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Taking Submissions: Spooky Samhain 2018 Contest

August 31, 2018

Deadline: August 31st, 2018
Payment: Contributor’s copy and 1st place: 100 dollars plus contributor’s copy, 2nd place: 50 dollars plus contributor’s copy, 3rd place: 25 dollars plus contributor’s copy

OPQ Presents:

The 2018 Spooky Samhain Stories Contest

Do you have a scary story to share? Fiction, fact, or otherwise, share your prose with us and you, too, can win up to $100* and get your story printed. Enter your submission today! Contest will be judged by a panel of three impartial judges, all of whom have a vested interest in the unknown. Scare us, terrify us, and thrill us!

 

Contest Rules:

  • Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please only send us one story at a time and if your story is accepted elsewhere please email us and let us know ASAP.
  • Many will enter, few will win.
  • Entrants cannot be related, legally or otherwise, to OPQ staff
  • Entries must be emailed to [email protected] by August 31st, 2018 to qualify.
  • Entries must match one of the following three themes: ‘True Tales of Terror,’ ‘Spooky Semi-True Stories,’ or ‘Fantastic Frights’
  • No entry fee necessary!
  • Note: entries will be judged based on quality, thematic appropriateness, and writing chops.
  • Though we want to be scared, there are some things that are off-limits. As with our normal morality policy, OPQ will automatically reject stories that involve pedophilia, excessive gore, violence for violence’s sake, and non-consensual sex. As always, we would prefer stories that use religion and/or spirituality as an uplifting theme or a bridge towards a larger, thematic discussion, rather than being derogatory towards one specific religion. That being said, we enjoy looking forward to what your twisted imaginations come up with!

 

Themes:

Entries must follow one of the following themes:

‘True Tales of Terror’ are reserved for true experiences you’ve witnessed. Ritual gone wrong? Cryptid got a little up close and personal? Alien attacks at night? Send ’em in. We wanna see every one of them, no matter how small.

Guideline: 1k-4k words. Above or below this limit, within reason, is fine. (Not to exceed 10k words)

‘Spooky Semi-True Stories’ are maybe tall tales, maybe not. They’re more fantastic stories that the reader may not want to know are real or not. Consider a well-crafted story about a shopping mall that may or may not have undergone a quarantine that the local news covered up. The point here is that the reader questions whether the story could have happened or not.

Guideline: 3k-6k words. Above or below this limit, within reason, is fine. (Not to exceed 10k words.)

‘Fantastic Frights’ are out and out fiction, the kind of stories there’s no way to fake. We’re talking full-scale zombie apocalypse, axe-wielding clowns, and the works.

Guideline: 5k-10k words. Above or below this limit, within reason, is fine. (Not to exceed 10k words.)

Note that we cannot take characters or fiction that is not 100% original, though loving homage is always appreciated and encouraged.

 

*Prize money is divvied up as follows:

1st place: 100 dollars plus contributor’s copy

2nd place: 50 dollars plus contributor’s copy

3rd place: 25 dollars plus contributor’s copy

All 7 runner-ups have the choice to have their pieces printed in our Samhain 2018 edition, and will receive a contributor’s copy as payment for their entry.

 

All payments will be delivered via Paypal, Venmo, or awarded in person.

 

 

Got it all down? Go ahead and submit to us today!

Via: Oklahoma Pagan Quarterly.

Details

Date:
August 31, 2018