Greetings! Following the success of the 2020 Cozy Glow Short Story Contest, the Cozy Glow group is happy to announce a new contest for 2021. That so many writers and readers take joy in and adore our precocious Pegasus is not a surprise; rather it’s the lack of canon material released in the interim devoted to this precious, fragile life (given, as we know, such short shrift by the professed “Guardians of Harmony”) that is unexpected.

And so, please join us once again as we address this disturbing gap in the storyline by celebrating the ambition, courage, and charismatic leadership of the best of all possible fillies, Cozy Glow!

Guidelines

All stories must:

-Adhere to the site rules

-Be between 2.5k and 15k words in length and be completed by the deadline.

-Contain Cozy Glow as a central character and be classifiable under one of the prompts.

-Not endorse or feature any specific sexual theme beyond the existing categories and tags on Fimfiction

-Be written in English

-Be written between 20 Jul 2021 12:00 PM EDT and 20 Sep 2021 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:

1^st place: An amazon gift code worth at least $35, posting with link to story on the Cozy Glow group front page, and brief review.

2^nd place: an amazon gift code worth at least $25, posting with link to story on the Cozy Glow group front page, and brief review.

3^rd place: an amazon gift code worth at least $15, 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

-Twilight Sparkle gathers Cozy’s belongings for disposal. One object surprises her.

-Cozy makes an unusual friend.

-Cozy + Mirror Pool = Maximum Friendship Power.

-Cozy is reformed. How will she gain the trust of the ones she’s hurt?

-Cozy’s got a secret!

Genre and category specific to original story

-Classic MLP fanfic with Cozy swapped with the main character!

Adventure, any category

-As Princess Luna is delivering Cozy to Tartarus, they have an adventure.

-That pack of study buddies is off adventuring again. Time to get some real schoolwork done.

-Cozy succeeded in absorbing not only Discord’s magic, but that of Celestia and Luna as well. There’s just one problem …

Slice of Life, Sad

-In Equestria, no creature mourned Cozy’s death, except one.

-And that was the moment Cozy realized that the only one she could trust was herself.

-The last page mentioning Cozy Glow is written into the history books.

-That weird foal was being so extra specially nice to her. Rejecting the pathetic loser was going to be just the best!

Grimdark/horror

-Sure, they had won, but Cozy had the last laugh all the same.

-Cozy hugged him, and everything was better.

-They showed her how to harvest the skulls, after she’d finished playing.

Judges

the dobermans

Anonymous Judge #1

Ah, it’s a beautiful day to get Cozy.

Another user and I batted around a collaborative Cozy Glow fic idea a few weeks ago. This contest is just the kick in the flank we need to actually write the thing.

Let’s go!

Now what prompts to go for... choices, choices...

Question:
The prompt That pack of study buddies is off adventuring again. Time to get some real schoolwork done. is characterised under the adventuring genre. Is that intentional, because the prompts most obvious interpretation is that certain annoying elements are now out of Cozy's mane and she can do some proper schoolwork? It just feels like this is a prompt that lends itself well to the idea of Cozy doing some mischief at the school, ergo, not an adventure type story.

I just wanted to be sure (and I may have some idea that fits better as... well, anything but an adventure story using this prompt ).

7535563

Good question. I envisioned exactly what you described as the plot of such a story - it just struck me as belonging to the adventure genre, as Cozy would be doing something outside the realm of normal day-to-day life.

If your story fits the above description, then it should be OK.

7535504
I would like to invite you to repost the contest in the Hall of Contests [SFW] group. This is a group for spreading news about new contests and for archiving.

Thank you and hope the contest is successful.

7535599

Why thank you, I think I will.

Hooray!

I'm guessing entries also have to be complete?

7535991

Yes - I've seen a story or two tank after an amazing first chapter (or never be finished). Adding to the guidelines.

7535530

Cozy's stonks are best stonks. Could totally see her as a corporate salesfilly, like, doling out freebie stonks at the NYSE like Martha Stewart, definitely no insider trading.

Good luck!

7535504
-Not endorse or feature any specific sexual theme beyond the existing categories and tags on Fimfiction

Not many people understand this, myself included.

Site-wide blog post comment #3

7539342

This was guideline required by the site (which I was instructed to include when posting last year's contest). My interpretation is that story content must be able to be categorized under one of the existing tags.

Can I do any idea I want, or does it have to be a prompt specifically?

7539885

Your story does need to be based on one of the prompts, but as you can see, many are open to interpretation.

7535504
So I know you said Cozy had to be a central character, but I was planning something for ‘In Equestria, no creature mourned Cozy’s death, except one.’ and that seems to imply a lack of Cozy. What if it’s more about that one and their thoughts about Cozy? Would that work?

7540984

Yup!

Hmm... I would have preferred to see more stories entered in the contest, to be honest. But on the other hand, some of them were received very well. As they should, 'cause it's Cozy.

7554305
Don’t give up hope yet! There’s still another month left and some people work better under looming deadlines

7554412

I... thought it was until the twentieth of august... I was a whole moth off!

7554412
...Fine, I'll finsh my dumb fic.

7564909

Courtesy reminder: 12:00 PM is noon

oh no

Status update:

-Story evaluation is nearing completion
-Although we had 19 entries (one shy of the prize tier upgrade), considering these are rough times and we're pretty darn close, the prize tiers will be upgraded anyway!

It's what Cozy would do.