Iwaku Love Contest 2023

wren.

elegance is more important than suffering
Original poster
STAFF MEMBER
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Posting Speed
  1. Multiple posts per week
  2. One post per week
  3. Slow As Molasses
Writing Levels
  1. Adept
  2. Advanced
  3. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Primarily Prefer Male
Genres
Slice-of-Life, Gothic, Horror, Fantasy
Iwaku_Love_Contest.gif

Hello lovers, it's me, ya ghoul!

Welcome to Iwaku's love-focused writing contest! I'm Wren, your host this year. Notice how I said love-focused and not romance-focused, as this contest (and Iwaku's Love Festival in general) is meant to honor every type of love, not just romantic love. Whether you love love or want to get better at writing it, I hope to see you try your hand in this contest!

To aid your writing and our later judging, we are going to give you a few themes. They are as follows:
- Reincarnation
- Yearning
- Reunion


You only need to incorporate one theme into your piece, but you are welcome to include multiple! Additionally, if you include an owl in your piece, you'll score special points with Owl Mom. Owl Mom Points will not earn you a higher ranking in this contest, but why not make her happy?

Submissions will be open January 1st to February 14th, closing at 11:59 PM CST, where they will then be posted publicly for the community to vote on. These votes will not determine the winners, but they will play a role in our judges' decisions.

Additionally, there will be a public reading of the pieces (with the author's consent) in the Iwaku Discord Server on February 18th starting at 3 PM CST. The final decision will be announced on February 28th.

The top three winners will receive prizes! The first winner will get a $15 Amazon gift card, the second will get a $10 Amazon gift card, and the third will get a $5 Amazon gift card.

@PavellumPendulum and @Manna Beast have graciously volunteered their time to help me with the judging this year, and we are looking for a non-staff judge to volunteer their time as well, so PM me if you're interested!

Feel free to ask any questions down below. Good luck to all of the entries!

  • All submissions must be under 2000 words. Any submission longer than this will be automatically disqualified. Please note that if your entry is longer than 1000 words, it might not get read out over call due to how long it would take (it'll depend on how many submissions come in!)
  • All submissions must follow Iwaku rules.
  • The submission should, of course, be your own work and not anyone else's. Fanfiction is allowed, provided that you state what fandom the work is based on. However, just know that the judges who do not know this fandom might not understand your piece fully when voting!
  • The submission should include at least one of the selected themes for the month.
  • The submission cannot contain explicit content. Mentions of such things may occur, but you cannot submit full smut. If there is anything potentially triggering (e.g., self-harm, suicide, etc) in your piece, please leave a trigger warning tag at the beginning as well.
To submit a piece, please PM me and title the PM "ILC ENTRY" with this little form filled out to go with it!

Title of the Piece:
Word Count:
Chosen Theme(s):
Chosen Format: (short story, poetry, lyrics)

Remain anonymous?: Yes or No
Permission to read aloud during call?: Yes or No
We will be judging the pieces based on the incorporation of the chosen theme(s), the ease of reading, how complete the story is, and community vote. Grammar will not be a huge deciding factor in judging; we care more about the story you have to tell!

The prizes for winning can be transferred to someone else if you so choose, but you must tell any staff member that contacts you about winning before the prize is given.

The winners will receive a trophy and will also (with their permission) have their pieces placed in the ILC Showcasing thread!
 
  • Love
  • Bucket of Rainbows
Reactions: 10 people
it's not original, but it's true. I love this contest
 
I'm debating.....and I have an idea for a piece, inspired by true events.
 
  • Sympathy & Compassion
  • Like
Reactions: pinnedwing and XIII
Some of these themes giving me ideas lol
 
Today marks the halfway point for getting your submission in!
 
Only two weeks left to submit!
 
Quick question! I kind of want to loosely tie the story I wrote for the BONER BONE-ANZA and this together. Very, very lightly; needing no understanding of the two at all. Is that okay?
 
Quick question! I kind of want to loosely tie the story I wrote for the BONER BONE-ANZA and this together. Very, very lightly; needing no understanding of the two at all. Is that okay?

So long as the story is not explicit, I don’t see why not!
 
Only one week left!
 
Blessings to ya for these reminders. Seriously, homie, thanks. <3 I really struggle with memory loss problems and these reminders have helped immensely. I would have been sad if I couldn't submit my piece.
*gets back to writing*
 
Blessings to ya for these reminders. Seriously, homie, thanks. <3 I really struggle with memory loss problems and these reminders have helped immensely. I would have been sad if I couldn't submit my piece.
*gets back to writing*
I'm glad they've been useful! I understand completely how time can really pass by faster than you expect. Excited to see your submission!
 
Submissions are due tomorrow!
 
Oop.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: wren.