Are you inspired by Tolkien's work? Are you a fantasy writer yourself? Do you want to see your work in print and online? Then consider entering our contest...

Background

We're looking for short stories or short scripts inspired by any of Tolkien's works. The work must be complete—no chapters of novels or works in progress. We will publish winning submissions in the Gathering's journal In Fellowship and on the website.

The critical words here are "inspired by." A large majority of the fantasy fiction written and published since The Lord of the Rings can be considered inspired by Tolkien. While you cannot include characters, places, or languages from Tolkien's works, you still have a boundless universe of story material, as the works of authors like George R.R. Martin, Robert Jordan, Anne McCaffrey, Philip Pullman, Ken Follett, Christopher Paolini, and many, many others demonstrate.

Contest Rules

• All contestants must be Registered attendees at GOTF 2006. You can send us your entry without having already purchased your Registration, but your entry will not be considered if you have not purchased your Registration at the time of judging.
• Entries should be between 1,000 and 10,000 words in length.
• Entries must be original works written by the author or authors submitting it. (This means no plagiarism.)
• Works written in collaboration can be submitted, provided that the work is submitted with the agreement of all authors.
• Entries cannot infringe on existing US, Canadian, or international copyrights. This means that entries cannot include characters, places, or languages from The Lord of the Rings or other Tolkien works, or from the films, or Professor Tolkien himself.
• Only one entry per author or collaborative authors.
• Please—no entries that would not be G-rated for language, violence or sexual situations.

We are not trying to make life difficult; we're just pointing out that since winning entries will be published, we must obey copyright laws. Tolkien's name, his characters, languages, stories, and place names are licensed from either The Tolkien Estate or by Tolkien Enterprises. Accepting an entry that infringes on these licenses and copyrights would violate licenses from The Tolkien Estate and possibly subject us to other rights violations as well.

Age Categories

Right now we are planning on three age categories:

• Age 12 and under
• Age 13 to 20
• Age 21 and older

If we do not receive a minimum of five entries per category, we'll combine the categories.

Judging

Entries will be judges by a panel consisting of members of the Gathering staff and some of our guests, to be announced.

Prizes

There will be a winner and two honorable mentions in each age category judged, and a Grand Prize winner.

Prizes to be announced.

How to Submit Your Entry

• Send your entry to Jessica Burke at Cochair@herenistarion.org no later than May 30th., 2006.
• The subject of the email should be: "Literary Competition Entry".
• Please attach your entry to the email, in the following format:

1. It should be a Microsoft Word document (if this causes a problem please contact us beforehand).
   
2. Format your entry in Times New Roman, 12 point font.
3. Make sure it is double spaced and has page numbers.
4. Type your name at the top right hand size of each page.

• The entry MUST include your real name. Screen names or pseudonyms may be used, but the entry will be rejected unless we have your real name. In order to enter this competition, we will need:

Questions? Contact Jessica at Cochair@herenistarion.org.