Mermaids! Salties! Be-Llyr-vers! Maidens!
Josie Demuth and Debra Goelz’s ‘Under the Sea’ writing contest is back for the fourth year running, and it’s bigger, better, and shinier than ever! Oh, and spoiler alert: The celebrity judge this year is a New York Times Bestselling YA author whose upcoming fish tale has all at the UTS towers reeling with excitement!
We cannot wait to read your briny tales of Adventure, Romance, Horror, Mystery, Sci-fi, or even Self-help!
Joking! As much as we could all benefit from your pearls of undersea wisdom, no self-help this year. But any of the others would be great!
Here are the Rules:
a. Your protagonist, love interest, or antagonist can be a merperson OR your story may simply be set under the sea (but please make it a little bit magical).
b. While your story can be any length, the judges will only consider the first 2,000 words in making their decisions. If your story is the beginning of a longer work, please provide a short synopsis. (It won’t count in the word limit.)
c. Entries are due by August 31st. Finalists announced September 7th. Winner crowned September 14th.
d. Stories can be new creations or not. They can be tales you entered in previous years as long as you’ve made substantive edits since then.
Who Are the Judges?
Prepare for a gigantic splash as we reveal this year’s panel of awesome and dazzling judges …
For the first round:
The Hosts:
Former winners of the ‘Under The Sea’ contest:
Kristin Jacques (krazydiamond) – Winner 2015 – Two-time Watty winner who has published stories in multiple anthologies and has an upcoming fantasy novel with Sky Forest Press.
Tiffany Daune (TiffanyDaune) – Winner 2016 – Her Siren Chronicles trilogy was published by Oftomes Publishing and is soon to become a game on Chapters.
Christine Owen (Christine_Owen) – Winner 2017. Her story Home School Hair was published in 2016 by Simon & Schuster in the anthology Once Upon Now.
Mermaid Enthusiast and all-around amazing author:
SJMoquin (Skeaks7) – A Wattpad featured author who writes fantasy and science fiction with a mix of adventure, action, and sweet romance.
For the win:
Prizes:
1. The six finalists can pick from a range of prizes, including a chapter edit by Debra or Josie, a mer-extravaganza book bundle or a beautiful mer-mug. They will all also receive a simultaneous shout-out on social media from the judges.
2. The winner’s story will receive the golden “Under the Sea Badge”, a tsunami-style shout out from the judges both on here and on their social media platforms (reaching hundreds of thousands of readers), and will be included on Wattpad’s “Stories Under The Sea” reading list.
To Enter:
If you are not on Wattpad, simply send your story, or a link to your story to undertheseacontest@gmail.com
If you are on Wattpad tag your stories #UnderTheSea2018. And make sure you follow Josie and Britt!
May the cods always be in your favour!
