Hello and welcome to Black Hole Comics and Entertainment! If you're new here, welcome to our little website. BHC is a company that was founded in 2020 with a simple goal of helping creators tell their stories, no matter their background or experience. On our site, you'll find digital comics, short stories, and artist spotlights. This April marks the end of year two for Black Hole, and we're beyond excited for year number three.
WHY NOT YOU? is a simple concept. A lot of times in creative industries, certain voices get excluded from the conversation. Be it systemic issues, bigotry, or just plain bad timing and luck. We wanted to create a contest that was free to enter, had tangible prizes, and one that didn't rely on being popular on social media or who you might know in any given industry. Most of our winners in the previous two contests told us it was the first time they had EVER won anything for their writing.
So, without wasting your time, welcome to the third iteration of our short story contest. Rules and guidelines are below, along with some FAQ's, and the link to enter the contest.
The rules are simple and to the point. They are as follows:
1. Stories can be any genre or about any topic, but cannot exceed over 3,000 words. There is no minimum word count
2. All work must be original, unpublished work. Stories posted on personal blogs or sites like Wattpad are fine.
3. To enter, you MUST follow or be following Black Hole Comics and Entertainment on Twitter (@BHCEnt) or Instagram (@blackholecomics)
And that’s it! There will be three winners. And the prizes are as follows. Deadline for entries is May 31st, 2022. Winners will be announced before June 30th, 2022.
- 1st Place - $500
- 2nd Place - $200
- 3rd Place - $100
FAQ’s
Who’s judging the contest?
The contest will be judged by Black Hole co-founders Toren Chenault and Nick Couture. They judged the first two contests as well. And also this year, we're welcoming guest judge Gabe Gonzalez!! He runs the website Castle of Chills, a site dedicated to highlighting minority voices within horror. Gabe has written short stories and comics for Black Hole as well.
What genre or style are you looking for?
Any genre is fine. The judges have their favorites of course, like sci-fi, horror, etc. But the style is completely up to you. We’re all about creativity and innovation. Whatever you think represents you as a writer, do it. If you think you can tell a compelling story in ten words, be our guest. One of our honorable mentions the first year told the life of a lightbulb from the lightbulb's perspective. Last year, a satirical horror story won. It was a story about a mom who brought her son to life with parts she ordered on Amazon.
Each winner of our contest has a consistent theme though. They all have a voice. They have something to say. If you have that, we will notice it, doesn't matter what your story is about.
You can always read our past winners for free as well!
How will the stories be judged?
Any story that can build a compelling world and compelling characters always sticks out. And like we highlighted above, writers with a definitive voice always stick out. We're not judging for grammatical genius, although there can’t be errors every five words, but just a powerful story. We don’t want to be too dramatic here but bare your soul in this thing. What makes YOU and YOUR voice great? That's what will win. It can be funny, serious, melancholy, adventurous, we don’t care. The stories that do that the best will win.
Do writers retain rights of the stories?
Yup. If you win, you get the money and publication on our site. But also, Black Hole is just a platform. We’re just putting the story on our site and you retain all rights to your creation to do with what you want in the future.
Is this just for people in the United States?
No, anyone in the world can enter. Just make sure you have a way to accept international payments if you do win. (PayPal, Venmo, etc.)
I don’t have a Twitter or Instagram, can I enter?
There’s really no way around this. You must follow us on one of those socials to enter the contest.
How many entries per person?
Just one, please.
Can I send you a link to my story? Or can I paste the link in the box on the Google Doc?
No, we will not open any links or attachments. The entire story must be pasted/written in the answer box in the Google Doc.
You ready to enter? Ready to show off your skills and your passion? We're excited to read everyone’s responses. Below is a link to the Google Form. Good luck, everybody!