IMPORTANT UPDATE: Please join the Discord Server linked here for updates on participant capacity! Those of you already signed up, please also join for updates, notifications, and communication!

Hello everyone! This news post is primarily for the purposes of updating Writer’s Jam 1 entrants on what’s going on, and to have an easy place to reference all the previously stated rules and information. If you didn’t sign up in time to catch the first Writer’s Jam, hang tight! The enthusiasm around this means the competition will likely be semi-annual, so check in around January for information on the second one!

REMINDERS

Prompts will not be released until the Writer’s Jam begins at Midnight on September 1st, EST. It is intended to not be possible to begin your piece until then. Once your piece is complete before the end of September 2nd EST (48 hours total), you will submit your piece to Newgrounds by clicking the upload arrow in the top right corner of your screen on Newgrounds, and then clicking the BLOG button. Add the required tags from rule 1 (at the bottom of this post) using the “Tags” bar next to where you write your post. 

You are welcome to simply use the blog post itself as the canvas to upload your submission from! If you do this, however, please make it clear that your intent is for the piece to be viewed through the blog post. You are also welcome to use a publicly accessible link to attach your piece to the blog post. Long story short, your submission can take the form of anything from a simple blog post, a Google Doc, a PDF, or anything else publicly accessible that is allowed within the boundaries of the rules and doesn’t require any unique software to open. Please make sure any Google Docs, etc., are set to public. Only one link/post per participant. 

The judges of the Writer’s Jam are all experienced writers with different backgrounds and strengths in writing. We will first individually read over each piece. Then, once we have a critical understanding of the piece, we will discuss our thoughts with eachother on what we noticed, liked, disliked, etc. Finally, we will each individually rate the piece. Judge scores will be averaged together to determine placements.

We will each individually rate a piece considering 5 pillars of writing that will be applicable to all forms and genres of submissions: originality, maintenance, mechanics, purpose, and taste. These are intentionally vague, as to not encourage any catering to the judges. Entrants will be told their rating, but, as to not explicitly give away who the 1st place winner is, scores will be obscured using a rating chart. For example, someone who scores 0-4 points will be told their piece is “unsatisfactory,” while someone who scores 44 points will be told their piece is “excellent.”

For those who missed it, the prize pool has gone up since the creation of the Writer’s Jam! There will be a cash prize of $35 for first place, $20 for second place, and $10 for third place. The winners will be able to receive their prize money through Venmo or Paypal. Other payment options can’t be promised. Please check Newgrounds frequently during and after the Writer's Jam to be on the lookout for any announcements, and to claim any potential prizes you win.

RULES

This list of rules is copied and pasted from the submission form. They are only here again for ease of access, but nothing about the rules themselves have changed.

1. Your submission must include the tag “writers-jam-1” as well as a tag that is simply one-word prompt (for example, if the prompt you chose was Angel, you’d tag the post with “angel”). Submissions that do not use the proper tags will not be discoverable by the judges, and, therefore, will not be considered during judging.

2. All submissions must be individual work, not collaborative work. The Writer’s Jam is intended to be an opportunity for all participants to experience the full process of creating a piece of literature. Any collaborative submissions will be discarded.

3. The word count must be between 600-3600 words (inclusive). Submissions even one word under or over the word limit will be discarded. Make sure to not include any titles, headings, etc. in your word count.

4. Pieces of any format and genre are welcome! This includes fiction and nonfiction. Examples of what submissions could be are: poem collections, short stories, lyrics, scripts, research, argumentative paper, etc. This is not an exhaustive list, use your strengths to your advantage and form any piece of writing that you, the participant, desire!

5. Tasteful use of other media may accompany a submission, but must not be crucial to the narrative. The writing of your submission must stand on its own, and will be evaluated so. Examples of welcome media are visual art, music, custom fonts, etc. outside media may be done by outside parties, so long as they do not have any influence or involvement in the writing process (rule

6. Writing is an excellent process and form of art to explore unpleasant, controversial, and serious topics. Participants are welcome to express their art fully and will not have reason to worry about unreasonable censorship. That being said, any submissions that are explicitly and undeniably using this jam as an opportunity to express hate or harmful views will be discarded.