The Writers’ Playground Tenth Playground Challenge:

A Fiction Short Story Competition

All text and otherwise posted or distributed materials in connection with Writers’ Playground’s Fiction Short Story Competition is the copyright of Writers’ Playground, LLC. Writers in connection with the competition will retain all rights to their own work. No other distribution, copying, or any other use of these materials is permitted, absent the express written consent of a managing member of the LLC. All rights reserved.

Official Rules

(Official Terms and Participation Agreement for the Tenth Playground Challenge)

The Official Rules of this competition, as set forth, are made and entered into between Writers’ Playground, LLC and the registering individual. By registering for this competition and paying the entry fee, the participant accepts the Official Terms and Participation Agreement in its entirety. The participant and the LLC herby agree to and are bound by the rules and conditions as follows:

All registrants hereby agree to take part in the Tenth Playground Challenge scheduled to take place between January 9, 2025 - January 19, 2025.

All contestants that register for this competition shall be deemed to have carefully read and agreed to all of the text within this Official Rules and Participation Agreement, as well as all text posted or emailed regarding this competition.

All times in relation to Writers’ Playground, LLC and this competition are (New York) Eastern Standard Time.

Writers’ Playground, LLC will not use or solicit any entered stories in any way, other than the posting of the winning stories to the website, without express written permission from the writer.

The Entry Fee ($28 USD) is due on or before the close of registration at 2:00pm EST on January 9, 2025. The entry fee must be received in full by the aforementioned deadline to participate in the Tenth Playground Challenge. Once the entry fee is received and registration is completed online, the entrant will receive a confirmation email to the email address identified on the registration form. If an entrant does not receive the confirmation email, please reach out to us via email right away. An additional email will be sent at the commencement of the competition, 8pm EST on January 9, 2025. The commencement email will contain the specific prompts unique to this competition and instructions on how to submit. If there is any reason the entrant desires to withdraw from the competition, they must request a refund for their entry fee at least 24 hours before the competition is scheduled to begin. Refunds must be requested in writing by email, with the subject reading “Refund Request,” to admin@writersplaygroundllc.com. Refunds will then be completed within 10 days of the request. If there are less than 24 hours before the commencement of the competition, the entry fee will become non-refundable.

This competition is an exercise of skill and CANNOT be considered gambling, or a game of chance whatsoever.

This competition is for adults. With that being said, anyone under the age of 18 may sign up with express written permission from a parent or guardian. Said guardian must register that underage individual, and send us an email stating their name, the name of the participating individual, and that they have read and agree to this rules and participation agreement.

This competition is open to international participants.

Prompt Rules

The Tenth Playground Challenge is set to commence at 8pm New York Eastern Standard Time on Thursday, January 9, 2025. Upon commencement of the competition, all entrants will receive an email containing the prompts and instructions for submission. The prompts will contain a list of 5 characters/character types. The entrants must select one of these characters/character types for their story, and this character doesn’t necessarily have to be the protagonist of their story, but they must play a significant role in the story. The prompts will also include a list of 5 possible settings, and the entrants must choose one. Finally, the prompts will contain one thing that must be a part of every story. This “one thing” could be anything and must appear in every participant’s story. It can play a major role or simply be mentioned in passing, but it must appear at some point. If the entrant does not adhere to the prompts and use one of the listed characters, one of the listed setting, and the “one thing” that must appear at some point, the entrant will be disqualified from contention for the prizes.

The prompts ensure that no entrant shall gain any advantage whatsoever. All entrants must relegate the writing of their story between the designated times. The entrant will have complete freedom to write in any genre/style to their liking and can take the prompt in any direction that they see fit.

It is the responsibility of the entrant to track all relevant competition dates, so they know when to expect our commencement email. If an email is not received by 8:10pm EST on the date of commencement, it is the responsibility of the writer to reach out via e-mail at admin@writersplaygroundllc.com. If the entrant received their confirmation email upon registration, this should not be an issue. Check Junk/Spam Folder before sending an email requesting the prompt/submission instructions.

Entrants must submit all stories via email to the specific email address designated for the submissions of this competition. This email address will be included in the commencement email. The completed stories must be received by 11:59pm EST on Sunday, January 19, 2025 (New York EST). All entries that are not received by the LLC at, or prior to this time, will be disqualified from contention.

The maximum length of the stories is 3000 words. A hundred-word grace limit will be given, but any story with more than 3100 words will not be read and will be disqualified from contention. We use/accept word-counts from GoogleDocs and/or Word Docs.

The entrants must submit their story as a Word Document (.docx) or as a PDF. The name of file must be the title of the short story. The body of the submission email should include the author’s name, the title of their story, the word count, and a tag line (one to two short sentences telling us what the story is about without spoilers). For reasons of anonymity, the author’s name should not appear anywhere on the story itself.

Copyright – Writers will retain all rights to their own stories. The winning writers hereby agree to allow Writers’ Playground, LLC to post the winning stories to the website. Because the writers may be working with similar characters and settings, the LLC accepts absolutely no responsibility for copyright disputes between participants.

All stories must be created and written during the given time period of the competition, January 9, 2025 - January 19, 2025. Naturally, Writers’ Playground, LLC reserves the right to disqualify any entrant for a submission that is deemed plagiaristic or otherwise unoriginal to the writer. Writers should not use song lyrics in their writing, unless those song lyrics are in the public domain, or are original to the writer.

Writers’ Playground, LLC reserves the right to disqualify any participant found to be in violation of any of the rules within this Rules & Participation Agreement.

The judges of the competition are experienced writers, they have been published, worked as Fiction Editors for literary magazines, and they have studied literature and creative writing at the graduate level of accredited Universities. They have been deemed qualified to select the winning stories solely in the discretion of Writers’ Playground, LLC. Entrants must disclose in writing to the LLC any bias or conflict of interest which they are aware of that may affect the results of the competition. If any bias or conflict of interest is found to occur, said entrant will be disqualified and will receive a full refund of their entry fee.

The employees, family members, friends, and affiliates of Writers’ Playground, LLC and its members and managers, may not enter this competition.

The judging will be anonymous as to curb any potential subconscious bias but, in the end, the results are fully at the discretion of the judges.

The timing of the results will be determined by the amount of submissions at the close of the competition. Writers’ Playground, LLC expects results to be given within 12-14 weeks of the close of submissions. The judges will do everything in their power to get the results back to the entrants as soon as possible while giving each story the time and attention that it deserves. Writers’ Playground, LLC will regularly update each entrant as to the timing expected of the results. All entries will receive feedback unless they are found to be in violation of any of the rules or regulations and therefore disqualified.

The top ten stories as selected by the judges will receive prizes as listed on the website. 1st Place $500 - 2nd Place $475 – 3rd Place $425 – 4th Place $375 – 5th Place $325 – 6th Place $275 – 7th Place $225 – 8th Place $175 – 9th Place $125 – 10th Place $100. 10 Honorable Mentions will be awarded and each will be awarded a prize of $50. All prizes are in USD. All prizes will be forwarded to the corresponding writers within 30 days of the final decision. Prizes can be dispersed by online transaction via PayPal or Venmo at the discretion of each winner. Writers’ Playground, LLC will also work with a participant if, for some reason, another method of payment is required. The specific details will be discussed directly with the winners through the email address they registered under and used throughout the competition. Other than these prizes, each participant hereby acknowledges that the Tenth Playground Challenge is without compensation of any sort.

Indemnification - Hereby each entrant indemnifies, releases, discharges, defends, and holds Writers’ Playground, LLC (and all its members) harmless from any and all claims, losses, damages, obligations, expenses, penalties, settlements, litigations, judgments and any other liabilities of any kind whatsoever (including without limitation attorney’s fees and costs incurred by Writers’ Playground, LLC), arising out of the creation, production or other use of any participant’s entry, and any other activities which relate to any entry or this competition whatsoever. This includes, but is not limited, to any third-party claim as to the rights or ownership or violation of any entered story whatsoever. This includes any other liability of any kind that arises out of participation in this competition.

All entrants hereby acknowledge that they are individually responsible for all equipment necessary for participation in this competition. Each entrant shall bear all expenses relating thereto and is strictly responsible for any and all damages or claims relating to any equipment used. Writers’ Playground, LLC is only agreeing to provide the Official Rules and the competition in which the entrant is willing and intending to be a part of.

It is the sole responsibility of each entrant to back-up files and retain copies of all work or entries concerning this competition. Writers’ Playground, LLC is not responsible for any participant’s failure to do so. Writers’ Playground, LLC will not be held responsible for any lost, late, misdirected, damaged, otherwise ineligible entries; or any mishaps or electronic mistakes of any kind, which may result in any lost files or any additional technical issues that may occur. It is the responsibility of each participant to back-up and save all their files, and to make sure that a confirmation email is received upon submission.

The entrant hereby grants Writers’ Playground, LLC the absolute right to post the entrants full name, City, State, and title of entry on www.writersplaygroundllc.com, press releases for purposes of publicity, and on mailing lists, when announcing competition winners. Writers’ Playground, LLC will always ask for express permission to use any quotes from emails or written submissions for promotional purposes of Writers’ Playground, LLC.

It is the responsibility of each entrant to frequently check the website and the entrant’s incoming email throughout the full duration of the competition to ensure that all communications from Writers’ Playground, LLC are received.

Any State laws, or regulations or requirements from another jurisdiction, may be subject to change at any time. Accordingly, Writers’ Playground, LLC reserves the right to make any such changes deemed necessary in order to become, or remain, compliant within the laws and regulations of any such district at its sole discretion including in the unlikely event that such a drastic action as termination of the competition thereby is deemed necessary according to the laws or regulations of any State. Writers’ Playground, LLC will notify all entrants of any such changes, in the unlikely event that such actions are required.

Writers’ Playground, LLC conducts this competition, is not a talent agency, and shall not be characterized as soliciting employment for any entrant or other contributor.

The Tenth Playground Challenge: A Fiction Short Story Competition, being held by Writers’ Playground, LLC is Void Where Prohibited. This Competition is Governed by the Laws of the United States, and All Applicable Laws Govern. Anyone under the age of eighteen may enter this competition with express permission from a parent or guardian. Likewise, no person may enter this competition who does not have the legal right or capacity to specifically agree to this contract of Terms and Participation Agreement with Writers’ Playground, LLC. By entering this competition, each participants indicates to Writers’ Playground, LLC that they are under no legal or other impediment which would prevent or restrict their ability to lawfully participate in the activities of this competition. It is the responsibility of each participant to ensure that they are in compliance with any applicable laws of their home state and that there is no legal obligation or other issue that would invalidate the entry of that given participant.

If for any reason the internet or email communications in connection with this competition are not capable of running as planned due to fraud, tampering, virus, unauthorized intervention, or any other causes beyond the control of Writers’ Playground, LLC, which corrupt or affect the security, administration, or integrity of this competition, Writers’ Playground, LLC reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify any entrant that tampers with this competition in any way, and the LLC may suspend, modify, or terminate this competition as a result. Any entrant who is found in any attempt or action to damage or disrupt the running of this competition, or its website, may be found in violation of criminal and civil laws, and Writers’ Playground, LLC reserves the right to press charges and pursue damages against any person found to be in violation in these laws or misconduct to the fullest extent of the law.

Writers’ Playground, LLC does not have the obligation, but retains the right, to monitor any entered story for the compliance of all of these rules and conditions, and to administer any investigation or interview of any entrant so as to confirm compliance of such rules. Any failure of a participant to make themselves available upon request, can result in disqualification at the sole discretion of the LLC.

The administrator of this competition is –

Writers’ Playground, LLC

The LLC is registered through-

New York Registered Agents - 418 Broadway, STE R, Albany, NY 12207

Contact Writers’ Playground, LLC with any questions or concerns at admin@writersplaygroundllc.com

Writers’ Playground, LLC will administer all awards and retain all records relating to the competition. The list of winners will be posted to the website. No walk-in visits or in-person communications with the LLC are allowed.

Writers’ Playground, LLC will add the email address of each entrant to a subscriber list for the Writers’ Playground Newsletter in regard to additional future competitions and announcements. Each newsletter will have an option for the recipient to unsubscribe and remove any individual from the newsletter. Writers’ Playground, LLC will take every possible action to protect the privacy of every entrant. The LLC will never sell, lease, or give away any information provided on the registration form. The only personal information used by the LLC is for the list of the winners posted to the website and only includes full name, city, and state. The LLC is happy to talk to, and work with, any individuals with any concerns of privacy directly by email.

ALL ENTRANTS HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THEY HAVE READ AND AGREE TO ALL THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS OFFICIAL RULES AND PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT. WRITERS’ PLAYGROUND, LLC RESERVES THE RIGHT TO REVIEW AND ACCEPT ONLY THOSE SUBMITTED STORIES THAT COMPLY IN ALL RESPECTS WITH THESE WRITTEN RULES.