Welcome to the 11th Bi-monthly Twilestia Contest: Mad Science Edition! Unlike most previous events in this series, it is not hosted by Knight of Cerebus, but instead by your tyrannical ever benevolent Princess Kinsley! More than usual, there are a few changes, so please read carefully! Otherwise, everyone and anyone is welcome and encouraged to participate by writing or judging!

The Premise: After a few minutes careful investigation and thorough research, the prompt will be Burning Bright. The who, what, and how of who is burning, what is bright, how it's all a metaphor for... We'll let you figure it out!

Limitations: Any and all content in the fic is legal unless the group rules say otherwise. Please check over the rules thread if you have any worries about content. If it's within the rules, it's fine. As for word count, our lower limit is 1500 so that your story can actually be, y'know, a story, and our upper limit is 35,000. Yes, that's three zeroes. Any more and our judges would be fatigued reading the lot of them. Lastly, the story you write for this contest must be original. This means that you have to have never posted it before the contest started. Stories that have been written up but not posted are allowed, including stories from the mini contests that are running/will run with this one! Reworks of stories written and posted two months ago are not. However, reworking and adapting prompts is acceptable, provided there has been significant change or expansion. Basically, you need to submit your own, original story for this contest. Editors to help polish are fine, coauthors to write half of it are less cool. If you’re unsure, message me!

Entering a story: In order to enter the contest, simply add your story in a comment in the thread of the contest. This is important. We once had an author that wanted to apply for the contest missed his chance because he forgot to do this step. If the judges don't know where to find this story, it can't be judged.

Judging: The judges for these contests are chosen on a first-come, first-serve basis, and there are three available judging slots. However, judges will be asked to use a predefined rubric to judge the stories. See below for the judging criteria we’ll use*. Judges, please be prepared to deliver your verdicts soon after the contest closes. Additionally, judges may not claim a spot until two weeks before the end of the contest. As usual, judges are barred from submitting a story.
The Judges are:
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Winnings: As always, runner-ups for third and second place will receive an advert in the form of a group comment post on them. Second place will also receive a group post about its placing, with an optional interview from a willing group member. First place will receive a position in our lovely contest box, but because it's also getting a little crowded up there will more importantly be featured on the front of the group page beneath the description. We’re also going to offer written commissions and other prizes for the winners! If you’d like to offer about 1000 words of your writing time as a prize, feel free to leave a comment and let us know. Hopefully, we can build up a pretty sizeable prize pool by the end! And as usual, all entrants and judges can choose one of the unclaimed keys from Kinsley’s personal collection at the end of the contest**.

Deadline: Entries will be due by April 23rd (11:59:59 PM, PST), giving you plenty of time to write them up before and during the final months of school and tax season.

Best of luck to all entrants, and enjoy the show to everyone! If you're so inclined, come join us on Discord!

*Rubric is subject to change as the contest progresses and we learn new details on how to best judge these contests. As such, the rubric will posted in a comment below.
**Additional terms and conditions apply. Kinsley reserves the right to distribute prizes at her discretion. Judges must have their votes in by no later than one week after the end of the contest or forfeit their Steam key. Stories must meet certain quality requirements to qualify for keys as well; entries that are clearly garbage or trolling will be deleted. While “garbage” and “trolling” may not have solid definitions, “I know it when I see it” - Justice Potter Stewart. I honestly don’t expect to apply this rule, but basically, don’t bullshit and expect to get a free game. Write a good story for the sake of writing a good story and then get the digital equivalent of a cookie.
The full list of keys available will be published at a later date and is subject to change. Keys will be distributed on a random ordering after participants have selected the keys they wish to redeem; should a key be unavailable or unredeemable, another key may be selected.

This post is reserved for prize information as it updates

4 1000 word story commissions by JKinsley
7 $10 prizes from JKinsley (1 reserved as a "secret" reward)
3 3000 word story commissions by Hyzaku (1 each for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishers of this contest)

FAQ

I'm an author; how does this "prize pool" thing work?
The intention is that, after all is said and done, the prizes will be divided up amongst the winners (i.e. top 3 finishers based on the judging results), unless the person offering the prize has put a specific condition on who may claim the prize (more on that below). As the prizes being offered grows, so do the potential winnings for each winner.

For instance, with 6 prizes on offer, we would give 1st place 3 choices, 2nd 2, and 3rd 1. As more prizes are offered, we will try to divide them up proportionally.

Why the weird multiples of word counts and dollar amounts?
Because we want to offer the winners choices in how they collect their winnings. If one doesn't care about money and would rather have a commission, for instance, or vice versa. It also means that if the pool grows, more options can be combined, like taking multiple single commissions as "one" prize for a longer total commission.

What's the deal with conditions on prizes?
Separately from the prizes for the top 3 finishers, anyone offering to put up a prize can attach conditions to it. (If you're willing to offer such a prize, message me privately here or on Discord!) For instance, prizes specific to the top finishers as a group, or whoever posts the first story that meets a certain, hidden requirement.

I want to offer a prize, how do I do that?
Get in touch with me here on Fimfiction or on our official Discord server! Keep in mind, if you're offering a prize, you might not be able to judge or submit a story. Don't let that stop you from offering, though! We can talk it out and figure out how things would apply to your situation.

For those interested in seeing what criteria stories are to be judged on, here is an outline of the rubric (again, subject to change as we learn what works and what doesn't from our mini experiments contests): Ze Rubric

5749833
This is were we would post our story, right? Also, can the relationship be platonic? Thank you <3

Yes, this is where to post the story once you're ready to submit. And platonic relationships are OK!

5749829
Hmm...do I want to judge, or not? I never have judged one of these things, and my offer for a prize of some sort still stands. But then I couldn't enter anything for it...choices choices...

5749829 Well... normally I write for these... but I'm in a bit of a slump and I need to focus on other works so...

I'll judge this time.

5750173
The relatively good news is, you'll have a while to decide. Judging spots won't be open for the taking until April 9th

5750427
See above. While I totally understand not being able to write right now, we're holding off on judging spots until we get closer to the end. I'm kind of hoping that by not letting people get "locked in" to judging early on, it'll encourage more people to step up and write.

5750828 That's a good idea. By then I will definitely know if I have a solid story to write/will have written.

I think I'll give it a go.

I'll see what I can come up with. In fact, I've had this idea just strike me after listening to a song on my Android...

5749829 First.

I may do this, but, i'm confused by the prompt. Help Kinsley?

5756391
This would be easier to work out on Discord.

Um, you could think of it in a metaphorical sense of one or both of them being really intense in some way.

And don't forget that we'll be doing a couple of mini contests with different prompts that could feed into this one.

5756588 Okay, here's my entry.

5755566
5757545
Guys.

Deadline is not for three more months.

You don't need to post something right away.

Granted, nothing stops you from submitting more than one story...

5757578 Hey, I like to get started early, besides, I have a busy writing schedule ahead of me for this year so I wanted to get this out of the way as soon as possible.

I'm guessing pre-readers aren't allowed for fic entries?

5787228
Prereading or editing might keep you from judging, but not from entering your own story! Go for it!

5787805

To clarify, do you mean I CAN show my entry to a pre reader for feedback prior to submitting it?

5789083
Sorry, I misread your question as being about you prereading for another submission and also entering your own story. Which to be perfectly clear, is fine, so long as that relationship is disclosed (at the very least, to me, if not publicly on the story itself or here in the thread).

Yes, unequivocally, you can have someone else help you edit/proofread/preread. A line only starts to get crossed when we venture towards the "coauthor" stage. Getting help to improve your own writing? Great! Incorporating their writing into yours? Not so much.

5789111

Understood. Thanks for the quick answer!

5749829 Question: would a Twilight/Luna/Celestia thing be within the bounds of this contest? Just asking idly, mostly, I don't have any specific plans, but I've been wanting to do a triple-princess shipfic for a while.

5844206 Presuming that Twilight and Celestia share that loving bond, it meets that requirement. How you fare with the judges is up to them.

5844208 Good to know. Thanks!

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Quick shout out to everyone who has expressed interest in writing or has already submitted something!

We're 6 weeks away from the end of the contest, and 4 weeks away from judging slots becoming available. There's still plenty of time to get something together, so I encourage you to get out there and write!

5849598 Time flies, huh?

5849598 Thanks for the reminder. I have a submission but I probably won't submit until the last week of the contest so I can keep tinkering with it.

Here's my entry.

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We're now 3 weeks to the end of the contest, and 1 week from judging slots opening up!

5886641 Oh boy!

5886641 Oof. Life has happened all over me lately, so I'm not sure I'll get something done in time. Wish me luck.

5886641 Yeah, at this point, I'm definitely being a judge this time. I'm working on too many other new projects, and the next entry I make for one of these contests I want to take the time to REALLY make something special.

Also, Persona 5 is coming out, and with that, my social life is gone.

5749903 5752446 5755566 5756391 5844206 5757545 5750427 5750173
We are rolling into our final week! Judging slots are open and available.

Calling a judge spot.

i'm gonna judge.

5908976 I'd judge, but I think that would put me out of the running for a chance for my entry to win.

5909042
5909061
Our first two judges! One more spot open!

5909605
Because you submitted a story, you can't judge anyway. My hope with delaying the availability of judging slots was that no one would jump in and be a judge on day 1 and then not try and write. But best of luck!

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We're entering the final two days to submit or claim a judging spot!

5917268 Alas, life happened, and as I feared I haven't had time to finish my story. I'm not even half way. It's a good idea, so I'm hoping it will fit a future contest.

5749829 I have to ask, when will we know who's stories won and whose didn't? Seriously, you never actually said when the judging will end.

5749829
It's been a while; was it canceled officially or still on hiatus?

5749829
Would it be best to say that this contest is dead at this point? Since it hasn't been judged?

6327281
We are in the process of getting it judged as you speak! Sorry for the wait.

I've submitted my judgments. Waiting on the other judges now.

6328588
Oh, wow! Thank you!

Totally forgot about this! I'll submit my judgement by Saturday! Forgive me Twilestians this year... has been hard.

5881016
5757545
5755566
I dropped the ball on this one. I had real life shit go down and it's just finally starting to calm down. But that's not an excuse for keeping you all waiting. PM me your Paypal details so I can get prizes on their way once we finish judging.

6332471
Glad to hear that things are okay!

6332471
Real life sucks sometimes. I'm sorry to hear it's been rough, but I'm happy things are settling down! Thanks for coming back to this even though you probably have a million other more important things going on.

6332471
I'll get them to you as soon as I can.