots. Huge categories are more general, so pretty much anything is allowed there unless otherwise stated.
The showdown category is the most competitive category with 25 slots and the strictest judging.
You can submit up to four times with different books, and it has to be in different categories.
So let's say you wrote a book called Sunflower. You can submit Sunflower once. If you submit it to a main category, it does not double dip, so you cannot submit it to huge categories or the showdown and vice versa. You can apply to any of the three category types, just with different books. I.e., if you submit Sunflower to a main category, you can submit a different book to a huge category or the showdown, but you cannot submit Sunflower again.
CATEGORIES
MAIN
1) Short Stories
- Any story under 20,000 words
- Ongoing stories are fine as long as you plan to keep them short
- 12 slots
2) Poetry
- 10 slots
- Poetry only
- Poetry will have specific judging criteria separate from the rest of the contest
- If you are submitting a poetry compilation, please submit 1-3 chapters from that compilation for me to judge. No more than 3.
- Any type of poetry is fine, including narrative poetry
- I would suggest submitting poetry here rather than in the huge/showdown categories as you will have a stronger chance of winning
3) Supernatural
- 10 slots
- Vampires, demons, angels, beasts, fairy tales, etc. are all allowed here. Anything under the supernatural umbrella is fine.
- No length requirement, any story of any size is allowed.
4) Feel-Good
- 10 slots
- Anything meant to make the ready feel good, like romantic comedies, comedies, upbeat stories of any kind, etc.
5) Normal?
- 10 slots
- Any kind of story that's not the "normal" thing you'd see on Wattpad. That means stories in niche genres, like epistolary, text-based stories, scripts, flash fiction, etc. Pretty much anything that's not a standard book.
- Ongoing and completed stories are both accepted here.
6) Reimagining
- 10 slots
- Any story that retells/reimagines some source of media. Fairytales, mythology, alternate histories, classic tales, historical fictions, anything reimagining events, real or fictional, are allowed here.
- Any length and genre is allowed as long as it's a retelling/reimagining of something. Fanfics and originals are allowed here, ongoing and completed are allowed here.
7) Dystopian/Utopian
- 10 slots
- Any story in the dystopian/utopian genre.
- Fanfics and originals are allowed here. Any length is allowed, too.
- Ongoing and completed stories are accepted here.
8) Psychological Thriller
- 10 slots
- Fanfics and originals are allowed, any length is fine, and ongoing and completed stories are accepted here.
9) Long Format
- 10 slots
- Any story that's over 15 chapters long, ongoing or completed, original or fanfic
10) Angst
- 10 slots
- Any story that makes me wanna go cry in a corner and rethink my life for at least five business days with a spa break in between sobs.
- Ongoing/completed, fanfics/originals, and any length are allowed here.
HUGE CATEGORIES
1) Best Original Story
- 20 slots
- Original stories only
- Any length, genre, maturity level, etc. is allowed here
2) Best Fanfic
- 20 slots
- Fanfics only
- Any fandom is allowed like K-pop, anime, TV shows like Shadowhunters, movies, etc.
- Any length, genre, maturity level, etc. is allowed here
3) Best Ongoing Story
- 20 slots
- Must be ongoing, even if it's just one chapter so far
- Any length, genre, maturity level, etc. is allowed here
- Fanfic and original stories are fine here
- Since this is a huge category, it will take me time to judge. For that reason, it's fine if the book gets completed before I finish judging, though I will not be taking the ending into account
- Preferably stories you don't think will be finished for a few months, but all ongoing stories are allowed
4) Best New Writer
- 20 slots
- This is a category for newer writers, meaning you must have no more than 5 works on your profile at the time of applying, though it's okay if you have more during the contest's runtime.
- Preferably writers who started writing less than a year ago; not started Wattpad less than a year ago, but started writing less than a year ago
- Any genre of any length is accepted, including completed/ongoing stories, fanfics/originals, etc.
FICTION SHOWDOWN
- 25 slots
- Fanfiction AND original stories are allowed
- Any length is fine; this is a general category, so everything narrative is allowed
TIP: The Showdown winner is going to have a story that is emotionally impactful. I would strongly suggest not submitting fluffy oneshots or really short stories (I'm talking less than 2,000 words) here because the odds of winning are going to be low. I'm looking for something that will really wow me and give me a huge emotional takeaway. I'm not saying it has to be angst or sad, but rather a book with substance. No matter if the emotions are happy, sad, scary, etc., I'm looking for something that will stick with me, or a book that has something to say.
If you'd like to submit shorter stories or poems or fluffy oneshots, I would suggest the other categories.
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