[EDIT]: After some debating among the judges, we decided the minimum account age allowed will be 2020 instead of 2021. Makes more sense this way.
See: FAQ

At Bean’s Writing Group, we have always done our best to help authors, be they seasoned or novice, struggling or not, take their writing to the next level. But now we want to put the spotlight on the smaller, more recent authors – those who had joined way after the end of G4, and who might find normal contests daunting because of the competition of established, more experienced authors.

This is a chance for you guys to shine and show what the new generation can bring to the table!

For this contest, entries won't be confined to a specific set of characters, a genre, or any other narrow set of requirements. Instead, we will employ the system BWG is most known for: prompts.

There will be a single topic all writers must employ in some way. Additionally, there will be four known bonuses (see next section), which the writers might attempt to fulfill. The best three stories will earn the three podium rewards. Furthermore, for each bonus, the best story (from those that did not place elsewhere) will earn a reward of its own.

And what is "the best story"? Simply the most original and engaging one. Your creativity of your take on the prompt will determine your success, combined with the quality of your technique and overall impact. 

As far as the bonus goes, you will be judged for the quality of integration – that is, whether it’s tacked on or not – and the impact of the bonus compared to its absence. General story quality (as described above) will also play a role in the judgment, albeit a reduced one.

To preserve the spirit and aims of the contest, there are some entry rules that must be followed in order to qualify:

• All stories must state in their long description their involvement in this contest, with a link to the group.

• All Stories must be submitted to the group's contest folder. The ones from non-eligible participants must be added to an alternative folder created for them.

• No entries published before the official start of the contest (1st July 12:01 AM PDT) or after the cutoff (31st July 11:59 PM PDT). But you can start writing as soon as this announcement is posted.

• Participant accounts must not have been created before 2020, as this contest is for newer members of the community. Participant accounts must also not have been created after this announcement was posted. This is to prevent older authors joining under an alternate account.

• Participant accounts must not have ever reached 100 or more followers before the announcement of the contest. 

• No alts, of any kind, created at any point in time.

Past and current members of BWG discord server may submit entries, as can any other writers excluded by the clauses above, and they will count towards the total number of participants. These entries should be submitted in this folder. However, they will not be eligible for any prizes as stated above to avoid a potential conflict of interest.

These are the general rules, which may experience changes and revisions during the course of the contest if the need arises (although we do not expect they will). The rules are as follows:

1. Only one entry per participant.

2. Only entries submitted during the contest period. 

   1. If your entry is awaiting approval on the queue, you may notify the contest hosts as well as provide a password for the story in case it won't make it in time.
3. Maximum length of the story is 4444 words. Anything longer will be considered invalid as a submission. Stories must be at least 1000 words as imposed by the site.
4. Editors and proofreaders are allowed, including existing members of BWG.
5. No usage of machine learning algorithms is allowed, for writing, editing, brainstorming, or anything else outside the scope of regular spellchecking tools.
6. Collaboration and co-authorship is not allowed.
7. Allowed settings are: G4, Equestria Girls, G5.
8. OCs and AUs are allowed.
9. Stories can have any rating.

10. The following is not allowed::

    1. anon stories or self-inserts
    2. porn or fetish stories
    3. (explicit or not) incest, foalcon, non-con
    4. anthro
    5. crossovers
11. Each story can only attempt to fulfill two bonuses. If your story is contesting for a bonus, you must mention which bonus it is in your story's long description. This does not include the secret bonus.
12. One story can only win a single prize (podium, bonus, or secret bonus). If a story is eligible for multiple prizes, it will win the highest prize.
13. Any prize may be exchanged for “special prize” (see below). If the author does so, the monetary value will be distributed equally among all other winners.
14. Absolutely no alts are allowed, as this is not in the spirit of the contest.

For impartiality sake, the judge pool will remain secret until the contest results are out, so as to prevent participants from potentially playing the judges' tastes and biases. Rest assured there will be up to 8 secret judges involved in the judging process.

Note: A minimum of 4 judges is guaranteed, accounting for cancellations and dropouts.

-Thesmokinguy (yours truly)

-Secret judge #1

-Secret judge #2

-Secret judge #3

-Secret judge #4

-Secret judge #5

-Secret judge #6

-Secret judge #7

Prompt, bonuses, and rewards

Contest topic is: “A Secret Life”

List of bonuses:

1 "From the beginning, you know the end.."

2 "Include a bug."

3 “An unusual matchup.”

4 "The main character’s name and identity is never mentioned."

5 Secret bonus related to the group’s history.

The rewards scale with the total number of participants. All dollar amounts are in USD. The standard payment method will be paypal, but other alternatives can be entertained if need be. I personally will be responsible for handing out the rewards in a private manner. The prize list is as follows:

Additionally, every podium finalist will be posted on the main page of the group, and any eligible contestant who did not receive a prize can claim a 100-word mini-review of their story if they wish.

Any winner can exchange their prize for one of the special prizes (until capacity lasts). If a win is thus forfeit, the money will be distributed equally among all other winners. The list of special prizes is as follows:

1 - Youtube reading of the submitted story, courtesy of TheLegendaryBillCipher.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_iFUISpI08ALO1DiwFbWHw

2 - Art piece based on the submitted story, courtesy of Short-tale.

3 - Cover art for any story, courtesy of Starcoder.

4 - Reading of the submitted story done by Bean.

Contest topic is: “A Secret Life”

Start and end: 1st July 12:01 AM PDT - 31st July 11:59 PM PDT

List of bonuses:

1 "From the beginning, you know the end.."

2 "Include a bug."

3 “An unusual matchup.”

4 "The main character’s name and identity is never mentioned."

5 Secret bonus related to the group’s history.

https://www.fimfiction.net/group/215333/folder/80379/the-new-blood-contest

And that's about it! Any questions please ask in the comments section below or alternatively send me a PM here or via discord, whatever floats your boat.

We are excited to see how this goes, good luck!

So, to clarify these bonuses...

1 "From the beginning, you know the end.." - Is this the phrase itself? Or a kind of "So, I bet you're wondering how I got here" kind of thing?

2 "Include a bug." - As in an insect or bug related thing? (Glitch etc)

3 “An unusual matchup.” - A pairing of somekind (romantic, paternal, friendship, etc) that is rarely seen?

4 "The main character’s name and identity is never mentioned." - Pretty self explanatory

5 Secret bonus related to the group’s history. - Thus one stumps me. Do you mean something like "Flash knew human sunset as a kid, and his relationship with pony sunset is informed by that?"

7849720
Bonuses can be interpreted loosely or literally, or anywhere in between. For instance:
"From the beginning, you know the end." could be just the phrase being used, but it might be challenging to have it be a very significant in the story. But it could work, of course. Or it could be a structural thing where the end of the story is known from the beginning. Or a lot of other things.
"Include a bug." could mean anything one could plausibly consider a bug. I'd argue that this could include arachnids, if lampshaded. Or changelings. Or a creepy crawlie. Or a computer bug. Or...

"Matchup" is any kind of pairing. Partnership, romantic partnership, alliance, but also opposition.

"secret bonus" is a secret bonus tied to the history of BWG itself. Figuring out what the bonus is would be part of the fun of finding it, which is why it's not declared.

Keep in mind the point of the contest is to be creative. A lot of stuff can be justified, and the bonuses can be bent significantly if you can set things up right.

can't wait to meet new people!

Oooh, this sounds fun! I hope a lot of newbies join; these prizes are even better than most of the contests for all writers/veteran writers only!After this is done, you should do one for writers that joined the site during 2011-now or something like that for the veterans to get these kinds of prizes, lol. Good luck everyone!

7849807
We hope so, too! If this contest is successful, we're also planning on making one for old accounts that never made it to prominence.
A middle ground might also be in the cards!

7850059
Nice, cool! I hope so!

7849705

[EDIT]: After some debating among the judges, we decided the minimum account age allowed will be 2020 instead of 2021. Makes more sense this way.

I think you mean the OLDEST account age allowed will be 'created in 2020 or since then.'

Please forgive my fussiness about wording.

I've just started writing a last minute entry. I'm not sure if I'll finish on time to submit it, but I'll try to get it completed today. I'll still try to keep the story up to a good quality though. I think tomorrow is the last full day. I've not been able to finish today, but maybe I can finish tomorrow. There's also a good chance that I won't make the deadline, since I started late, am out of practice and procrastinate a lot. I'm not too bothered by not making it, but I will at least try to get it finished on time. I think the deadline is early morning of the day after tomorrow (UK time).

7849705
Hey, I finally finished my first draft, but its a couple hundred words longer than the limit. Is 4444 words a hard limit? or more of a guide? Just want to know how much I'm going to have to cut

7862723
We the judges agreed to let up to 10 words over the limit as a hard cap, but no more than that. The line has to be drawn somewhere.

I’m really cutting it close, but I’m nearly finished with my story.

I'm on a roll with my story. I hope I finish it in time.

I managed to finish in time.

7863131
Good luck.

How do I add the thing I wrote?
Edit: Disregard me, I'm a fool.

7863138
Yeah, I didn't know I had mature filtered.

7863136
It appears to be added already.

7863131
I took too long. Better luck next time I guess.

Is it alright that I've made a few small typographic corrections to my fic after the deadline had already passed?

7864433
as long as they are minor edits as such, we will allow it no problem. Thanks for letting us know though!