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Welcome to the YeahWrite Super Challenge #27 for creative nonfiction!
Welcome – or welcome back – to YeahWrite’s Super Challenge.
YeahWrite has been a vibrant community of writers for over ten years, and we’ve never missed a week in all that time – over 600 of them, as I write this. If you’re already familiar with our community, you know it’s a great place to learn, grow and connect with other writers. The Super Challenge, though, is where it all comes together, where your hard work and practice pays off – literally pays off, I mean, with prizes! If you’re finding YeahWrite for the first time, welcome aboard. We hope you’re along for the ride. Check out our Facebook group, the Coffeehouse, and our Discord server for more ways to connect with our community of readers and writers!
YeahWrite’s Super Challenge is more than just a competition. Think of it like a fun, fast-paced, hands-on workshop that pushes you to produce a story you’d be proud to submit for later publication, as many of our participants have gone on to do.
What makes us different?
- Unique and creative essay prompts.
- Personalized feedback on every entry from professional editors and writers who give you what you need to really polish a fun-to-write competition essay for later publication.
- $450 in prizes! $200 for first place, $150 for second, and $100 for third.
- Publication in our anthology for the first, second, and third place winners.
- A wonderful and supportive community of writers!
Get ready for a weekend of fun, fierce writing!
About
The YeahWrite Super Challenge is a prompted challenge, where writers compete to complete the best work of short creative nonfiction in 48 hours. Prompts are released on Friday, and the completed work must be turned in by Sunday night.
The competition is run in two rounds. Approximately ten writers will advance to the final round of competition. All competing writers will receive feedback on their work at the end of each round from the judges. The final ten “shortlisted” writers will compete for cash prizes for first, second, and third place.
Schedule
Each round of the Super Challenge starts at 10pm Eastern US Time on a Friday and closes at 10pm Eastern US Time on the Sunday immediately following, giving you 48 hours to complete your entry. (If a Super Challenge weekend ever crosses Daylight Saving Time in the US, we promise to give you the full 48 hours.) Each round will have a different genre and prompt style. Writers will be separated into groups and each group will receive a prompt. All groups will respond to that prompt in the genre assigned for each round. The rounds are scheduled as follows:
| Dates | Prompt style |
| February 10-12, 2023 | Assigned topic (don’t worry, they’re broad) or question (with no right answer, trust us) |
| March 10-12, 2023 | A word or phrase which must be used seamlessly in the essay |
Your feedback is emailed to you the Wednesday before the next round begins, and we’ll announce who’s moving on that day at noon. Competition winners will be announced on March 31, 2023!
Fees and Registration
The registration fee is USD$35. Registration closes at 10pm US Eastern Time on February 8, 2023.
Registering is a two-step process:
An automatic registration confirmation e-mail will be sent to the contact email provided on the registration form. Ko-fi will send you its own separate confirmation and receipt. The entry fee must be received in full by YeahWrite on or before February 8, 2023 to participate. If you don’t receive a confirmation email, please check your junk or spam folder, then contact us at superchallenge@yeahwrite.me.
If you haven’t signed up for our mailer yet, this would be a great time. We’ll keep you informed of events around the site as well as important Super Challenge news.
Prizes
Our prizes* are as follows:
- First place: $200
- Second place: $150
- Third place: $100
The first, second, and third place winners will also be published in YeahWrite’s 2023 anthology of flash fiction and creative nonfiction!
* Unless a prize in that amount would trigger provisions of US law relating to transfer of fees; in that case we reserve the right to split the money in such a way that we award more prizes (i.e. first through fifth place).
FAQ and Rules
For full text of the rules of the competition, go here. By entering the competition you agree to abide and be bound by these rules, so go actually read them. Besides, they contain really useful information about how to submit your work and in what format, in case you get tired of reading this FAQ.
Who can enter?
Anyone 18 or older can enter the competition, as long as it’s not void where you live. YeahWrite editors are, naturally, not eligible. If we had actual employees they wouldn’t be eligible either, and it goes without saying that our competition judges are not eligible.
How many writers can work on an essay?
An essay is considered the work of the registered writer. We won’t split up the prizes. That said, you can show your work to others during the course of each round, receive feedback, and make revisions.
When will I get my assignment and when is it due?
Assignments will be posted at 10pm Eastern US Time on the opening Friday of each challenge, and it is due by 10pm on the Sunday immediately following. That means you have exactly 48 hours to write your story!
How do I submit my essay?
Please use the Super Challenge Submission Form posted on the kickoff post for the challenge. You will be able to upload your file directly in the form. We accept the following file formats: .doc, .docx, .rtf, or .txt. The submission form does require you to create a Google account if you don’t already have one, just like Submittable, Moksha, or other submission management systems. We do not collect your Google account information, and we will communicate with you only via the email that you provide directly in the form. Please note that we do not accept submissions in Google docs, even though it’s a Google form.
How do I format my essay?
Your essay must be in 12 point font – either Arial or Times New Roman. The first page should be blank except for the Title Page information described in the specific round’s opening post. The title page does not count toward your maximum word count of 1,000 words. Make sure your name does not appear anywhere in your essay or on the file. The name of the file must be as follows: [group number]-[title]. For example, if you are in Group 2 and the title of your essay is “Daisy Petals” then the filename will be 2-Daisy Petals.doc (or .rtf or .txt, as applicable). For the final round, you may omit the group number from the filename.
Do footnotes or citations count towards the word limit?
Yes. If you choose to use citations or footnotes to credit your sources (and you should credit your sources, if applicable), remember that those will count towards your overall word limit.
When do I get my results?
You’ll receive feedback from our judges early on the Wednesday before the next round opens – about two and a half weeks after you turn your work in. We’ll post who is moving on to the next round on that Wednesday as well, at noon US Eastern time. The only exception is the final round – you’ll receive your feedback on time but we’ll post the final round winners on Friday at 3pm Eastern time.
Who owns the copyright to my work?
You do, unless your work is published in one of YeahWrite’s anthologies, in which case we’ll ask for first worldwide English-language electronic and print publication rights via a separate contract. YeahWrite does not claim any rights to works that are not accepted into the anthology (including non-winning Super Challenge entries). For a more complete explanation of what rights you are granting to YeahWrite by entering your work in the Super Challenge, see the official rules.
So can I post my work on my blog?
Not until after you receive feedback from the judges, please. Don’t make your work available in a forum where the judges might run across it until the judging is done.
What feedback will I get on my work?
In every round you participate in, you’ll get an email telling you what the judges liked about your work, and what you need to work on. We’ll make sure to get you this feedback before the next round, so that it’s useful to you as you move through the competition!
Who are the judges?
A staff of professional writers, educators, and editors. We often have celebrity guest judges, usually in the final round, so stay tuned and keep checking our Announcements section on this page!
What if I have more questions?
Questions about the Super Challenge must only be asked via two mediums: 1) You can email them directly to superchallenge@yeahwrite.me or 2) If you are a member of our Discord server, ping @sc-admin within the Super Challenge general-chat channel. Do not reach out to our Facebook, Twitter, or other email addresses. We will not be reviewing other email addresses or social media for Super Challenge related questions, and we want to make sure you hear back from us!
IMPORTANT: If you have questions during the Super Challenge, and you send them to other email addresses or to Facebook or Twitter, you may be effectively contacting a judge and we would have to disqualify your entry for that round. Don’t do that to yourself.
See? We told you we’d remind you again.
You can find answers to more Frequently Asked Questions here: Super Challenge FAQ
Super Challenge Round Updates
Are you ready for this? So are we. We’ll post the prompts, winners, and a special linkup for each round here as the competition goes on!
Round One
The first round of the Super Challenge – our “long list” of writers – runs from 10pm February 10th to 10pm February 12th.
At 10pm on February 10th, this button will take you to the prompt.
At noon on March 8th, find out who is moving on with this button!
Final Round
The second and final round of the Super Challenge for our “short list” runs from 10pm March 10th to 10pm March 12th.
At 10pm on March 10th, this button will take you to the prompt.
At 3pm on March 31st, find out who won with this button!
