Announcing: The M/M Shipping Contest IV: 2024 Sep 08 - Oct 19

copied from the forum post after the break!

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commissioned from: daOtterGuy

Hello!

One year has passed since the previous edition of this contest, and male/male romance fics remain not only underappreciated on this site, but not even given a fair chance to shine. To encourage and support these stories that we love, we are here to hold this contest again!

In short, like in the previous editions, we are looking for stories about stallions¹ kissing² other stallions. You will have until until 2024 Oct 19 to write and publish a story centered on such a ship!

¹ "Stallion" here refers to male adult/teenager of any species: ponies, griffons, Changelings, or even technicolor hominids!
² Kissing may be substituted by longing, heartbreak, and other less happy romance-related themes if desired!

Judges!

As returning judges, we have 

• Bicyclette, who is me,

• Miller Minus, who was the winner of the M/M Shipping Contest I with 

  TCatch Us If You Can

  • MLP: FiM
  • Romance
  • Adventure
  • Drama

  King Sombra and Troubleshoes Clyde travel across Equestria to find Sombra’s missing horn. Twilight Sparkle follows their trail.

  • Twilight
  • King Sombra
  • Troubleshoes

  Miller Minus · 18k words  ·  120  10 · 2k views

  , and

• Vivid Syntax, who was the winner of the M/M Shipping Contest II with

  TAnd You Said Yes

  • MLP: FiM
  • Romance
  • Sad
  • Slice of Life

  While preparing for a sad celebration, Fashion Plate and Rivet reminisce about a lifetime of happiness.

  • Death
  • Sex
  • Profanity
  • Other

  Vivid Syntax · 22k words  ·  49  10 · 712 views

  . In addition, we are honored to announce that we will also be joined by

• AltruistArtist, who was the winner of the M/M Shipping Contest III with

  TReward Prefers Risk

  • MLP: FiM
  • Romance
  • Drama
  • Slice of Life

  Stygian struggles to see Modern Equestria as a world he can live in. Sunburst aspires to help change that.

  • Sex
  • Suicide / Self Harm
  • Sunburst
  • Stygian

  AltruistArtist · 35k words  ·  88  6 · 959 views

  !

Please keep in mind that judges are not allowed to preread, edit, or brainstorm any entries with the author before the contest results are released! In addition, judges are asked to withhold commenting on entries until after the release of contest results.

Prizes!

Though in the past we have been limited to cash prizes, this year we have something special! AltruistArtist has graciously offered to draw artwork based on the winning fic! To give you a sense of how amazing that is, here are some more lovely examples of their art in addition to the cover of their winning fic above:

The base prize pool will be $220, with minimum prizes for the following places on the podium:

• First Place: $100 + 1 art based on the fic by AltruistArtist
• Second Place: $70
• Third Place: $50

Also, for every entry into the contest, $10 will be added to the prize pool, expanding the value and number of the prizes. In addition, for every entry into the contest, $10 will be donated to OutRight International, an organization aiming to eradicate the persecution, inequality and violence lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ) people face around the world.

Note that all prize amounts will be sent by PayPal. If you are unable or unwilling to receive money by PayPal, please contact me, Bicyclette, to try to arrange an alternative. (In the past they have included donations to agreed-upon charities, and money being sent to other writers.)

Rules!

1. As I, Bicyclette, must interact with all entrants, please keep in mind my DNI policy, which disqualifies accounts with published fics of a certain subset of pornographic material. This is the only requirement based on factors outside of the submission itself.
2. All entries must have their main/primary ship be an M/M pairing (or M/M/M polyship, or love triangle, or what have you). The story does not have to be a romance, or a happy one, as long as we can see the dynamics and chemistry that the stallions have or have once had!
3. Trans stallions are more than welcome! Past prize winners involving trans and nonbinary characters have included All the Boys I've Loved Before and The Measure of a Stallion.
4. Stories can be of any rating or content, though we ask you to stay away from extreme content (fetishes, extreme gore, etc.) and porn without plot.
5. R63 of canon female characters, AUs, crossovers, and OCs are all allowed. But judges are not guaranteed to know anything outside of G4 and G5 canon material, so please keep this in mind!
6. Stories must be published and complete between 2024 Sep 08 8PM ET and 2024 Oct 19 8PM ET to qualify.
7. Authors may submit as many stories as they wish, though each author may only win one prize.
8. There is a hard cap of 50kw total between all entries by a single author. However, we officially encourage quality over quantity!
9. Submissions will be collected in the M/M Shipping Contest IV (2024) Entries folder. Feel free to join the group and place it in yourself!
10. If you have any questions about the contest not covered in this post, please feel free to PM me, Bicyclette.

That's it!

Please make sure to join the group if you are interested, since any updates to the contest, as well as the eventual results, will be posted there.

Also, feel free to submit any entries to other contests if they allow it! Here are some that are currently running as of this writing:

• The Dumb as Doornails Contest, ending 2024 Sep 30.
• The Cozy Glow Short Story Contest #5, ending 2024 Oct 07.

Best of luck, and good shipping!

Comments

[FrIgIdToStY]

So excited for the fics this contest will bring thanks for the heads up.