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Friends and Partners One-Shot Contest

Negrek

Play the Rain
Staff
One-Shot Contest: Friends and Partners

The partnership between humans and Pokémon has been central to the franchise since the very beginning. Trainers capture Pokémon to train for battle, Rangers call on them for aid, humans-turned-Pokémon team up with true Pokémon to face danger--no matter what form the human-Pokémon partnership takes, it's shaped every world where these two species interact. For this year's one-shot contest, we're looking for entries that explore the special bond between humans and Pokémon!

Story Guidelines

Your story should center on the partnership between at least one human and pokémon: perhaps a trainer and their Pokémon struggling to trust each other after a rocky introduction, a native of the Mystery Dungeon world helping a lost human adapt to their changed circumstances, or a story about how humans and Pokémon first learned to work together. Anything you can think of that puts the spotlight on the partnership between humans and pokémon will work well for this contest, and the characters you choose to feature can either come from canon or be your own creations. If you're not sure whether the story idea you have in mind fits what we're looking for, feel free to ask!

Entries should be no more than 10,000 words long. Different writing programs will give different word counts, so if you're worried about your entry going over the limit, check it using this online calculator, which is the one the judges will use to determine eligibility. There is no minimum word requirement.

The story you submit should be a new one written for this contest, not one you'd written previously that happens to fit the contest theme, and it should adhere to Thousand Roads' story guidelines. Please refrain from publishing your work online until the final results of the contest have been posted.

All entries are due by Midnight UTC on March 8, 2021. Not sure when that is in your timezone? You can keep track of the deadline with this handy online countdown. To enter, send your story to Negrek via PM or DM, or e-mail it to fyeahpokefic@gmail.com. One entry per person, please.

Judging and Prizes

Everyone who enters will receive in-depth feedback from our four judges: Dragonfree, HelloYellow17, kyeugh, and Umbra. They'll also have the opportunity to participate in a promo post highlighting contest participants.

In addition, each judge will rank the entries from what they consider to be the best to the worst. The judges' scores will then be combined to determine overall first-, second-, and third-place winners.

The top three stories will receive an individual promo and author interview to be posted on the Thousand Roads forums, as well as a free art commission. Art commission details are still to come--look for an announcement about that a little later on in the writing period! Meanwhile, throughout the writing period, we'll be featuring interviews with last year's top-placing writers to give you some insight into their process, inspiration, and encouragement while you work on your own entry!

Stories will be judged on overall writing quality as well as on their use of the theme. You are welcome to have your story looked over by one or more beta readers before submission, and it's okay if those beta readers are participants themselves--just as long as none of them are judges! We encourage you to spell-check and do your best job of proofreading, as technical errors are likely to impact your final ranking.

That's it! Have fun writing, and I look forward to your entries. If you have any questions, feel free to post in this thread or ask Negrek via PM/DM. You can also check out last year's contest and results to get an idea of how these contests tend to go.
 
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Adamhuarts

Mew specialist
Partners
  1. mew-adam
  2. celebi-shiny
  3. roserade-adam
I have a question regarding the theme of the oneshot. It's stated above that the oneshot should explore the bonds between humans and pokemon, but is it not allowed for an entry to focus on negative relationships between humans and pokemon in some shape or form for instance?
 

Nubushi

しぶい
Pronouns
she/her
Partners
  1. slowpoke-hgss
  2. togekiss-nubushi
Awesome theme! I already have an idea for this, which hopefully I'll be able to finish by the deadline.
 

Negrek

Play the Rain
Staff
A couple of quick announcements here. First of all, the art commission prizes have been finalized: unrepentantAuthor will be providing a commission for our third-place winner, Cresselia92 for second place, and Chibi Pika for the first place winner!

We're also coming up on one week left to the submission deadline! I hope everyone's writing's been going well, and I look forward to reading your entries.
 

IFBench

Rescue Team Member
Location
Pokemon Paradise
Partners
  1. chikorita-saltriv
  2. bench-gen
  3. charmander
  4. snivy
  5. treecko
  6. tropius
  7. arctozolt
  8. wartortle
Is there any chance of an extension, if I may ask?
 

Sinderella

Angy Tumbleweed
Staff
Location
In Guzma's Closet
Pronouns
She/Her
Partners
  1. sylveon-shiny
  2. gothitelle
  3. froslass
  4. chandelure
  5. mimikyu
Depends on how the other participants are feeling. Are other people interested in an extension, or no?
I wouldn’t be opposed to an extension
 

Equitial

Ace Trainer
Pronouns
he/him
Partners
  1. espurr
  2. inkay
  3. woobat
  4. ralts
Depends on how the other participants are feeling. Are other people interested in an extension, or no?

I wouldn't complain if it happens, especially if a lot of other people are asking for it.
 

Nubushi

しぶい
Pronouns
she/her
Partners
  1. slowpoke-hgss
  2. togekiss-nubushi
I wouldn't mind one, either.
 

WildBoots

Don’t underestimate seeds.
Pronouns
She/Her
Partners
  1. moka-mark
  2. solrock
I don't need one, but my feelings won't be hurt if people get one.
 

Cresselia92

Gym Leader
Pronouns
She/Her/Hers
Partners
  1. ho-oh
  2. sneasel-nyula
  3. rayquaza-cress
  4. celebi-shiny
I would appreciate an extension for sure. I’ve been hitting wall after wall throughout the entire month, and only now I’ve got a semblance of plot.
 

Negrek

Play the Rain
Staff
It sounds like there's pretty broad support for a deadline extension, so I've pushed the deadline back one week to midnight UTC on March 8th. The countdown in the first post has been adjusted accordingly.

If you've already submitted an entry, note that you're free to revise and re-submit at any point up to the extended deadline if you so choose.
 

Seren

Lurking
Staff
Pronouns
He/Him
Partners
  1. sableye
Hey, stupid question but I am paranoid and not sure if this is worthy of a discord ping, so... if I email my entry, do you want like, an attached Word document or should I just copy/paste the entire thing or... what would be best?
 

Negrek

Play the Rain
Staff
Final reminder! From this post you have twenty-four hours to make your contest submission. Good luck, and write like the wind!

I'll be back tomorrow to give a final head count on entries and officially kick off the judging period.
 

Negrek

Play the Rain
Staff
And that's it! Submissions to this contest are now closed. This year we're looking at 16 entries--I haven't been able to read them all yet, but from what I've seen, the judges are in for a treat!

Now that all the entries are in, the judging period has begun! We're hoping to have results out in about two months' time--so mid-May. I'll give periodic updates on progress as we approach that two-month mark.

Huge thanks to everyone who entered! This is shaping up to be a great contest thanks to all your wonderful stories.
 

Negrek

Play the Rain
Staff
Quick update on judging progress! Last week would have been two months since the contest deadline, so we're a little behind schedule. At this point, two of the judges are done, and the other two are at ~10/16 stories reviewed each. I'm hoping to have results out sometime in the next two weeks, so stay tuned!
 
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