Sweek Flash Fiction Competition: #MicroPalace

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for our next micro-fiction contest. Another month to give you another opportunity to win 50 USD – and to become a better writer of course. The theme for this round of the Sweek Flash Fiction contest is very mysterious and medieval. Think of king and queens and big royal parties, the contest for May will be #MicroPalace. Write a story that includes the word ‘palace’ and see how creative you can get. What comes to mind when you see the word ‘palace‘?

Last month’s micro-fiction contest was all about the word ‘boat’ and with over a 100 entries we picked a few that really stood out. Check out our social media channels to find out who won. Goodluck in this round and we can’t wait what you come up with!

 

PLEASE NOTE

• There will be no longer any ‘Best Feedback’ prize. Nevertheless we encourage you to comment on stories and help the Sweek writing community develop as a whole.
• The popularity prize will only be awarded once per writer, for all round. Hence, winning the popularity prize for one micro round will make you ineligible for winning it again.

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SUMMARY OF THE CONTEST

• Write 250 words (max.) of prose including the word ”palace” within the story.
• Add tag #MicroPalace – either in the main title of the story, in its description or tag(s) section to take part in the contest.
• It’s international – you can participate no matter where you are from although entries marked as #MicroPalace must be written in English. 
• You can participate with this contest even if you have already participated/won previously.
• Opportunities to grow – this is your chance to get discovered and published via Sweek Publishing!

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HOW TO PARTICIPATE

1. Download the Sweek app or use our website.

   Website: https://sweek.com/
   Android app: http://bit.ly/SweekforAndroid
   iOS app: http://bit.ly/SweekforiOS

2. Log in or create an account.
3. Click on ‘My stories’ and ‘Start a new story’ to upload your story.
4. Tag #MicroPalace in the title, description box or tag(s) section – find this at ‘Story Details’. Then publish your story.
5. Lastly, don’t forget to share your story with your friends and family to increase engagement and awareness. You can be smart by sharing it on all your social media channels as well!

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DEADLINE

Open submissions: 1st May – 24th may (23:59 CET)

Winners announcement: 31rd of may

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PRIZES

Also very important to know, what will the prizes be?

The Best Story

• 50$ US
• A special ‘Best Story’ badge to add on your story cover
• Getting published in the Sweek bundle book
• A free copy of the bundle

The Most Original Story

• A special ‘Most Original‘ badge to add on your story cover
• Getting featured on the Sweek ‘featured’ category list

The Most Popular Story

• A special ‘Most Popular’ badge to add on your story cover

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HOW DOES IT WORK?

A step-by-step guide to give you the best writing experience.

1. Every round gives you a new word or sentence that you must include in your story. It can be open topic or a specific theme you write about.
2. Only prose is accepted.
3. You can join the contest at any time, even if you didn’t take part in the previous rounds. The winners and shortlisted authors of the earlier editions are welcome to participate in the following editions.
4. You have 3 weeks to write, then the jury members along with the Sweek editorial team will be judging the entries.
5. The winners and finalists will be personally contacted through e-mail and will also be announced on our social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), blog and e-mail on the day of announcement.

How will be the winners be chosen?

1. The ‘Best Story‘ prize will be based on writing style, the plot development of the story, originality, the overall correct use of the English language (including grammar and punctuation) as well as the interpretation of the given prompt.
2. The ‘Best Story‘-winner will receice $50 US and will be published in the Sweek Micro Fiction book with all the shortlisted stories via Sweek Self-Publishing.
3. The ‘Most Original Story’ must have an unexpected plots twist/ending, present unique insights or be written on a noteworthy topic.
4. The ‘Most Popular Story‘ will be determined by the total number of likes.
5. The shortlist (excluding The Most Popular Story) will be featured on Sweek and published in a bundle.
6. There will be one winner selected in the Best Story category, on in the Most Original category, and one story will be designated as the Most Popular Story. The latter prize awarded per writer, and as such, you cannot win Most Popular Story Twice.
7. The shortlist will include 10-20 titles (all will be published in the bundle). If there are enough high-quality stories selected by the jury, the longlist will also be announce. However, the titles on the longlist will not get published in the bundle.
8. The next round will be announced on 03/06.

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RULES

Read the guidelines and rules carefully before participating in this contest to prevent misunderstandings.

1. You have to be 13 years or older to participate – younger participants need their parents’ permission.
2. This is an international contest – which means it’s open to every country, however when submitting your #MicroPalace story, it has to be written in English. (If you participate in another language than English, make sure that you write a correct language-specific tag.)
3. The story cannot exceed the maximum of 250 words.
4. The story has the #MicroPalace tag included. Either in the main title of the story, the description box or tag(s) section.
5. The story must be created by you. Co-writing is accepted, but the prize has to be share. Plagiarism is strictly prohibited and actions may be against those involved.
6. The story must be submitted before the deadline. You will be disqualified if you edit your story afterwards.
7. You can participate with multiple entries.
8. You can participate with any round of the contest at any time.
9. The story can be any genre, except not poetry. E.g it can be a combination of young adult, romance, fantasy, science fiction and crime.
10. The most popular story is determined by the number of likes on Sweek and needs to meet quality requirements determined by the Sweek team. The deadline for like is 28th of April. Falsification of likes and followers will lead to disqualification. Can only be won once per writer.
11. You will be disqualified and deleted for spam comments/messages of your story for promotion (except for a special story dedicated to promotion).
12. If the winners do not respond within a period of two weeks, the price will be given to the second place.
13. By entering in this contest, you give Sweek the right to publish your story in a book. In case the author object to such, he or she must state in the short description that Sweek cannot publish the story in any way. (print or e-book)
14. The cash prize will be transferred via PayPal or by bank transfer in case the winner lives in Europe. (Sweek bears the transfer costs). In special cases, the money will be given via gift card for example if creating a PayPal account is impossible.
15. Sweek is not responsible for currency conversion rate at the time of transferring the cash prize.
16. By participating in this contest the user acknowledges that he/she is aware and accept the rules of said contest.

 

THE JURY MEMBERS

 

 

 

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FAQ

Answers to all the Frequently Asked Questions.

1. WHAT IS THE WORD LIMIT?
   250 words max.
2. CAN I PARTICIPATE WITH MORE THAN ONE ENTRY?
   Yes, you can.
3. IS THE CONTEST AVAILABLE IN OTHER LANGUAGES THAN ENGLISH?
   Yes, the contest is running in the following languages: English, Dutch, German, Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian.
4. HOW DO I ADD A TAG AND EDIT MY STORY?
   You need to add it to your Story Details (don’t forget to press Enter on the website).
   For each contest, you can edit your story as many times as you want before the deadline. To access your story: log in, go to ‘my stories’ and click on your story. If you want to edit your story title/description, go to the 3-dot menu in your Story Dashboard and click Story Basics; to edit your tags/other story details, go to the 3-dot menu in your story dashboard and select Story Details.
5. HOW DO I KNOW WHETHER MY STORY IS PARTICIPATING IN THE CONTEST OR NOT?
   If you see the tag on your story page after you searched for it, it is participating. If you are not sure, contact us via Facebook and we can check it for you.
6. HOW DO I PROMOTE MY STORY?
   The absolute best way is to promote your story via your own social media and network. You can also promote it on the Sweek platform (for the official ‘Promote Your Story’ post, created for each round) or share it in the Sweek group on Facebook: Sweek Fan Group. The link to share your story can be found when you search for your story in the search bar and click on it. Here you’ll find the share button on the story info page!
7. DO I GET A CONFIRMATION OF PARTICIPATING IMMEDIATELY?
   No, but if your story is tagged, you are definitely participating. However, if you’d like to know for sure, please ask us.
8. HOW CAN I SEARCH FOR MY STORY?
   The current search is based on the title, the description and the tag. So you can search for either of those.
9. WHAT IF I CAN’T FIND MY STORY ON SEARCH RIGHT AWAY?
   No worries, sometimes it can take a few minutes after publishing to become visible on all the platforms. If you still can’t find your story the next day, please contact us.
10. WHERE WILL THE WINNERS BE ANNOUNCED?
    We will e-mail all the shortlisted authors within 3 days after the announcement, but you can find them first on our Facebook page!
11. WHEN CAN I EXPECT THE SWEEK MICROFICTION BOOK?
    We will bundle the winners and finalists of each round and publish them via Sweek self-publishing (every 3-4 rounds, depending on the number of shortlisted stories). If you do not wish for Sweek to publish your story participating in this competition, please indicate this in the short description of your story.