Rules and How to Apply
Introduction
Learn more about the Fabuly Writer’s Challenge on our introduction page.
Rules and Guidelines
This is an unofficial summary of the rules of the contest. Kindly refer to the official rules in our Terms and Conditions.pdf.
Entry Fee
- There is no entry fee.
Format
- Word limit: Maximum of 2,000 words
- Theme: An Unexpected Encounter
Grand Prize Includes
- 500 USD
- A professional illustration inspired by your short story.
- A professionally narrated audiobook version of your story.
- Featuring your story on Fabuly’s website, accompanied by your brief biography and a link to your website or preferred social media profile for additional exposure and recognition.
Deadline
- The official deadline is December 15th, 2024.
- However, we might stop accepting submissions if we receive more than 200. Therefore, we advise you to submit your short story as soon as it's ready.
Evaluation Process
The Fabuly Writer's Challenge consists of three distinct rounds to determine the grand prize winner:
First Round: Editorial Team Evaluation
- Review of Submissions: All accepted entries will be reviewed by our editorial team.
- Evaluation Criteria: Stories will be assessed based on creativity, originality, relevance to the theme "An Unexpected Encounter," narrative quality, and potential to engage readers.
- Selection of Semi-Finalists: A number of stories will be shortlisted as semi-finalists to proceed to the next round.
Second Round: Public Voting (January 15th, 2025 to February 15th, 2025)
- Featured on Fabuly App: Semi-finalist stories will be published on the Fabuly app for a duration of one month.
- Enhanced Accessibility: Each story will include an automatically generated audiobook synchronized with the text and accompanied by a standard book cover, allowing users to read or listen as they prefer.
- User Engagement: Fabuly app users can explore the stories and vote for their favorites throughout the one-month period.
- Selection of Finalists: A few stories receiving high engagement and votes will advance to the final round. Users feedback will serve as an indicator for selecting the finalists.
Final Round: Jury Evaluation (February 16th, 2025 to March 2nd, 2025)
- Expert Panel Review: A panel of judges will thoroughly evaluate the few finalist stories.
- Assessment Focus: Judges will consider overall storytelling quality, originality, creativity, and how effectively each story embodies the contest theme.
- Grand Prize Winner: Based on the judges' assessments, one outstanding story will be selected as the grand prize winner.
Intellectual Property Rights
- Non-Selected Entrants: If your submission is not selected as a semi-finalist, you retain all rights to your work.
- Semi-Finalists: If your submission is selected as a semi-finalist, you retain all rights. However, you grant us a temporary, non-exclusive license to generate an audiobook of your short story and to feature it on the Fabuly app in both text and audio formats for a period of one month. This one-month period begins when your story is first made available on the app.
- Contest Winner: If you are selected as the winner, you retain all rights to your short story, including the professionally produced audiobook and illustration. To allow us to keep your story on the Fabuly app and website, you grant us a perpetual, non-exclusive license to the ebook version of your short story, as well as the audiobook and illustration. We will not publish your short story in print format.
Ready to Submit Your Story?
Now that you're familiar with the rules and guidelines, simply click on the link below to join the contest. No entry fee required.
Good luck, and we can't wait to read your story!
Submit your story here.
Note: The deadline might be extended if we don't receive enough submissions.
More Questions?
Visit our FAQs & Contact page.
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Fabuly is a free audiobook app that enables you to access thousands of classic novels and short stories as ebooks or audiobooks. We also have an immersive mode that enables you to read while listening at the same time.
