Please carefully read The Guidelines and the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) chapter to ensure your entry meets all the eligibility criteria. Only those who successfully complete the challenge, adhere to our guidelines, and correctly submit their stories will be considered.
Feel free to visit the Safety Portal at any time to learn more about keeping safe on Wattpad.
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The challenge will start on September 1st, 2024, and the writing window will be open for 30 days. The challenge will end on September 30th, 2024 at midnight GMT.
The stories will undergo screening and judging during October and November. Announcements will be made during December 2024.
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We encourage entries from both new and seasoned Wattpad writers. So whether you're new to Wattpad and this is your first story, or you've been on the platform for years, you are welcome to participate in the challenge!
You need to be 13 years of age or older.
Writers from anywhere in the world are welcome to participate—the story language matters. Your location doesn't.
Both English and Non-native English speakers are welcome, as long as the primary written language of the story is English.
The number of followers a writer has, or readership on previous stories, is irrelevant to this challenge.
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General Story Guidelines.
● We are looking for new and original stories written from your own imagination. That said, we will include a chapter filled with prompts to help spark some ideas if you wish to utilize them, but you are not obligated to use any of them.
● You are welcome to write in any genre/theme or trope.
● What about fanfiction? Fan fiction will be accepted in the flash fic and short story categories.
● We cannot accept entries that are co-written with another writer.
● Please ensure you own and control all the rights to the story you submit to this challenge.
●The story cover, media, and/or other story graphics will not affect your story's chances.
We do require some degree of attention to grammar, spelling, and punctuation, but we don't expect perfection.
Please add the tag #Shortys2024 to your story to help us find it.
Stories with 'Mature' content are eligible, but please make sure you consult the Wattpad Content Guidelines before entering your story. Any stories entered that appear to breach Wattpad's Content Guidelines will not be accepted and reported.
Story Language Guidelines
Your story's primary language must be English. However, if non-English phrases are used to lend authenticity to a character then it is acceptable. Please ensure that these phrases make sense in context to English readers.
🦋 Story Structure and Publishing Guidelines 🦋
Poetry
✦ Word count must be between 10 and 20 lines.
✦ Prose poetry is accepted, but it must be under 1000 words.
✦ For Acrostic poems, please put the first letters in bold so we can see the word they spell out vertically.
✦ Poems that are submitted must be published in their own chapter and clearly titled.
✦ You can publish it as a stand-alone or in existing collections of poems on your profile.
Flash Fics
✦ Word count must be between 500 and 2000 max.
✦ Flash fics must be posted as a one-shot in their own chapter and clearly titled.
✦ You can publish it as a stand-alone or in existing collections of stories on your profile.
Short Stories
✦ Word count must be between 2000 and 5000 max.
✦ Short stories must be posted as a one-shot in their own chapter and clearly titled.
✦ You can publish it as a stand-alone or in existing collections of stories on your profile.
✦ The short story does not have to be complete upon submission to this challenge. We encourage ongoing stories.
You can have author notes, character descriptions, table of contents, etc. but they will not count as a viable chapter or towards the total word count.
Prologues are welcome, but they will not be considered part of the entry or count toward your word count. We suggest you jump straight into the storytelling to hook the reader.
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We will choose our favorites from each category (up to 10 per category) and those will receive a shout-out from the Poetry and ShortStory profiles. They will also receive a sticker for their cover. Our favorite flashfics and short stories will be added to an anthology on the ShortStory profile, and our favorite poems will be added to an anthology on the Poetry profile.
