Today we are kicking off our first (of perhaps many) writing contest!

The contest has few constraints, but it must be something about you or someone you know personally. It should not be fictional, but of course you may alter names and places as you see fit.

The motive is to create a moving, passionate, emotional article. The winning article must move the judges to tears, laughter, suspense or awe. Please do not write sob stories to solicit donations, write an article that tells the story of life. The primary subject matter is open and fully up to you to choose, just follow the other guidelines.**

All work must be new and original content and cannot have been posted prior on Steemit or elsewhere!

All articles need to be written in English only please.

Submissions should be at least 250 words and no more than 2500 words. Longer articles will be accepted; however, you may lose some of the interest of the judges if you have not created a VERY captivating story.

The payout will be as follows for this first contest.

$25 SBD to the 1st place winner.
$10 SBD to the 2nd and 3rd place winners.

Two honorable mentions will be given.

The more writers the more winners!

For every 10 entries starting at 30 entries, we will add another winners' slot for $5 SBD.
30 entries = 4th place winning slot for $5 SBD
40 entries = 5th place winning slot for $5 SBD
You get the picture. There is a lot of opportunity to win!

If more than 99 entries, 1st, 2nd and 3rd place payouts will be doubled to $50 SBD and $20 SBD!

The winning article will need to be moving, well articulated, decent grammar and acceptable spelling. An article that is grammatically poor is likely to distract from the story as does one not checked for spelling errors. Considerations are required to a degree, especially for those who do not have English as their primary language. This will be up to the judges.

The contest will begin as soon as this post is submitted and end exactly 7 days later.

Again, All work must be new and original content and cannot have been posted prior on Steemit or elsewhere!

Once the actual contest begins, submissions will be accepted for a period of seven days. Articles submitted after the close of this post cannot be accepted into the contest.

How to submit.

Simply write your story, then post it on Steemit as you normally would, then provide a link to your post in the comments section below using the hashtag #bycolemancontest followed by a link to your post. Articles must be submitted to this post to be eligible. The hashtag is helpful but not required.

Please do not submit more than one link or more than one article.

All articles need to be written in English only please.

There are seven judges plus a tiebreaker (@bycoleman)

In the order they appear in the remarks section, here are the #bycolemanjudge judges:

@nihalmaz
@nosmas
@naufil
@conradt
@renalexis
@gems.and.cookies
@doughtaker

Each story submitted will be reviewed by at least 3 judges. They will not discuss their opinions with any other judge until the final tally is posted here.

Your submission will be judged based on:

Does the story move the judge to tears, laughter, suspense or awe, etc.?

Remember the motive is to create a moving, passionate and emotional article.
The judges may also look at any of the following to help them make their decisions; however this is at the sole discretion of the judge to apply any or all of the standards listed below and to what degree.

Final requests.

• Please upvote this post to help pay for the contest.
• Please follow me so you can receive updates on this contest.
• Resteeming is not required, but it will certainly help spread the word, remember the more players the larger the prize fund.

OK, that's it. Get writing and send in your links, let's get some great quality posted to show off the amazing talent here on Steemit!

I will be posting remarks later on the "fine print" for both contestants as well as judges. Please keep an eye out for any announcements and clarifications.

****************** UPDATE 02/25/18 8:30 CT (USA) ******************

At this time, it does look like we have more then 99 entries, so the prize fund for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place will be doubled -- see the details above. Also, there are now more funds available for the judges!

Remember you can only submit one story and it must be submitted before the contest is closed Monday at exactly 2018-02-26 18:14 (UTC)

Thank you all for helping make this first contests such a grand event!

****************** UPDATE 2/26/18 12:07 CT (USA) ********************

The contest will be closing in a few short minutes. Good luck to all!

Please see this link for results as they are know.

https://steemit.com/steemit/@bycoleman/usd45-sbd-steemit-writing-contest-the-more-writers-the-bigger-the-prize-fund-results-will-be-posted-here

@bycoleman
https://ColemanAir.us
Craig