1st Annual GL Writing Contest
by Mark R
Here at GamingLives we’re all about giving people an opportunity to shine, whether you’re a professional writer or just someone with something to say… like the rest of us here. We’re one of very few gaming sites who have an open door policy on articles, allowing anyone to submit their work without the obligation of becoming a regular writer and so it made sense to do something else a little bit different.
So to celebrate our first birthday, and to welcome 2011 with open arms, I give you the First Annual GamingLives Writing Contest.
What do we have to do?
Write about what you know – gaming. The winning article will be the one which the panel feels has the most genuine enthusiasm for gaming without going over the top like an excited kid with a year’s supply of Space Dust. We’d rather not accept reviews and would much prefer if the article was based on thoughts and experience, or even observations about the gaming industry in general so that we get to read about the writer themselves and not a particular game. The contest will run for the entire month of January, with no more entries accepted after midnight on January 28th (not the 31st) so please make sure that you send your entry in plenty of time. Please send all submissions to writingcontest@gaminglives.com
What do we win?
That is down to the winner actually, but we have a choice of FIVE prizes on offer, which we’ve listed below. Along with the prize, the winner will have their article published on the site on Tuesday February 1st so that it has full front page coverage until the following Monday and will continue to have it publicised with a front page ad for the entire month of February. There is also one runner up prize of a £50 Amazon voucher.
 XBox 360 Console (250Gb) with Kinect Sensor and Kinect Adventures |
 Playstation 3 Slim (320Gb) + £50 Amazon Voucher |
 Black Wii Console with Wii Sports, Mario Kart, Black Wii Wheel, Motion Plus + £150 Amazon Voucher |
 Red DSi XL 25th Anniversary “New Super Mario Bros” Special Edition + £100 Amazon Voucher |
 Acer Ferrari One 11.6″ HD LED Netbook ATI Radeon HD3200, AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual Core, 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD |
Will winning make me a writer for GamingLives?
You’re under absolutely no obligation to continue writing for the site as this is the first of what will become an annual contest and not a job interview with a live TV final where “someone will get fired”. The winner will obviously have the opportunity to continue contributing to the site and, in doing so, become either a writer or contributor but that is entirely their own choice and they would also be free to take their prize and run for the hills if they so desired. If you are the winner and DO decide to continue writing, you will become part of a strong team of writers, with the option to review new titles, interview developers and cover press launches and events but, most importantly, you’d be in great company.
What are the rules?
- All entries must be 100% your own work.
- Articles should be at least 750 words in length, with no upper limit.
- You may enter as many times as you like as long as each entry is unique.
- The entry should be previously unpublished but can be republished elsewhere afterwards if you so wish.
- Entrant agrees that the article can remain on the GamingLives site after publication.
- All articles should be spell checked and, where relevant, fact checked.
- We will accept entries in txt, doc, docx, pdf, rtf and wps format.
- Entry is open to anyone, from any country, as long as they’re over 16 years of age.
Good luck to everyone, and if you have any questions please email writingcontest@gaminglives.com
Last five articles by Mark R
- From Acorns to Fish
- Alone In The Dark
- Why Borderlands is Better Than Borderlands 2
- Falling Short
- The Division: A Guide to Surviving the Dark Zone Solo
Wow, brilliant competition, shame I’m not a good writer as I tend to procrastinate and babble on in my writing. Still I may give it a try, the prize is definitely worth it.
“I tend to procrastinate and babble on in my writing”
Hey… it works for me
Go for it, you have nothing to lose except time… and I believe Lee’s working on a time machine anyway so he may even be able to sort you out on that score too!
If there is any site in the world where the writers “procrastinate and babble on”, it’s this one
(no offence guys, yeah? ^_^ )
Dude, you forget that I already have a Time Machine
Good luck to everyone who enters. I’m supremely jealous of whoever wins.
If time machines are involved does that mean the prizes will be upgraded to PS4, Xbox 720, Wii 2, 3DS and some kind of super computer.
Hmm… as an avid Quantum Leap watcher, I’d have to say that we’re only able to travel backwards in time and not forwards… therefore everyone will get a Binatone TV system
dibs on the Commodore 64!
I want a dinosaur!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Peoww and redditpics, Mark Smith. Mark Smith said: Holy crap just saw the front page of GL. Thats a comp you want to enter. http://www.gaminglives.com/2011/01/03/1st-annual-writing-contest/ [...]
I am so tempted to enter, I’ve always wanted a PS3 but everytime I start saving up for 1 something pops up and all my money vanishes, darn Christmas, birthdays, Easter and car insurance.
Oh I didn’t see that the Xbox 360 comes with kinect, omg omg omg KINECT If someone wins the competition but only wants Kinect can that person say they only want Kinect and that the console can go to the second place winner?
Sorry FC360 but it says in the rules that only Michael Moverley can enter the competition
Lol Michael I must missed that rule. I think I already entered this competition with a rubbish article so might enter a different article, I would think someone who already writes on here would win
Good luck Michael, or do you prefer Mike? I’m in it for the kinect the console will probably go to someone who wants it if not then I’ll sell it and give the money I make to a charity, the rspca probably. Oh yeah good luck other entries entering the competition
Need ability to edit comments lol, that previous comment is if I was to win
i’m not that selfish or big headed
Yes!! I’ve been waiting for something to get me back into writing. Done and submitted! (: Thanks for the opportunity, even if I don’t win!
And…why does it say I posted that comment on January 5th at 6:44 am? o.O My account’s time is set to Mountain Time and it was January 4th at like 11:30 pm. lol Fail.
Site’s based in the UK and the server time is set to GMT, so your comment will be timestamped as per the local time… just like if I commented on a US site just now, it’d have it in PST or whatever. Just do what I do, and pretend it’s time travel
Oh yeah. haha I forgot about that. Yes, time travel, indeed!
That as the kids say is a “pretty sweet haul” look forward to seeing some fresh meat, I mean blood, talent? Erm I’ll get my coat.
Ooh, can’t wait to enter
I’m formulating some ideas now XD
Good luck everyone!
I was gonna give up mine after looking at it, but decided I was already halfway through…..so I polished it while being very bored at college and submitted it
It’s worth a shot, even if it’s terrible, you’ve got more of a winning chance if you enter than if you don’t. that’s my philosophy anyways
I was thinking of entering another article but I cannot for the life of me decide what I would write about, and after reading the 1 I entered before I don’t think I’m close to winning as it wasn’t very well written. I seem to be better at writing stories then articles.
Great contest, looking forward to see what people wrote about! Happy Birthday Gaminglives!
Good luck everyone!
awesome competition, i’m going to give this a shot
Marvelous competition chaps, had a blast writing something that I hope you’ll enjoy. Even if I dont win
I entered this partly because I was already in the writing mood.. thanks to my english language exam:(
Anyway, it’s a nice competition, I like competitions based on skill not luck, especially ones like these where the prize isn’t a £20 book voucher or something:)
I only found out about this site because my mate told me about this competition and so I’m going to submit something… Doubt I will get it but it’s a great idea and I have always been thinking about writing something game related or similar.
just submitted my article, took me me 4 days to finish ! im aiming for a xbox kinect, fingers crossed that i win,and if i dont congrats to whoever does!!!
I sent in my entry 10 days ago, but I haven’t received an aknowledgement of receipt or anthing like that. Is this normal or should I be worried the article ended up in the spam folder?
Hi Kate… entry was received on the 17th – “The Ritual of Mii and Us”
Unfortunately, we’ve not been able to reply to everyone who entered due to the sheer volume of entries. Good luck!
Good Luck to everyone!
Have to agree with the comments above, great competition especailly as the winner gets to pick a prize. I hope that we get a chance to read all the entries at somepoint cos it will be really interesting to see what everone choose to write about.
Good luck everyone…
[...] ramble below is my entry for the Gaming Lives Writing Contest. I didn’t win, I didn’t even get runner up. But I ddin’t really expect to after [...]
[...] may recall that last year we hosted our first writing contest, offering readers the chance to win a pretty awesome prize if they were able to impress us to the [...]