Continuing with the success of last year’s inaugural Flash Fiction Writing Competition, Mensa Singapore is organising a second Flash Fiction Writing competition for members from Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. This competition similarly aspires to encourage members to explore their creativity and share their ideas with other members through creative writing. Entries will be judged on their creativity, originality, flow and use of appropriate voice and tone, as well as awareness of, and impact on audience.
This competition is divided into three categories – “Traditional”, “Fantasy” and “Modern” and you can submit as many entries as you like to any or all of categories.
Prizes
There are two prizes in each of the three categories:
- Best Entry: S$150 + 1 year’s free membership in Mensa
- Honourable Mention: S$50 + 1 year’s free membership in Mensa
In addition, all winners will receive:
- A winner’s medal
- An opportunity to intern as a writer at AsiaLawNetwork.com, Asia’s premier professional services market place
Selected entries will also be published in Mensa’s various online channels and publications!
Judging Criteria
Entries will be judged on four criteria with equal emphasis on each:
- Concept
- Voice and Tone in Writing
- Creative Writing
- Organised and Cohesive Work
Rules and Regulations
- For the purposes of this competition, “Mensa” refers only to Mensa Singapore, Malaysian Mensa and Mensa Philippines collectively or individually as the context requires. “Member” refers to a fully paid-up member of Mensa.
- This contest is open to all fully paid-up members of Mensa only, with the exception of the judges of this contest. Your membership must be valid for the duration of this entire contest, including the announcement of the prize-winners.
- Entries do not have to follow a theme, but must be categorised under one of three categories,
- “Traditional” – eg. Thriller, Crime, Suspense, Historical Fiction, Romance, etc
- “Fantasy” – eg. Science Fiction, Fantasy, Steam Punk, Horror, etc
- “Modern” – eg. Young Adult, Humour, Chic Lit, etc
- Entries should be between 800-1500 words in length. Entries should be submitted to [email protected] by 4pm Singapore time on Monday, 17 August 2015. Proof of submission will not be accepted as proof of receipt. You will receive an automated acknowledgment receipt via email of your submission. Please keep a copy of this acknowledgment for your own records.
- Entries should be typewritten and submitted as a SEPARATE attachment in Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx), Rich Text (.rtf) or Plain Text (.txt) format to the email address above by the deadline. Do NOT include your name, membership number or country anywhere on your main entry document. This may result in immediate disqualification as the judges will be reviewing on a ‘blinded’ basis. Instead, such personal particulars should be found in the body of your email submission which should contain ONLY the following information:
- your name;
- your contact details (phone number and email address);
- your country of membership;
- your Mensa membership number and date of expiry;
- the category under which this entry is for (“Traditional”, “Fantasy”, “Modern”);
- the total word count of your submission;
- a short introduction of no more than 50 words on yourself.
- By submitting an entry, you agree that Mensa Singapore may collect, use and disclose your personal data, as described in Rule 5 in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Act 2012 for the purposes of this competition. Mensa reserves the right to use the information provided above for purposes related to this competition and for publication of your submission in accordance with Rule 13 below.
- You may submit more than one entry. Each entry must be submitted SEPARATELY and in accordance with the requirements detailed above. However, each Member will only be allowed to win one prize for this year’s competition regardless of the number of entries.
- Entries should be only in English, although reasonable use of other languages, real or imagined, is allowed if it is an intrinsic part of the story.
- Only original, unpublished entries will be accepted. Entries must not have been submitted for any other writing contests prior to this, or published on any public platform.
- Mensa Singapore reserves the right to disqualify entries that are found to have breached these rules, or that are found to be plagiarised or written by a person other than the Member to whom the entry is attributed. This right of disqualification may be exercised at any time, including before or after the prize-winners have been announced. Entries that have been disqualified will not be entitled to receive any prize, recognition or publication, and any prize, recognition or publication previously awarded may be rescinded.
- Entries will be judged anonymously. The judges reserve the right to award any and all prizes in whole or in part or not at all. The judges’ decision is final and not subject to appeal. Mensa Singapore is not obliged to provide a reason for the judges’ decision or feedback on your entry.
- You retain all rights to your work but grant the licence set out in Rule 13, and may subsequently use the work for other purposes without informing Mensa.
- By entering this contest, you grant Mensa the irrevocable perpetual royalty-free non-exclusive right and licence to use/reproduce your entry in whole or in part, at any time, for any purpose and in any medium. Your permission need not be acquired by Mensa for reproducing and/or publishing your entry in accordance with this rule. Any reproduction of your work will however, be properly attributed to you as author per your submission details.
- By entering this contest and submitting an entry, you confirm that you have read and acknowledged all the rules of this contest and will abide by these rules.
- Mensa will not be held liable for any problem, loss or damage of whatsoever nature suffered by any party due to any delay and/or failure in the receipt and/or submission of entries to the competition or otherwise. In the event of any such error, delay, damage and/or failure or otherwise, Mensa shall not be held responsible or liable to any participant for the failure to participate in the competition at any time, or for any consequent loss arising from this failure.
- Mensa Singapore reserves the right in its sole and absolute discretion to alter and/or amend these rules from time to time without notice.
Download details of this competition for offline reading here (PDF).
* Artwork by Israel