Deadline: July 31st, 2019
Payment: Contributor’s copy with chances at a $25, $50, or $100 prize!

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 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.
• We are seeking original fiction only.  In other words, NO REPRINTS.
• Many will enter, few will win.
• Entrants cannot be related, legally or otherwise, to OPQ staff
• Entries must be submitted via our Green Submissions Manager (located here ) by July 31^st, 2019 to qualify.
• Entries must match one of the following themes: ‘True Tales of Terror,’  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.  Considering there are privacy issues involved, please use pseudonyms.

Guideline: 1k-4k words.  Above or below this limit, within reason, is fine.

 

‘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: 1k-10k words. Above or below this limit, within reason, is fine.

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:

1^st place: 100 dollars plus contributor’s copy

2^nd place: 50 dollars plus contributor’s copy

3^rd 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.