AT ANY TIME IN THE YEAR: The Author qualifies by submitting a valid story within a category and obtaining 50 votes.

AT ANY TIME IN THE YEAR: Once 25 qualified submissions (a heat) are received in a category the Curator reviews them, awards a cash Curator Award, and passes 3 entries on to the semi-finals to be reviewed by our independent panel of judges.

AT ANY TIME IN THE YEAR: Authors may receive an invitation for their story to be published in one of SOOP’s Anthologies, which are published as enough quality content is collected through our contest and the activities of our Scouts and Curators.

JULY 31st (DEADLINE TO QUALIFY) EACH YEAR: SOOP reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to provide a grace period to achieve the number of votes needed to qualify, whether across all categories or for specific categories, to achieve the needed # of submissions to declare a heat.

IN AUGUST EACH YEAR: Category Curators review any remaining entries, and issue Curator Awards/pass entries on to the Semi-Finals as appropriate. By August 31 SOOP will announce the Semi-Finalist lists and the independent panel of judges begins reviewing the Semi-Finalist entries that have been received.

ON NOVEMBER 1st (NATIONAL AUTHOR’S DAY) EACH YEAR: SOOP announces all Prize Winners.

We publish your name, title, and the synopsis you provide on our website. There is no fee to enter – your submission becomes eligible by getting 50 votes from friends, family, and other fans. 

Our interactive voting program enables authors to develop a genuine bond with prospective readers whose votes represent a spark of curiosity to know more about the stories in progress. Writers can reap the benefits of this program to gather supporters, understand their expectations, and aim for higher targets according to how they fare.

As part of our unique Fan Base Building Model, we are gathering a mailing list of interested readers and supporters to grow solid and engaging communities. Once you have qualified for an anthology project, we will contact all your voters with an offer to buy and support the Anthology. 

A vote is simply a reader’s name and email indicating a sincere interest in the synopsis you provide. Besides reaching the qualified number, no consideration is given to the number of votes to elect the winners. Winners are chosen solely based on which stories score highest with our panel of independent judges. 

1. SOOP is the promoter of this writing contest, as well as the publisher of publications in which winning entries might appear. Author reserves all rights to their work, unless and until Author chooses to enter into a Publishing Contract with SOOP.
2. Entrants must be 18 years of age and older.
3. There are no geographical restrictions; submissions may be submitted from anywhere. However, this competition and any prizes awarded are void in countries, states or other jurisdictions where such contests are prohibited by law.
4. Each submission must be the entrant’s own and wholly original work, written in English, and be a comprehensive, stand-alone short story of 250 to 5,000 words, depending upon category.
5. Poetry may also be submitted to any category for inclusion in the Contest and the Anthologies we publish. Your submission collection must consist of at least 3 and no more than 5 poems that would serve as bookends to the stories in the category, and may not exceed 400 words total. Please submit your collection as a single document in the submission form.
6. In order to qualify for prizes, submissions must be complete, clearly written, and as free as possible from spelling and grammatical errors. Submissions must also have received at least 50 votes from fans. Submissions which fail to meet these criteria will be rejected, although writers will be given the opportunity to address shortcomings and re-submit their submissions.
7. The following are examples of other reasons SOOP might reject or disqualify a submission, although this list is not exhaustive: the submission does not comply with terms and conditions, the contest guidelines, or rules; the submission or information submitted with a submission is found to contain false information; entrant is not eligible to enter the competition; the entrant cannot be contacted; the submission fails to meet or violates SOOP’s Editorial Standards.
8. Writers may submit multiple submissions, but may not submit the same submission to different categories. SOOP reserves the right to reclassify the category of any submission.
9. Each entrant must provide a first and last name, phone number, and email address with the submission.
10. This contest is ongoing and submissions may be submitted at any time throughout the year. Curator Awards will be issued each time 25 qualified submissions -in a category are received.
11. For purposes of determining semi-finalists and finalists, the submission year is August 1st through July 31st. To be included in the semi-finals, the deadline for submissions is July 31st, and the submissions must be
    qualified with 50 votes by August 15th. SOOP reserves the right to extend these dates or qualify stories with less than 50 votes at its discretion. If 25 qualified submissions are not received in a given category by the deadline for the semi-finals, then the number of qualified submissions received may be considered for the Curator’s Award at that time, or the qualified submissions may be combined with another category to create a heat.
12. Finalist awards will be announced each year on or around National Authors’ Day (i.e., November 1st).
13. Entrants of Submissions selected for prizes will be contacted at the email address provided and given a time-frame to respond to the offer of cash prizes and a publishing contract. Entrants who do not respond in the required time-frame will forfeit the prize.
14. Previously published works may not be submitted. Entries must never have been previously published, in print or online (including self-published, ebook, magazines, journals, audio, websites, blogs, social network sites), or won a prize in another writing competition. Any submission found to have been plagiarized will be disqualified.
15. SOOP is not responsible for any problems with or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, online systems, servers and providers, computer equipment, software, failure of any email submission to be received on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website, human errors of any kind, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to participants’ or any other persons’ computers related to or resulting from participation, uploading and downloading of any materials related to the contest.
16. By entering the contest, all entrants agree to release, discharge and hold harmless SOOP and its partners, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising agencies, agents and their employees, officers, directors, representatives from any claims, losses, and damages arising out of their participation in the contest or any contest-related activities and the acceptance and use, misuse, or possession of any prize awarded.
17. Winners will be decided by a judge or panel of judges, and will be notified by email at the address provided in the submission. SOOP has no obligation to inform entrants who are not selected for prizes.
18. SOOP reserves the right to vary the terms and conditions as may be deemed necessary or cancel the competition at any time for any reason.

If you want to know the status of your submission, send us an email to [email protected] from the email address you used for your entry, and please include the link to your submission voting page.

Fiction, Non-fiction and Poetry submissions are accepted across 25 literary categories listed below (Authors retain ALL RIGHTS to their submission throughout the contest):

Fiction Categories with Max Word Count:

• Fantasy – 5,000 words
• Science Fiction – 5,000 words
• Dystopian – 5,000 words
• Adventure – 3,000 words
• Romance – 3,000 words
• Detective & Mystery – 5,000 words
• Horror – 3,000 words
• Thriller – 3,000 words
• LGBTQ+ – 3,000 words
• Historical Fiction – 5,000 words
• Young Adult – 2,000 words
• Children’s Fiction – 2,000 words
• Philosophy & Culture (Sponsored by PlankSip®) – 5,000 words

Non-Fiction Categories with Max Word Count:

• Memoir & Autobiography – 5,000 words
• Biography – 3,000 words
• Self-help / Personal development – 3,000 words
• Motivational / Inspirational – 3,000 words
• Health & Fitness – 3,000 words
• History – 5,000 words
• Families & Relationships – 5,000 words
• Humor & Entertainment – 2,000 words
• Business & Money – 3,000 words
• Religion & Spirituality – 2,000 words
• Politics & Social Sciences – 2,000 words
• Travel – 5,000 words
• True Crime – 5,000 words
• Philosophy & Culture (Sponsored by PlankSip®) – 5,000 words

Poetry Collections Word Count:

Poetry collections may range from 3 to 5 poems with a combined word count of up to 400 words. Please submit your collection as a single document in the submission form.

Our independent panels of Judges will award the following prizes, on or after November 1 of 2023:

• 2 Grand Prizes of $500 for grand winners of Fiction and Non-Fiction.
• 1 Grand Prize of $250 for Poetry.
• 1st prize for each qualifying category – $50 cash prize, plus double royalties for their published submission.
• 2nd prize for each qualifying category – $25 cash prize plus 1.5 times standard royalties for their published submission.
• 3rd prize for each qualifying category – Free copy of a SOOP Anthology, plus standard royalties for their published submission.
• Curator’s Choice Award –$50 cash prize each time a “heat” of 25 Qualified Submissions is achieved in a specific category.

Click here to learn about the winners from last year.

Please complete the submissions form below to enter your story. Be sure to select the correct category from the drop-down menu. SOOP allows you to submit separate stories to as many category genres as you want, and there is no problem with multiple entries in the same category.

Once you complete the submission process, you will receive an email with a link to  your customized landing page where you can invite family members, friends, and close supporters to vote for your story. A vote requires only the person’s name and email address to keep them informed about the progress of your entry. Unfortunately, those who opt-out of future emails about your submission will have their vote revoked from your count.

Keep in mind that you must complete the requirements for each entry to validate your submission. Each submission must receive 50 votes to become eligible for prizes or a publishing contract offer.