Call me silly, but I've got a couple of doubts on the cathegories, namely:

- Are 8,000 Suns stories allowed to deal with issues not belonging to the canon lore? FAI, would qualify a story about a farmer growing the biggest pumpkin in his planet? Farming is not adressed by the lore, so the story wouldn't break the lore, but also is not a story about the lore... Which leads to my second question:

- in the cathegory of "one day in life", are stories supposed to be feasible in EVE? FAI, would qualify a story about a character going into a bar and holding a drinks contest (which is impossible to happen in the game)? Or the story above, not within the lore, not breaking it, but also farmers and pumpkins are not feasible in the game?

(Maybe you wonder how a farmer growing pumpkins fits into EVE. Well, maybe he's feeding the neighbors to the plant... )

I don't like that conflict of interest stuff, but this sort of thing just doesn't happen without people taking initiative and pitching in. If its the acceptable norm for participants to contribute, ill pitch in as well.

1 plex to the cause

Though if it came down to it I would chose competing over donating

Is erotic-fan-fiction acceptable?

I have this piece about Fozzie and Rise that has been on my desk for so long.

(It's a BDSM fantasy that makes heavy use of the cage they used to keep T20 in.)

8,000 Suns - The story doesn't have to be about something that's already in lore, it just has to fit into the general backstory. As long as you don't contradict a fact that's stated in the canon, you should be OK. Using the biggest pumpkin on the planet example: We have Wheat, Spiced Wine, and Tobacco in the Item Database, which makes them a part of the official canon. So there are agricultural products (presumably originally from Terra) in the canon. Pumpkins aren't specifically mentioned in the lore (that I know of), but It's conceivable that people brought pumpkin seeds (along with wheat, grapes and tobacco) through the EVE Gate. I don't see that adding pumpkins would contradict the canon. You might want your story to give some little explanation of why there a pumpkins on that planet, or you might not. The story just has to convince the reader that it fits into the New Eden world.

Example of a lore violation: Your story says that Jamyl Sarum became Empress of the Amarr Empire because she won a pumpkin-growing contest. Here you're directly contradicting facts that are stated in the canon, and the judges will consider that a violation and deduct points. You could say that in the Day in the Life category and not be penalized for a lore violation, though. (But your story might get low scores, just for not having a very good premise).

Day in the Life - Their aren't any rules for stories in this category, really. You can write anything you want, as long as it's a story and it's somehow related to EVE. The story doesn't have to be about player characters or things that could happen in the game. It can be a regular fiction story about something happening in the New Eden backstory world, as in the 8,000 Suns category. I suppose you might put that kind of story in this category if you weren't sure that it didn't have a serious lore violation. The drinking contest and biggest pumpkin in the world stories could go in this category, no problem.

Edit: For an idea how much you can do and still not violate the lore, check out last year's winning entries here. The stories have a lot of original ideas, and aren't bound by what's just mentioned in the prime fiction.

I could write a story about goonswarms sacrifice and how they are offering their cynogoats to their true god harry forever...

but that would not be fiction...

I don't recall a comedy category.

Actually do have a comedy category this year Herzog. Kind of interested to see what happens with that one. I can think of a plenty of comedy tales of my own from the past 12 months of playing.

Can I submit marathon chat logs complete with teamspeak recordings? This would qualify either in a comedy category or crocodile tears sad category depending on your outlook (let's call it general). I have about 50 of these and it's an ever expanding library.

Can I compete to win and be a prize sponsor? To show that I am not trying to bribe an official, I could give the judges each an equal amount of isk to award as prizes or keep for themselves.

*edit* oh wait, you said fiction. Well if I can demonstrate where there is an ounce of fiction, can it qualify? These are more like comedic documentaries of the psychology of the internet spaceman gambler.

"It was a dark and stormy night." Scratch that. It's always dark in space, and there aren't any storms . . .

Sounds like those could be pretty entertaining. Maybe you convert the logs into a story? Like, dialogue between two characters in some physical place? Or tell it as a narrative, inserting selected sections of the log? If you enter something in pure chat log format, I suspect you'd have 0% chance of winning anything. (BTW, if the content would be really embarrassing to a real player, it would be good to change the name. We're trying to have a pleasant, no-drama experience here).

You can make a comparatively small donation (say, the equivalent of 10 PLEX or less) and still compete in the contest. Thanks for the offer of fair and equal bribes for the judges. Unfortunately two of the judges are devs who have access to infinite ISK, ships, mods and implants. It would be hard to come up with an amount that might tempt them.

By the way, Chribba has agreed to hold incoming donations for us. Donations will go directly to him, and at the end of the contest, he'll transfer the PLEX, ISK, or whatever directly to the winners.

Does the prize include a secret ship?

Noooooooooooooooooo

That was my very favorite writing table! Now I shall have to submit my stories on stone tablets.

Curse you Marlona Sky!!!!

I think I'm going to join in the contest this year.

I've always wanted to write an EVE story.

5000 word maximum. My stories can breach triple that. Anyway I have 3 written. How do I submit?