Competitions

Competitions are seeded, automated writing challenges with XP rewards. There are three kinds, and they run on their own schedule. You enter by writing something new or picking a piece you already have, and the rest happens without anyone pushing a button.

The three kinds

These are three cadences, not three different contests. Every competition is judged the same way (see below).

• Weekly prompt. A new community prompt opens every Monday.
• Genre sprint. Once a month, a sprint focuses on one writing genre.
• Flash fiction. Once a quarter, an open-genre flash fiction challenge with a tight word limit.

Each competition shows its prompt, a short guideline on what a strong entry looks like, and a target word-count range so you know the shape of a good submission, not just the topic.

How to enter

Open /competitions to see what is open right now, what is being judged, and recent results. Open a competition and choose how to enter:

• Write something new. This opens the editor with the prompt in mind. Write your piece the way you write anything else, then use Submit to competition where the publish controls normally sit. Your draft is saved to your notebook, so you keep it and can publish it later.
• Choose an existing piece. Pick one of your published pieces instead.

A few things to know:

• You can enter once per competition.
• Most competitions set a word-count range. The page shows it, and the picker flags which of your pieces fit.
• Your entry is a snapshot taken when you enter. If you edit the underlying piece later, the entry does not change.

How entries are judged

Every competition is judged by a blend of two things: the prose engine and the community vote. By default they count equally (50/50), and each competition shows its exact split on the page.

• The engine. The same engine that scores your writing practice scores every entry the same way: same formulas, same weights. No panel decides.
• The community vote. Once entries close, there is a voting window. Readers read the entries and vote. You cannot vote for your own entry, and you can change your vote until voting closes. Vote counts stay hidden until the results are in, so no one can see who is ahead mid-vote.

Voting

When entries close, the competition moves into its voting window and the entries appear on the page. Open one to read the whole piece, then use Vote on the entry you like best.

• One vote per person. You can change it any time before voting closes, and the page shows which entry you voted for.
• You cannot vote for your own entry. Your entry is marked so you can find it.
• Vote counts stay hidden until results, so the tally never sways the vote.

The page shows a live countdown to when voting closes. Once it does, the entries stay on screen while the results are tallied, and the final ranks, scores, and vote counts appear shortly after.

On the results page, your rank, your final blended score, and the vote tally are shown to everyone for free. The per-metric breakdown behind the engine’s portion, showing exactly which numbers drove it, is a Pro feature, and your Pro trial counts.

XP and badges

Competition XP counts toward your total XP and your place on the leaderboard, the same as everything else you earn.

• The top three earn tiered XP: more for first, then second, then third.
• Everyone who takes part earns participation XP.

There are badges too: one for your first entry, one for finishing in the top three, one for winning, and one for entering ten competitions.

Notifications

You get a heads-up when a new competition opens, and again when entries close and voting begins, so you can read the entries and pick a favorite. Both link straight to the competition page. You can turn those broadcasts off in Preferences under notifications.

For any competition you entered, the notices you care about always reach you no matter that setting: when voting opens on it, when the results are in, and a separate note if you finish in the top three.

Suggest a prompt

The prompts come from writers, and that can include you. Use Suggest a prompt on the /competitions page, or the Share prompts tab in /community, to pitch one. It is free for everyone. A moderator reviews it, and if it runs you are credited as the prompt author on the live competition and earn XP. Sharing your prompts covers both this and the exercise library.

November

In November, the monthly sprint becomes an open-genre month-long challenge for writers who want a bigger goal. Pair it with a Chapter to keep each other going.