Competition » 3rd Annual Cozy Glow Short Story Contest · 2:26am Jul 19th, 2022
As we all know, no filly was as determined; as steadfast; as laser-focused on achieving her goals as Cozy Glow. Undeterred by Tartarus, brutal physical and magical assaults, avalanches, and universal contempt, she battled on to fall only to the combined might of all of Equestria.
We can do no better than to emulate her fortitude. Through two years of global pandemic we uplifted her, and in these times of economic uncertainty we will uplift her again. The Cozy Glow group is delighted to present the third annual short story contest!
Guidelines
All stories must:
-Adhere to the site rules
-Be between 2.5k and 15k words in length.
-Contain Cozy Glow as a central character and be classifiable under one of the prompts.
-Be written in English.
-All chapters must be written and published between 23 Jul 2022 12:00 PM EDT and 25 Sep 2022 12:00 PM EDT. No exceptions. Post up to three entries in this folder. Stories may be sequels, but must be able to be read without knowledge of prior works.
-Entrants must be willing to reveal their country of residence (which must have an amazon website) if they win a monetary prize. If a monetary prize is not possible, an alternative prize will be offered.
-“Genre” refers to narrative type of story (e.g. adventure, mystery, etc.); “category” refers to tone (e.g. sad, comedy, dark, etc.).
Otherwise, there are no restrictions on content or maturity level. Stories will be assigned points based on the following:
-Narrative flow and cohesiveness – does it all work together as an organic whole?
-Quality of spelling and grammar – typos and copy/paste errors can ruin the most carefully engineered mood.
-Emotional impact – make the reader feel it.
-Relevance to the MLP universe – is there a connection to the characters, lore, and storyline portrayed in the show?
-Originality – take an old premise and add a new spin, or venture into the unknown.
-Style – speak to the reader in your own unique voice.
-X-factor – how sharp are the teeth?
Prizes
Monetary prize amounts will vary depending on the number of entrants. Winners are guaranteed the following:
1st place: An amazon gift code worth at least $40, posting with link to story on the Cozy Glow group front page, and brief review.
2nd place: an amazon gift code worth at least $30, posting with link to story on the Cozy Glow group front page, and brief review.
3rd place: an amazon gift code worth at least $20, posting with link to story on the Cozy Glow group front page, and brief review.
Runner-up: posting with link to story on the Cozy Glow group front page and brief review.
At 20 entrants, the monetary prizes increase by $15; at 30 entrants, they increase by an additional $15, and so on at each tier of 10 for up to 5 tiers.
Prompts
Any genre, any category
-Cozy writes a short story!
-Cozy Glow vs. …
-Twilight Sparkle gathers Cozy’s belongings for disposal. One object surprises her.
-Cozy makes an unusual friend.
-Cozy’s got a secret!
-Pipp Petals? What a loser. I can be way more popular than her!
-Luna’s villain support group gets a new member.
Adventure, any category
-As Princess Luna is delivering Cozy to Tartarus, they have an adventure.
-Cozy succeeded in absorbing not only Discord’s magic, but that of Celestia and Luna as well. There’s just one problem …
-There was only one way to fix things: destroy the unification crystal (G5 only).
-The talent contest is coming. How do I win?
Slice of Life, Sad
-That weird foal was being so extra ‘specially nice to her. Rejecting the pathetic loser was going to be just the best!
-Cozy was a straight-A student at the School of Friendship, on her way to becoming an Element of Harmony. Then there came a lesson that set her on a different path.
-Life was great until mom started barking like a dog.
-How can I make them be quiet when they’re already dead?
Grimdark/horror
-They showed her how to harvest the skulls, after she’d finished playing.
-Flurry Heart and Cozy Glow develop a strong friendship that turns into something more.
-Cozy teams up with a villain from a classic MLP grimdark (Director Dash, Pinkamena, etc.).
-All she ever wanted was a mother.
Judges
the dobermans
Anonymous Judge #1
Good luck!
Note: Wanderer D is not in charge of this contest. If you have questions that require direct messages, please go to the group and organizers.
yay Cozy Glow time
And if I enter, I can make it canon… 🙃
OOOH, I have had a story in mind since least a month! Does a fic with a prompt of "shenanigans with this group of frenemies/cozy glow gets adopted by the other two" sound like an acceptable prompt? Also, what does "-X-factor – how sharp are the teeth?" mean?
This is the perfect chance to write that Breaking Bad crossover I’ve been kicking around in my head, in which Cozy helps Walter corner the narcotics market in Horsebequerque
Maybe I'll make a Cozy Glow vs a meme character since I'm good with those
Oh dear. That sounds like an Undertale crossover waiting to happen.
More Cozy Glow Stories!
Hmm... let's try it.
I ain't participating, but I want to see what stories the community can come up with for best filly!
Yay, contest time!
Not for me since that entire arc happened way after I stopped following the show closely, but I'm always hyped for people coming together like this! Thanks to the organizers and judges for making this happen, and best of luck to everybody who decides to enter!
Neighsay: *cutely gets traumatized*
5673481
I bet you could make it work under one of the "Any genre, any category" prompts. You'd just have to decide which one and work it into the story.
X-factor is that extra something some stories have. One way of explaining it is how long it stays with the reader. If they're thinking about it long after they read it, it probably had a strong X-factor.
5673480
That would be most epic, most esteemed architect of the Factory
5673680
Thanks for the nice explanations, I'll pick "All she ever wanted was a mother" but used for the slice of life/comedy genre, with use of the same genres for maybe a second or third story submission using the prompt "Cozy makes an unusual friend," then! Would that be alright? :)
I'm very happy to announce that Dezmo has offered to increase the prize amounts by the following!!
First: $100
Second: $50
Third: $25
Be advised that this is entirely of their own volition, and winners will need to interact with them directly. Thanks again Dezmo for your generosity!
5673715
Hooray for Dezmo! Hip Hip Hooray!
I swear this contest becoming annual is a scheme to get me back into the horsefic game and by god, it might actually work this year. (Now let's see if I can actually choose a plot this time.) I don't know which prompt I can squeeze it into, but "Cozy vs" and "Cozy has a secret" can go any number of ways.
I've always assumed Cozy was a Shetland pony and was using her small size to pass as a filly.
Very interesting contest, I might give it a little whirl! Would be nice to try my writing hand at a different MLP character than my usuals.
When it says post up to three entries in this folder in guidelines, does that mean you can post three separate stories or do you have to?
5683962
You can post one, two or three - it's entirely up to you.
5684002
That's good to know, thank you for answering.
Oh wow, this isn't over yet!! I'll have to do a little brainstorming ... Tickle the ol' Cozy Glow braincells...
Just a reminder: a little less than a week to go!
5673680
I am sorry, I saw the rules, but could the deadline be made to be 11:59 tonight like most contests do? I have been busy with college work all this time, and my story is only close to complete.
The submission period is now closed. A sincere thank you to all of the entrants. We look forward to reading your submissions!
It appears that some entrants didn't understand the deadline, so a question to the entrants who did submit before noon: do you object to extending to 11:59:59 PM (midnight) 9/25/2022 EDT? A single objection will uphold the current deadline.
When are the winning entrants going to be announced?
5689035
Roughly 2 weeks.
5689219
OK! :)
5689219
5689616
Roughly one week left! I'm so nervouscited!
5691451
Thankies for the update!
Update: Anonymous Judge #1 and I have completed reading the entries, and are now determining the order of the finalists. Thanks for your patience.
5691706
Hovers excitedly
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The results are in! Check out the Cozy Glow group home page for the details. Thanks again everyone for your interest.
5692635
OwO