Magicfest General Rules

 

 

1. Magicfest consists of three Events, each lasting 72 hours. Events are open to registered participants.

a. Events begin and end at midnight, UTC, on the cusp of Tuesdays and Fridays, respectively.

 

2. Registration is required in advance. Registration opens March 1 and closes when all spaces are full.

a. Registration is free and open to all ages worldwide.

b. Registration space is limited by the number of volunteer judges.

 

3. Event announcements are available on the Magicfest page, Discord, and by email mailing list. 

a. Theresa is available on Discord to answer clarifying questions. ​

b. Please reserve identifying questions for Theresa's email or Discord DM to protect your anonymity.

 

4. Entries from registered participants are accepted before the Event deadline.

a. One entry per registered participant, per Event.

i. Registered participants may resubmit a corrected file before the Event deadline.

b. Entries must be in English, complete stories, and original works of fiction written during the 72-hour writing period.

i. Entries including fanfiction, religion, politics, erotica, or AI-generated content are not accepted.

c. Entry information must be kept private for the duration of the competition, ending with the final overall winner announcement.

 

5. Submissions should follow the directions on the Submissions page. 

a. NO IDENTIFYING INFORMATION INSIDE YOUR FILE.

i. This rule is new for all WW submissions as of 1/1/26.​

 

6. Winning pieces from the competition will be published in an anthology.

a. Pieces placing first through fifth in any of the three scored Events will be included.

i. There will be time to revise before publication.​

ii. All contributors will receive a digital contributor copy.

b. ​The Writer's Workout requests one-time, nonexclusive, publishing rights with worldwide distribution to entries placing first through fifth in all scored Events. All participants maintain the right to reproduce, distribute, or otherwise make available their creations from any Fest Event following the Overall winner announcement and conclusion of the portion. WW requests that all winning participants delay separate publication until after the anthology is released, up to but not more than, 60 days after the conclusion of the portion.​

 

7. Any submission may lead to disqualification for the Event or Overall. 

a. Event disqualification occurs when the submission does not meet the challenge parameters. The entry receives a score of 0.

i. A disqualified entry receives the full critique length selected at registration. The registered participant is eligible to win future Events in the portion. 

ii. A registered participant may appeal entry disqualification at any time during the active portion, prior to the Overall winner announcement, by emailing Theresa at Theresa.Green [at] writersworkout.net

b. Portion disqualification occurs when a person is found violating basic ethical responsibility to include, but not limited to: 

i. Cheating is defined as working with a partner or team; incorporating characters, situations, or written works created by someone else or used in a previous work; submitting work written outside the 72-hour Event period, or submitting partial or segmented pieces of a larger work.

1. The judges will perform plagiarism checks without cause or notice.

ii. AI-copied content is defined as any work partially or wholly generated by an artificial intelligence or LLM program/service. 

1. Assistance tools like speech-to-text and spelling/grammar checkers are accepted.

2. AI editing tools will trigger the "AI content" response in suspected checks and are not permitted. 

iii. Sharing is defined as submitting, posting, or otherwise making available any entry for a Fest Event before the conclusion of the portion. 

iv. Spamming is defined as disrespectful, distasteful, pushy, or frequently repeated messages sent during a short amount of time. 

v. Harassment is defined as intrusive messaging, pushy or bullying comments, or repeated contacts after being asked to stop.

1. Harassment of any kind will result in permanent banishment from the Writer's Workout community.

 

8. ​Scoring is by expression of the Event’s Core Concepts, as specified in each Event announcement.

a. A participant’s Event score is the average of all judges’ scores for that entry.

b. A participant’s overall score is the sum of their Event scores.

c. Winners will be posted to the Magicfest page by the start of the next Event.

d. Overall winners will be announced on Tuesday, April 21, 2026.

 

9. The volunteer judges agree to critique each applicable entry assigned to them. Critique is also known as feedback. 

a. Standard feedback is free and included in pursuit of the spirit of the competition: self-growth. 

i. Writers may opt-out of feedback at registration. 

b. Feedback will focus on the Event's Core Concepts; it includes a breakdown of positives and negatives, suggestions for improvement, and other areas of success outside the scope of the Core Concepts. 

c. Judges may choose to skip triggering content without explanation. 

d. Feedback is delivered through a living document organized on the Writer's Workout Drive. Each participant receives a link by email to their private Feedback Folder, housing all Writer's Workout feedback documents applicable to them. 

i. A participant's feedback is pasted into their feedback document after each Event. The team makes every effort to deliver polished feedback before the next Event's writing deadline. 

ii. Feedback delivery will be announced in the #fest channel on Discord. 

iii. Some judges' feedback may be withheld for reasons determined by the administrative team—most commonly, failure to meet minimum standards. The team will always place priority on providing helpful, polished feedback from at least three judges per entry, per participant, per Event. 

1. Explanations for withheld feedback will not be discussed; withheld feedback will not be released. 

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10. Fests are individual competitions; entries must be completed solely by the writer alone, during the 72-hour writing period. Editors, beta readers, test groups, etc, during any phase of the writing process before submission are not permitted for any reason. 

a. Minor exception: participants under the age of 18 may receive assistance from a parent or guardian concerning formatting and submitting their entry on time. We strongly discourage parents from influencing story content, plot, and other aspects. 

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Rules may be subject to change, participants will be notified as needed.

 

 

 

Rights

The Writer's Workout requests you keep all information regarding your entries secret until after April 21, 2026. This is for your protection, to help you remain anonymous and prevent judgement bias. The Writer's Workout requests one-time, non-exclusive rights with worldwide distribution. We do not retain the right to republish a work in an additional compilation. 

Winning pieces will be published in our first FEST anthology, available in digital and print in early June.

Contributors will receive a digital contributor copy.