Competition » StarTrixMaud Shipping Contest! 24 July - 31 August 2021 · 8:13pm Jul 24th, 2021
We’ve got another live one, folks! ‘Tis the season for competition!
source: dmann892Welcome!
Hello, friends!
Being very new to the fandom and show, I ended up watching all nine seasons of the show in one go last year, and really fell in love with the later seasons. The characters of Starlight, Trixie, and Maud, and the interactions between them were definitely a big part of this! And I shipped them, hard, due to either the ludicrous amount of chemistry between them on-screen, or in great fanworks. But alas, all my ships were broken, or simply never came to be. But fixing that is what fanfiction is for, isn’t it? That and nothing else, surely!
So I will be hosting a StarTrixMaud Shipping Contest because I want to see more works featuring any of the four possible ships between these three characters, all of which are canon. Yes, all four are canon simultaneously, despite them all excluding each other as possibilities. Don’t @ me.
source: robukunRules!
All entries must have their main/primary ship be any combination of Starlight Glimmer, Trixie Lulamoon, and Maud Pie. All entries must be submitted under precisely one of the following categories:
- StarMaud: Starlight Glimmer and Maud Pie
- StarTrix: Starlight Glimmer and Trixie Lulamoon
- MauXie: Maud Pie and Trixie Lulamoon
- StarTrixMaud: Starlight Glimmer, Trixie Lulamoon, and Maud Pie!
This at least four (4) (Ⅳ) (死) possible combinations! An embarrassment of choices, really!
- Stories will be judged on both quality and chemistry. Quality will be about how good the story is overall. Chemistry will be about how good the story is as a story about the relationship between the characters in question.
- The story can be of any genre, not necessarily romance, as long as it prominently features a qualifying ship! Just keep in mind the “chemistry” criterion.
- Stories can be any rating or content, with the following restrictions: T-rated stories cannot have the Fetish tag, and M-rated stories cannot have the Fetish, Porn, Sex, or Gore tags. If you think your story might not be appropriate under the spirit of these guidelines, then it probably isn’t, but don’t be afraid to ask.
- EqG is allowed.
- AUs, Crossovers, sequels, and side stories are allowed, provided they work as standalone stories, with no knowledge of other creative works outside of the canon material.
- The only polyships allowed are the ones that only involve the three characters this contest is about. No other characters allowed. (Keep in mind that with EqG world and AUs in the mix, StarTrixMaud is not the only combination!)
- The contest will begin on 0001 24/07 UTC-4:00 (12:01AM of July 24th EDT). Stories published before this time will be disqualified.
- The deadline is 2359 31/08 UTC-4:00 (11:59PM of August 31st EDT). Stories must be published and completed by this time in order to qualify.
- Only one submission is allowed per category per author, which means an author may theoretically submit four separate entries.
- The word cap is 20kw. If you feel this is too restrictive, please contact me, Bicyclette, to discuss a possible exception.
- Feel free to make minor corrections such as for typos and formatting after the deadline, but any substantial story changes will count as continuing to write after the deadline and will disqualify your entry. If in doubt about what counts as “substantial”, please contact me, Bicyclette. Also, feel free to make further changes after the results are released! It is your story, after all.
- If you are a new writer and your entry ends up stuck in the moderation queue, please contact me, Bicyclette, to avoid being disqualified for this.
- Submissions will be collected in the StarTrixMaud Contest folder. Feel free to join the group and place it in yourself!
- If you feel like your idea is borderline to any of these rules, or think that despite technically meeting all these rules might go against what I might reasonably expect from a good-faith entry, or if you have any questions or want to clarify anything, please don’t be afraid to discuss it with me, Bicyclette! The last thing I want is for you to spend a lot of time working on an entry and then have it not qualify at the end. I understand there will always be corner cases to consider.
source: queenderpyturtleJudges!
At the time of this post, Including myself, there are four (四) (し) (사) judges for this contest. Here they are, in order of when they foolishly agreed to do this:
Please keep this in mind, as judges are not allowed to preread, edit, or discuss 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.
source: gallantserverPrizes!
To begin, note that all prize amounts will be sent by PayPal. If you are unable to receive money by PayPal, I, Bicyclette, will try my very best to arrange an alternative that works for you, but please be aware that it may not work out.
The highest-ranking entries in each of the categories of StarMaud, StarTrix, MauXie, and StarTrixMaud will receive $20 in American Dollars. In addition, the top three winners will gain the following in American Dollars:
- First Place: $80
- Second Place: $60
- Third Place: $30
Note that since the First Place winner is guaranteed to also be the highest-ranking entry in its category, the First Place prize is actually $100 in total!
In addition, each judge will bestow an award of $15 on any entry of their choosing, without any requirements for transparency or fairness. This is completely allowed and legal!
Bicyclette will be awarding:
- The Bicyclette Prize for the Most Literature
Gay for Gadot will be awarding:
- Gay for Gadot’s Prize for Favorite Starlight Meltdown
Lord Camembert will be awarding:
- Camembert’s Prize for Favorite Heresy (Favorite Non-StarTrix Fic)
TCC56 will be awarding:
The Tempest in a Teacup Prize
source: eonionicThat’s it!
Good luck!
source: fou dubulbeThat really was it!
Why are you still reading this? Get out of here! Go home!
And may our Lord and Savior Diagonismós Istorías continue to bless us all!
Methinks this herd could use a stallion.
Mud Briar: Well, technically...
I said a STALLION!
Mud Briar: Is Sunburst actually any better at that, though?
I mean... technically no, but he's so much better in every other way that I felt the need to openly insult you.
5559567
A stallion eh?
Well that rules out Mud Briar and Sunburst.
The sheer? Sher? How do you spell that? Anyway...
The amazing and gorgeous chaos of these three...
Its beautiful! I think I will try my first romance story at this. Be warned! It will be beautiful!!!!
Thanks for sharing such a cool contest!
I would assume this means having multiple versions of the characters (such as human and pony) shipped with each other, in which case, couldn’t you just ship two versions of Trixie, Starlight, or Maud with each other and call it a day?
5559605
Good luck with your fic!
5559607
Something like pony Trixie x EqG Trixie wouldn't fit under any of the four shipping categories, so no, that would not be eligible. But something like a love triangle between pony Trixie, EqG Trixie, and pony Starlight would count as a StarTrix ship and could be entered under that category.
5559604
If you read a little closer, you'd note that I already made that joke. And put half of it in Mud Briar's mouth, at that.
"Diagonismós Istorías"
...Eh? Sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about there, nor have my efforts so far to find another reference or a translation turned up much.
I've always had a weakness for polypony ships for some reason, and I absolutely adore all of these ships, so I am 100% on board.
My only question is, how can you be relatively new to the fandom, and a member since 2013?
5559754
Site mods don't write these announcements! They just copy/paste directly from the original, which is why the whole thing is in quotes and makes references to me directly. Glad to have you on board, though!
5559759
Ah, makes sense.
I take it 20k word is a high cap. What's the low cap?
5559803
Being publishable on the website, so 1kw.
The last one made me burst in laughter XD
Maud got the Moves!
Is there a way to stop these from showing up in my feed?
5559856
cdn-img.fimfiction.net/generic/5hha-1627225831-ddddddd-full
5559890
Thank you.
5559900
👍
Really looking forward to see the fics that come from this.
Count me in. And I've already got the perfect one.
Ooh, Startrix is one of my favorite MLP ships...
I'll have to think about some ideas.
Would a story where either of the pairings are seeking advice and something developes into more?
Question: The contest rules state "M-rated stories cannot have the Fetish, Porn, Sex, or Gore tags."
Maybe I'm just missing the obvious here, and if I am please slap me around. But doesn't that list of exclusions pretty much mean M-rating isn't allowed period?
5561157
That's perfectly fine! A story about a budding relationship is about a relationship, after all.
5561214
It's possible to write an M-rated fic that's not sexually explicit or gory, but yes, you are correct that most M-rated fics are written to have such content. But there are other heavy themes that a fic could deal with which would require an M-rating (like suicide or narcotics). Also, fics with profanity in the title are required to be M-rated regardless of content.
Jokes on you; you just rewarded me for all the procrastinating I've been doing on finishing my latest StarTrix monstrosity that is very very very very very very very very gay. And also possibly the most explicit I've ever tried to write a teen-rated story. Bicyclette, I consider you my friend. I hope you would still consider me your friend (I don't know if you do currently, but hope you do; you're pretty aight.) after you read...
Fuck Cops
Be Gay
Do Crime
cdn-img.fimfiction.net/story/346m-1625446708-482492-full
cumming to you this mid-August.
5561214
I'll slap u around 4 free if that's what ur into, bby
Sorry if I'm a silly-filly who somehow missed this, but is there a required minimum word count for this? I see the upper end is 20k, which is ... OOF! But I'm wondering what the minumum amount of K's is!
5562770
Whoops, I WAS a silly filly! I scrolled through the comments and saw someone else asked the same question, my bad!
...and I literally just wrote one of these at the start of July.
5561390
Just to be clear on this, I'm pretty sure neither of those themes require an M-rating. In most cases they should be at least T, but you don't have to M a fic if it contains those topics.
5561649
Oh my god.
my body is ready
5572733
I'm not going to lie it's the funniest story I've written in a while I really should finish it. I read some sections at an everfree Northwest after party Sunday night and got a very favorable reaction so I'm encouraged.
For anyone who might read this comment thread for updates, there has been an extension to the contest, until Sep 16 8PM EDT, as well as the addition of two new prize placements! See the blog for details. Good luck writing!
5572802
doit coward
5574333
I am
5574353
Good.
I’m reading.
BUT I NEED TO BE WRITING!
Well, I’m also writing. But I’m not writing my tripshipfic. I like it. but I can’t sit to work on it. I keep working on other things :(
This thing you wrote in the announcement, this one: 死
THAT MEANS DIE IN CHINESE!
5574371
Results here.