Esthetíque welcomes all the writers and readers to this brand new contest for the month of March. This time we're inviting you to not only participate in one but in three different challenges. We hope everyone will enjoy this. Tag your friends who might be interested in this to make this contest possible!

This is a contest spread out in three parts over the duration of two months. Kindly scroll ahead to see the details.

Deadlines

These are the tentative deadlines. We may change them if the situation arises.

1st March to 30 April: Submissions
10-15 May, 2024: Result declaration

Rules & Regulations:

》Follow @esthetiquecommunity so you won't miss any updates from the community. However, this is not a necessity.
》Give a shout-out to this book to spread the word and add this book to your public and private reading list.
》We request you to be kind and patient towards everyone involved. Hate, rude comments, or harassment will not be tolerated.
》Tag 4+ users here for a fun contest!
》A participant can opt to take part in all the three challenges, or two as per their choice.
》Mature entries are allowed. However, make sure to follow the Wattpad Guidelines.
》Entries must be in English. We will open submissions for other languages once we've got enough representatives.

Queries:

If you have any questions related to this contest, feel free to ask here and tag AakritiPathak

Challenge 1:
For short story writers

For this contest, we are providing you an open stage to showcase your writing talent. Five themes have been given below, out of which you have to create a short story on any one theme. You can choose any genre, any tense, or any style of narration, and be as creative as you want.

Theme 1: Friends and Family
>> Based on theme 1, write a short story that involves the protagonist's friends and family members in main storyline. Protagonistic, or antagonistic - that's for the writer to pick!

Theme 2: Finding own self
>> Write a short story based on the theme of main lead's personal journey of finding their own, unique self. Theme is open to sub-themes such as tackling bullying, anorexia, LGBTQ+ representation, mental health, getting out of unfinished love, etc.

Theme 3: Dystopian / Apocalyptic / Magical world
>> The journey of character(s) navigating through a fantasy world, or future!

Theme 4: Vampires, Ghosts, and the sinister ones!
>> A theme that inspires you to include otherworldly creatures who possess dark aura around them. They include, but not limited to, vampires, witches, hybrids, ghouls, ghosts, etc.

Theme 5: Love, love all around!
>> Nothing for them feels as beautiful as falling in head over heels. Write about the leads who carry their hearts on their sleeves, and whose love stories restore belief in happily ever after.

Guidelines:

📌 Short stories need to be under 10k in wordcount. The minimum wordcount is 7k. The writers are free to expand their entries into novella or novel forms after the completion of this contest.
📌 Mature entries are allowed.
📌 Co-authored stories are more than welcome.
📌 Writers are requested to create a new standalone story for this contest.
📌 All the entries need to be submitted by the form provided inline to the comment section. One can also ask for submission form link via DMs. Deadline for submitting short story is 30 April.

Submission form (inline) ----->>

Prizes

The number of winners will depend on the number of entries we get. Initially, we will be announcing three winners, but if we don't have enough participants, we may change it later on to one winner. The same will be conveyed to you in due time.

Winner:
A first prize sticker and certificate.
A shout-out on the community's message board.
A detailed review of the entry story.
An interview.
A social media story addition.
Your entry will be added to @EsthetiqueShiners's reading list.

First runner-up:
A first runner-up sticker and certificate.
A shout-out on the community's message board.
Review of the entry.
Social media story addition.

Second runner-up:
A second runner-up sticker and certificate.
A shout-out on the community's message board.
Review of the entry.

Challenge 2:
For one-shot writers

Under this contest, we challenge the writers to compose a hooking story within the limit of 1200-1500 words. Four prompts are given for reference and inspiration.

Prompt 1: Your protagonist is in intensive therapy due to extremely vivid nightmares detailing someone's gruesome death. Many have said it's just their twisted imagination, but this new therapist seems to think it's much more than that.

Prompt 2: Your character never wakes up feeling rested, no matter how long they sleep for. Medication doesn't help. They decide to film themselves one night. The next morning they watch as they got out of bed around midnight, smirk at the camera, and wave before disappearing out the door for hours.

Prompt 3: Three friends are out of the town for a night. Write about the most ridiculous series of events you can think of.

Prompt 4: "What are you in here for?"
"I was bored so I blew up my house."

📌 Word limit: 1200-1500 words
📌 Deadline: 30 March
📌 Open for all the genres. Mature content is allowed.
📌 Entry can be written in an existing collection of stories, or one can create a new book for contest entries.

Submission form ------->>

Prizes

The number of winners will depend on the number of entries we get. Initially, we will be announcing three winners, but if we don't have enough participants, we may change it later on to one winner. The same will be conveyed to you in due time.

Winner:
A first prize sticker and certificate.
A shout-out on the community's message board.
A detailed review of the entry story.
An interview.
A social media story addition.
Your entry will be added to @EsthetiqueShiners's reading list.

First runner-up:
A first runner-up sticker and certificate.
A shout-out on the community's message board.
Review of the entry.
Social media story addition.

Second runner-up:
A second runner-up sticker and certificate.
A shout-out on the community's message board.
Review of the entry.

Challenge 3
For poets

To inspire the poets to write immersive poetry entries, here's a challenge for you to compose three poetries, on any three of these five given prompts.

1. Misfits: How it feels when you don't belong in a group of others.
2. Taste the Rainbow: What does your favourite color taste like?
3. Uncertainty: Think of a time in your life when you couldn't make a decision, and write based on this.
4. Numbness: What does it feel like to feel nothing at all?
5. Melody: The last line of your favourite song is the first line of your poem.

📌 Limit: 12-15 lines for each poem.
📌 It's mandatory to write three poems to enter the challenge.
📌 Poetries can be published in the existing poem collection or any anthology book, one can also create a new book to write three entries.
📌 Mention properly in form the titles of each poem.
📌 Deadline: 30 March

Submission form ------->>

Prizes

The number of winners will depend on the number of entries we get. Initially, we will be announcing three winners, but if we don't have enough participants, we may change it later on to one winner. The same will be conveyed to you in due time.

Winner:
A first prize sticker and certificate.
A shout-out on the community's message board.
A detailed review of the entry.
An interview.
A social media story addition.
Your entry will be added to @EsthetiqueShiners's reading list.

First runner-up:
A first runner-up sticker and certificate.
A shout-out on the community's message board.
Review of the entry.
Social media story addition.

Second runner-up:
A second runner-up sticker and certificate.
A shout-out on the community's message board.
Review of the entry.

We wish best luck to all the participants. Write and submit your amazing entries.