Family Secret

After 5 years, you return to your familial home and find out a family secret. What is that secret?

• Unravel a family secret and weave a tale around it. Your story must have at least 5 characters that are members of your family (close or distant, biological or not, which also includes nonhuman companions). 
• Send in your entries to penmagica@gmail.com as an attachment in a word document (.doc/.docx) along with a 2-3 line bio (not required if previously sent) and a cover picture for your story (optional).
• The subject of your mail should be “Entry for #FamilySecret″ (compulsory).
• Along with your entry please send a suggested cover for your story
• Instantly earn 250 Penmancy Points on submission.

Rules:

1. Your fictional story  can be in any genre or a combination of two or more.
2. The submitted story must be between 2000-3000 words (each). Entries lower than or exceeding the word limit will stand disqualified for the event. (Penmancy Tip: Use https://wordcounter.io/ to check your word count.)
3. There is no limit to the number of entries you may submit- though only the first one of them will qualify for winning.
4. Previously published or plagiarised works will not be considered for contention. The writer of such content stands to be disqualified for the next Penmancy event.
5. Stories found to have been shared on another platform or blog before the declaration of results stand disqualified from the event.
6. In case a story is received after the submission deadline, it shall be considered as a guest entry and shall not qualify for the contest.

Winning criteria:

The winner will be chosen on the basis of votes from the readers and the judges’ scores (out of 10), in the ratio 30:70

1. a. Judges’ scores to be based on-
   • plot/story/creativity (15 points)
   • language/grammar (10 points)
   • narrative voice & content (9 points)
   • emotional impact, (8 points)
   • use of prompt/theme (8 points) 

b. The voting process for the readers:

• • The option for rating would be given below each story on the website.
  • Readers to rate the story on the basis of 5 (rate it based on the content, language, creativity, prompt and emotional impact).
  • Readers can vote once for each story. Multiple votes shall not be recorded.
  • Once the rating is given, your vote is recorded and cannot be altered.
  • Writers are requested to share the link of the posts to garner more votes.

2. The entries adjudged by a panel of judges and event organisers shall be binding. Judges’ scores to be deemed final and may not be contested.

3. All writers are required to read and comment on 5 stories other than their own and encourage their fellow writers with valuable and constructive inputs. Comments like “nice”, “good work”, “brilliant piece”, etc. do not provide the necessary critique and are not helpful for anyone.

4. Only stories that garnered an average score/rating of 7.5 and above, as aggregated on voting and judges’ scores, shall be eligible for winning.  

5. Contest duration:
The submission for the contest is open from May 15 to June 15.
The stories would be open for voting until June 21st, midnight
Results for the event shall be shared on 22nd June 2020 at 8:00 pm

6. Top three winners will receive the book “Yakhsini” by Neil D’Silva.

For questions related to the rules and criteria, please write to us at penmagica@gmail.com