Hey there. My birthday is coming up and I was interested in holding a competition for FiO stories. FiO is my favorite setting for FiM on here and I desire more stories to read.

Details.

$500 USD is up for prizes.
I am judging the competition but will be taking comments on stories into account.
1st place gets $250
2nd place gets $150
3rd place gets $100

Rules.

Only Canon Compatible stories will be judged.

Contest ends at the end of the month.

Judging will take place after

You need to say in your description that it's an entry in the birthday competition.

Entries in the competition must be shared to the Canon-compatible folder of this group.

Stories posted before today 8/2/2021 will not be considered.

Thank you all for your time. I hope to see many entries to this.

UPDATE
I've decided to add another category to the competition.
Thanks to the first attempt being a Non-Canon story by Mockingbirb I'll be adding a non-canon category and a $50 prize for it.

SECOND UPDATE
As there are only a couple of entries and not enough for all the categories yet, I'm extending this out another month. The contest will end on the first of October.

ENTRIES UPDATE
Entered into Canon Compatible
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/503461/fio-drowning-in-a-digital-sea
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/502086/friendship-is-optimal-two-sides-of-the-coin
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/500796/equestria-online-speedrun-optimal-ponypad-strategies

Entered into Non-canon Compatible
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/494235/plague-year

Feel free to read the stories. I hope you all enjoy them
Winners will be announced on October 16th

Winners announcement.
First place.
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/503461/fio-drowning-in-a-digital-sea

Second place.
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/502086/friendship-is-optimal-two-sides-of-the-coin

Third place.
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/500796/equestria-online-speedrun-optimal-ponypad-strategies

Non-canon winner.
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/494235/plague-year

Congrats to the writers that entered. I'll PM you as well to get your details so I can send you your winnings.

Mmm... interesting...

Define "Canon compliant/compatible" please.

7545093
Following the rules set forth in the canon-compatible description of this group.
Also found at this link.
Canon-Compatible FiO

You might want to talk to a site moderator for a contest like this and make a fimfic-wide announcement. This is the sort of contest I would have probably entered if I'd discovered it sooner, but now there's not enough time left for me to make a good story. I'm sure there are others in a similar position.

7555532
If there are not enough entries, I'll extend it out another month.

I did not think about a site-wide announcement.

7555532
Go ahead and write an entry. I'm going to extend this out another month as there are not enough entrants for three winners.

7555609
I will enter if I can think of an idea fun enough.

But you should poke the fimfic mods about making this a sitewide announcement while you're at it. The last contest drew tons of writers with a similar prize pool, largely because people knew the contest was happening.

Agree with Starscribe.

This is the sort of contest I would have probably entered if I'd discovered it sooner

Same. I've got ideas I could probably get out for this, given a bit of time. I also suggest you bring this up on the Discord server, because a lot of us writers talk about writing stuff there.

I intend to enter.

I came up with an idea, so I'm entering.

7555609
My entry will update daily, but will be complete before the deadline. It was just too long to post all at once.

Final entries deadline is tomorrow for any of those out there still working on them.

The next two weeks will be the judging time for all entries.

Winners will be announced by October 16th.