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

My story is stuck in the submission queue, I'm not sure if it will be approved in time for the deadline!