Writing Contest Guidelines
Looking for TC's regular Submission Guidelines?
Questions about contest rules can be emailed to the editors or posted at Chasms & Crags.
General Contest Rules
Read these first. These rules apply to all Toasted Cheese contests. Specific rules for the Three Cheers and A Tiger, A Midsummer Tale & Dead of Winter contests are below.
- There are no entry fees for any Toasted Cheese contest. Limit of one entry per person per contest.
- Don't forget to give your story a title and include a word count.
- Grammar, punctuation or spelling errors will count against your entry, so proofread thoroughly.
- Contest entries must be e-mailed to the address designated for the contest you are entering (see individual contest rules below). Replace [at] with @.
- Paste your entry into the body of the e-mail. Attachments will not be read.
- Place your contact information (name, address, phone number, e-mail address) and a brief biography (100 words maximum) after your story. (All identifying information will be removed before judging.)
- Late entries, entries that do not conform to contest guidelines, and entries sent to any address other than the designated contest address will be disqualified. Toasted Cheese and its staff are not responsible for any electronic transmission problems.
- First, second,* and third* place stories are published in Toasted Cheese Literary Journal. Honorable mentions may also be awarded. (*Toasted Cheese reserves the right to not award second and third place if the quality of the entries does not meet the journal's standards.)
- Feedback on submissions will be limited to a few lines and may include some judges' comments. After the contest is closed, we invite all entrants to post their stories on our critique forums.
- By entering a contest, you grant TC exclusive electronic rights for a period of 90 days, should your work be chosen as a winner, as well as a non-exclusive right to maintain a copy of published work in the literary journal archives indefinitely. Effective January 2008, you also grant Toasted Cheese the right to post an audio version (podcast) of your work on the site (authors of work published 2001–2007 will be contacted to obtain permission for this use). You retain all other rights, including the right to publish the work in non-electronic form at any time. Any subsequent publication should include the credit "originally published in Toasted Cheese."
"Exclusive electronic rights" means that you agree not to re-publish your work elsewhere online while the issue featuring your work is current. "Publish" means any public display of your work, and includes your personal website and posting to message boards. You are welcome to link to the page featuring your work instead. Once the issue has been archived, you are free to re-publish your work online.
Three Cheers and a Tiger is a 48-hour short story contest. All entries must be composed within the contest time frame.
Specific topic & word range will be posted at start time at Just the Place for a Snark (the general discussion forum).
Stories must adhere to the topic and fall within the word range announced at the contest start.
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Three Cheers and a Tiger: SPRING is a mystery contest. The contest is held the weekend closest to March 21. Entries are blind-judged by Bellman and Baker. The judges' decision is final. Winners are announced April 30. Winning stories are published in the June issue of Toasted Cheese. Winners receive Amazon gift certificates: $20 for first, $15 for second, $10 for third.
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Three Cheers and a Tiger: FALL is a science fiction / fantasy contest. The contest is held the weekend closest to September 21. Entries are blind-judged by Boots & Ana. The judges' decision is final. Winners are announced October 31. Winning stories are published in the December issue of Toasted Cheese. Winners receive Amazon gift certificates: $20 for first, $15 for second, $10 for third.
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A Midsummer Tale
The 2008 contest is now CLOSED. The guidelines for the 2009 contest will be posted May 1, 2009.
A Midsummer Tale is a creative non-fiction contest. We are looking for non-fiction stories told using fiction techniques. This means characters, dialogue, and some semblance of a plot are musts. Please, no essays or articles.
Details, including specific theme and length, are announced May 1.
The deadline for submissions is June 21.
Entries are blind-judged by Beaver. The judge's decision is final. Winners are announced July 31.
Winning stories are published in the September issue of Toasted Cheese. Winners receive Amazon gift certificates: $20 for first, $15 for second, $10 for third.
Stories should be essentially true, but do not need to have journalistic accuracy. This is your version of what happened, not a "Joe Friday" accounting of The Facts. Creative license can be taken in order to recreate dialogue that took place 20 years ago, for example.
You may use pseudonyms to identify the people in your story; however, please indicate that you have done so on your entry.
For a better idea of what we are looking for, please visit our archives and read some of the creative nonfiction we have published in the past.
The theme of the June 2008 A Midsummer Tale contest is: Snapshots. Photographs can trigger memories of events you thought you had forgotten. Has it been a while since you've looked at the dusty albums or boxes that hold your family photos? This year's AMT contest is a chance for you to dig through your yellowing snapshots and reminisce. Choose one old photo and write about the events surrounding it.
- Stories must take place in the summer.
- The word limit is 3,000 words.
- This is a non-fiction contest; your story must be about something that actually happened, not something you invented.
IMPORTANT:
- Attach a copy of the photograph to your entry. Photos will be published along with the winning stories. Entries without an attached photo will be disqualified.
- By entering the contest, you warrant that the photograph you have included is a personal snapshot and that you have both the right to publish it and the permission of anyone identifiable in the photo to use their image.
The contest opens May 1, 2008. The deadline for submissions is June 21, 2008. E-mail entries to amtcontest08[at]toasted-cheese.com. Your subject line must read: A Midsummer Tale Contest Entry.
Dead of Winter
The 2008 contest is now OPEN.
Dead of Winter is a fiction contest (any genre) for stories with supernatural elements or themes. Ideally, stories should be set in autumn or winter. The most original, most haunting stories will be chosen for publication.
Details, including specific theme and length, are announced November 1.
The deadline for submissions is December 21.
Entries are blind-judged by Baker & Billiard. Decisions are final. Winners are announced January 31.
Winning stories are published in the March issue of Toasted Cheese. Winners receive Amazon gift certificates: $20 for first, $15 for second, $10 for third.
Stories submitted to the 8th Annual Dead of Winter contest (December 2008) should follow one* of the following themes:
- Alaska
- Alternative Santa
- Blood River Bridge
- Ventriloquist
The word limit is 4,500 words.
The contest opens on November 1, 2008 and the deadline for submission is December 21, 2008. E-mail entries to dow2008[at]toasted-cheese.com. Your subject line must read: Dead of Winter Contest Entry.
Post any questions you have about the contest in our DOW thread at the forums. Please do not post any part of your entry in the thread.
You may post your work for feedback at one of the critique forums but please title your post "DOW entry for feedback" or similar so that the judges don't read it.
Be sure to (1) set your story in winter (2) write using supernatural elements or motifs (make our spines tingle, make us hesitate to turn out the lights, etc.) and (3) use one* of the themes provided.
*You are welcome to use more than one of the themes in your story (for example, you could write a story about a ventriloquist and set it in Alaska) but you must use at least one of them and make it strong enough so that we know which theme you’re focusing on.
Only ONE entry PER AUTHOR, not one entry per theme.