Deadline: March 31, 2025
About the competition
Write a story involving Sinister Sanctuaries, and an echo.
$3000 grand prize
Deep foreboding as you step across the threshold. An oppressive weight settles on your shoulders. Something is terribly wrong here, but you have no choice. There’s nowhere else to go, and this is the last option left…
Refuge, solace, comfort: a luxury many take for granted. But what happens when they’re stripped away, when sanctuary becomes corrupted? Cathedrals, convents, and crypts. Whispered confessions turn to cries for mercy. The host is dead, everyone is suspect, and the portraits watch your every move. Screams in the forest and symbols etched in bark. Boarding schools, broken starships, and bombed out bunkers. Seek asylum, but be wary, for even prisoners might rather return to their cells. No port can weather this storm. Safety no longer exists, so go to your happy place and keep the negative thoughts at bay. Pull the blanket over your head and hope nothing crouches in the closet. Do you have what it takes to face the darkness, or will fear become your final companion?
This contest invites you to explore Sinister Sanctuaries, whatever that means to you. Fantasy, contemporary, romance, crime. All genres are welcome.
Submissions close March 31st at 11:59 pm EST. Contest only open to new writers.
Competition guideline
The competition is open to anyone worldwide (excluding Quebec) aged 13 or older. In order to enter the contest participants must be members of ElegantLiterature.com and in a membership tier that allows contest entry.
A participant must also be considered a “new” or unpublished author. Anyone who has met or exceeded the following criteria is disqualified from entry:
- traditionally published a novel of greater than 40,000 words,
- self-published a novel of greater than 40,000 words and sold 100+ copies,
- sold four or more works of short fiction to markets paying 8c/word or greater,
- self-published short fiction work totaling 10,000 words or more, with profits in excess of $500.
- won a fiction contest with a prize greater than $2,500.
- read the whole guideline and submit your entry here.
