Event Flowering Love ~ Spring 2024 Shipping One-Shot Competition

Spring has indeed sprung, and it's been a long, long time since Shippers' Paradise held a good old-fashioned fanfic writing event — over five years, in fact! This time, we're collaborating with our neighboring forum section, the Writers’ Workshop, to host this event. Big thanks to them for helping run this! So without further ado...

You've got a little over a month to write a short story featuring a ship of your choice. (Note that both romantic and platonic pairings are equally welcome!)
There will be a few different springtime-related themes for you to take inspiration from, which you'll find down in the Rules & Guidelines.

Our panel of judges (that's us!) will read and consider every entry, then pick a winner in each of several categories. (Keep in mind some of these categories may not be contested, depending on the amount and variety of entries written.)

• Best Overall Fic + Runner Up
• Best Romance Fic + Runner Up
• Best Usage of Theme(s)
  
  • Best LGBTQ Romance Fic
  • Best Platonic Fic
  • Best Queerplatonic Fic
  • Best Polyamorous Fic

Additionally, there will be a bonus category in the form of a community-wide vote for the overall best story. The winner will be chosen by you!

In terms of prizes, all participants will receive a review on their fic, and the winners in each category will also receive a special, custom-made banner.

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The full contest rules are below. If you've participated in past WW events, then these will of course sound familiar to you. Please read 'em carefully!

Rules & Guidelines:

1. The themes are: "Love In Bloom", "A Dream Vacation", & "New Life".
   Try to think of some unconventional situations fitting these themes that your ship might face together. What do you imagine first?
   Your story is not required to be based on one of these prompts, but it is highly recommended, as any entries that do utilize the theme will go into consideration for our Best Usage of Theme category when judging comes around! Other than that, the context, genre, tone, and so on are entirely up to you. Flex those creative muscles and have fun!
   
   
2. The word count cap is 10,000 words. Your story should be one chapter and fewer than 10,000 words, no more than that.
   In order to hold everyone to the same standard, please check your word count using this link.
   
   
3. You have two weeks to register as an entrant, starting immediately and ending March 31st, 23:59 GMT. To register, just make a post here in this thread. Use this time to come up with a plan for your story!
   
   
4. You have seven weeks to write your entry, starting now. The posting deadline is May 5th, 23:59 GMT.
   
   
5. Do not post your story until the last two days. To afford roughly equal time for reading to the community and judges, please publish your entry within 48 hours before the deadline. Publish your work as its own thread in the Writers' Workshop, and post a link here. (Just remember to read the Writers' Workshop rules first!)
   
   
6. Judging & voting will last three weeks. Judging will conclude at midnight GMT, May 26th. Judges may also participate as writers, but they may not vote for themselves.

Remember that all normal forum and section rules apply, and please conduct yourselves with good sportsmanship!

Don't forget to register as a participant before the deadline. If you have questions, please feel free to ask us here.
Best of luck to everyone; I'm very much looking forward to reading your entries.

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Participating Writers:
Welkamo
mastermind lissi
lisianthus
guzmania
Herbizarre
citrongarde
hyliandove
escolopendror
airmail
Teebs96
dcdcdc26
Blanc
Daren
Railgun
Okido
Audrelite
demonerium
DragonRoar87
Peccaberry
whisperedwars
sleepwick
SomeRandomPerson
Hydrogenium
CyanLaser
StormyStinger

Judges:
lisianthus
guzmania
Okido
LightningTopaz
Welkamo
Lillie