Looking for TC's regular Submission Guidelines,
information about writing an Absolute Blank article or
suggesting or submitting a review?
Questions about contest rules can be emailed to the editors or posted at Chasms & Crags.
General Contest Rules
Read these first. These rules apply to all Toasted Cheese contests. Specific rules for the Three Cheers and A Tiger, A Midsummer Tale & Dead of Winter contests are below.
- There are no entry fees for any Toasted Cheese contest. Limit of one entry per person per contest.
- Don't forget to give your story a title and include a word count.
- Grammar, punctuation or spelling errors will count against your entry, so proofread thoroughly.
- Contest entries must be emailed to the address designated for the contest you are entering (see individual contest rules below). Replace [at] with @.
- Paste your entry into the body of the email. Attachments will not be read.
- Place your contact information (name, address, phone number, email address) and a brief biography (100 words maximum) after your story. (All identifying information will be removed before judging.)
- Late entries, entries that do not conform to contest guidelines, and entries sent to any address other than the designated contest address will be disqualified. Toasted Cheese and its staff are not responsible for any electronic transmission problems.
- First, second,* and third* place stories are published in Toasted Cheese Literary Journal. Honorable mentions may also be awarded. (*Toasted Cheese reserves the right to not award second and third place if the quality of the entries does not meet the journal's standards.)
- Feedback on submissions will be limited to a few lines and may include some judges' comments. After the contest is closed, we invite all entrants to post their stories on our critique forums.
- By entering a contest, you grant TC exclusive electronic rights for a period of 90 days, should your work be chosen as a winner, as well as a non-exclusive right to maintain a copy of published work in the literary journal archives indefinitely. Effective January 2008, you also grant Toasted Cheese the right to post an audio version (podcast) of your work on the site (authors of work published 2001–2007 will be contacted to obtain permission for this use). You retain all other rights, including the right to re-publish the work in non-electronic form at any time. Any subsequent publication should include the credit "originally published in Toasted Cheese."
"Exclusive electronic rights" means that you agree not to re-publish your work elsewhere online while the issue featuring your work is current. "Publish" means any public display of your work, and includes your personal website and posting to message boards. You are welcome to link to the page featuring your work instead. Once the issue has been archived, you are free to re-publish your work online.
Be sure to read the General Contest Rules above.
Three Cheers and a Tiger is a 48-hour short story contest. All entries must be composed within the contest time frame.
Specific topic & word range will be posted at start time at Just the Place for a Snark (the general discussion forum).
Stories must adhere to the topic and fall within the word range announced at the contest start.
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The spring edition of Three Cheers and a Tiger is a MYSTERY contest. The 2012 contest is CLOSED. The guidelines for the 2013 contest will be posted in February 2013. The contest is held the weekend closest to March 21. Entries are blind-judged by Bellman and Bonnets. The judges' decision is final. Winners are announced April 30. Winning stories are published in the June issue of Toasted Cheese. If 50 or fewer eligible entries are received, first place receives a $35 Amazon gift card & second a $10 Amazon gift card. If 51 or more eligible entries are received, first place receives a $50 Amazon gift card, second a $15 Amazon gift card & third a $10 Amazon gift card. The March 2012 contest opens at 5 PM Eastern Time, Friday, March 23, 2012, with details posted at Just the Place for a Snark. Send entries to: threecheers12[at]toasted-cheese.com Your subject line must read: Three Cheers and a Tiger Contest Entry Deadline: 5 PM Eastern Time, Sunday, March 25, 2012 |
The autumn edition of Three Cheers and a Tiger is a SCIENCE FICTION / FANTASY contest. The 2011 contest is CLOSED. The guidelines for the 2012 contest will be posted in August 2012. The contest is held the weekend closest to September 21. Entries are blind-judged by Boots & Broker. The judges' decision is final. Winners are announced October 31. Winning stories are published in the December issue of Toasted Cheese. If 50 or fewer eligible entries are received, first place receives a $35 Amazon gift card & second a $10 Amazon gift card. If 51 or more eligible entries are received, first place receives a $50 Amazon gift card, second a $15 Amazon gift card & third a $10 Amazon gift card. The September 2011 contest opens at 5PM Eastern Time, Friday, September 23, 2011 with details posted at Just the Place for a Snark. Send entries to: threecheers11[at]toasted-cheese.com Your subject line must read: Three Cheers and a Tiger Contest Entry Deadline: 5PM Eastern Time, Sunday, September 25, 2011 |
A Midsummer Tale (Open April 1 – June 21 annually)
Be sure to read the General Contest Rules above.
A Midsummer Tale is open to non-genre1 fiction and creative non-fiction. Stories entered in A Midsummer Tale should take place during a warm time of the year.
The theme of the 2012 A Midsummer Tale writing contest is: Snail Mail.
This year's theme was inspired by: Post Secret, Post a Letter Social Activity Club, Letters in the Mail, Geist's Postcard Story Contest, the typewriter revival, Bellman's Snark Zone about her mother's letter to Thornton Wilder and that box of letters gathering dust under your bed (or is it in the basement?).
Entries to A Midsummer Tale 2012 must involve an old-school letter, greeting card or postcard. If your story is non-fiction, the piece of mail must be one you really sent or received. If your story is fiction, you can create the piece of mail. Attach a scan of this item (one page/side) to your entry.
Identify your story as fiction or creative non-fiction. For CNF entries, indicate whether names have been changed.
Length: 1,000 words minimum; 5,000 words maximum.
Deadline for entries: June 21, 2012.
Send entries to amtcontest12@toasted-cheese.com with the subject line: A Midsummer Tale Contest Entry
Entries are blind-judged by Beaver. Decisions are final. Winners are announced July 31.
Winning stories are published in the September issue of Toasted Cheese.
If 50 or fewer eligible entries are received, first place receives a $35 Amazon gift card & second a $10 Amazon gift card.
If 51 or more eligible entries are received, first place receives a $50 Amazon gift card, second a $15 Amazon gift card & third a $10 Amazon gift card.
Questions? Ask in the A Midsummer Tale thread at Just the Place for a Snark or on Twitter @toasted_cheese.
1"Non-genre fiction" means literary or mainstream fiction. No science fiction, fantasy, mystery, horror, thriller, romance, western or other genre fiction, please.
The 2011 contest is CLOSED. The guidelines for the 2012 contest will be posted Fall 2012.
Be sure to read the General Contest Rules above.
Stories submitted to the 11th Annual Dead of Winter contest (December 2011) must use the theme SKULL AND BONES (your entry must follow guidelines below).
The word limit is 2000–3000 words.
Stories MUST be set in winter.
Stories MUST fall in the horror genre*.
As to subgenre, any is allowed but note that the judges prefer gothic, dark fantasy, erotic horror (PG-13 max), noir, psychological horror, quiet/soft horror, and suspense horror. The judges tend not to like sci-fi horror, extreme/splatter horror, Lovecraftian, etc. Please no creepy children, people who don't know they're dead or overdone "monsters" (vampires, were wolves, sasquatch, etc.). As to gore level, we'd far rather know what's going on inside a character's head than to see it on a pike. We want to be disturbed, unable to shake your story and compelled to leave on every light in the house after reading it. See previous placed Dead of Winter entries to get an idea of what the judges enjoy reading (archived March issues).
The contest opens October 1, 2011 and the deadline for submission is 11:59 PM ET December 21, 2011.
Email entries to dow2011[at]toasted-cheese.com with the subject line: Dead of Winter Contest Entry
Post any questions you have about the contest in our DoW thread at the forums or tweet them to @toasted_cheese (hashtag: #tcDOW11). Please do not post any part of your entry in the thread and be wary of including information that might publicly identify your story on Twitter.
If you need to contact an editor with a more specific DOW tweet, please send your Twitter DM to one of these editors: @theryn @amandamarlowe @deoris1 @unanalike @Mollienbonnets
You may post your work for feedback at one of the critique forums but please title your post "DoW entry for feedback" or similar so that the judges don't read it.
Entries are blind-judged by Baker & Billiard. Decisions are final. Winners are announced January 31.
Winning stories are published in the March issue of Toasted Cheese.
If 50 or fewer eligible entries are received, first place receives a $35 Amazon gift card & second a $10 Amazon gift card.
If 51 or more eligible entries are received, first place receives a $50 Amazon gift card, second a $15 Amazon gift card & third a $10 Amazon gift card.
*Horror "uses literary techniques to frighten, unsettle or horrify the audience; employs macabre and/or supernatural themes."
