DBWI Writing Contest Winners

So it took me a while to get to this point, but I am now ready to announce the winners of the Double-Blind What If Writing Contest! Just to remind you all, this contest had three categories: fiction, non-fiction and reviews. Sadly there were no entries in the review category, which disappoints me since I thought there was really some room for imaginative works. Nevertheless we had some great entries and its time we end the suspense and announce the winners.

First up is the fiction category. I defined fiction as two or more characters interacting with each other. The entries that came under this category are:

Chronicles of the Socialist Republic by Dimas Aditya Hanandito
Eckener Topic of Discussion at Yearly WTW Conference by Zach Anderson.
Midterm Exam, History 412: Modern North America, 1847-Present by Kyle Owenby
The President That Never Was: A DBWI Alternate History by Tyler “tbguy1992” Bugg
Travaillis Republique Democratique Never Existed by Sean Sherman.

And the winner is...Midterm Exam, History 412: Modern North America, 1847-Present by Kyle Owenby!

Finally, we get to the non-fiction category, or the essay category. While these works are fictional in the sense that they are set in the alternate history, I differentiated them from the entries above because there is no interaction between numerous characters. Instead you just have an author speaking to an imaginary audience in the form of an essay/article/etc. With that in mind, the entries in this category are:

Coronation Special: Looking back at the Anglo-Dutch Civil War by Matthew Tuck
Worlds Apart: What if Marvel Never Merged With DC? by Ben Ronning

And the winner is...Worlds Apart: What if Marvel Never Merged With DC? by Ben Ronning!

Congrats to both of our winners. I will be contacting you shortly about receiving your prize. Thank you to everyone who participated, they were all excellent submissions and I wish I could reward you all for your hard work. Meanwhile, I know there were few people who were working on submissions, but missed the deadline. If you are still looking for a place to publish your story, feel free to contact me at ahwupdate at gmail dot com.

I have some upcoming contests planned, but I want to give everyone a breather so I do not overload you guys with competition like I did earlier in the year. I do recommend, however, that cartographers out there consider what they might like to submit to The Update in the near future...

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. His new story "The Enchanted Bean" can be found in Once Upon a Clockwork Tale from Echelon Press. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.

Double-Blind What If Writing Contest

We are only a little more than a month away from The Update's 2 year anniversary. Yay!!! To celebrate I am finally announcing the contest many have been bugging me about. Yes, that's right, it is the DOUBLE-BLIND WHAT IF WRITING CONTEST.

Simply put, double-blind what ifs (DBWIs) are alternate histories within an alternate history. You can get a more detailed description over at the AH.com Wiki or check out my article on them at Amazing Stories. So what do I want from you? Be creative. Write an essay about how alternate history might develop in a world where the Confederacy won the Civil War. Write a story about two historians debating what ifs in a universe where the Persian Empire conquered ancient Greece. Review an OTL historical fiction novel, but as a reviewer from a completely different timeline altogether. All of those ideas and more are acceptable. Use your imagination!

Here are the rules:

• Submissions should be between 500 to 7000 words. We are open to accepting submissions over 7000, but they may be split into separate parts if possible.
• We are accepting submissions for three categories: fiction (original stories written by you), non-fiction (counterfactual essays) and reviews (books, film, television, etc.) based on the theme.
• Multiple submissions are acceptable, but only one per category.
• Submission period begins today and posting begins June 5. The submission period ends on June 28th.
• All submissions must be sent by email with "DBWI Writing Contest" in the subject line.
• All submissions must meet the theme for the contest but we will not stop accepting articles for the month of June outside the theme, but publication may be postponed for contest submissions.
• All other rules regarding contributing to The Update remain in effect.

There will be a winner selected from each category based on the name of page views each submission generates. The winner from each category will receive a $10 prize. Yes you read that right. The Update is finally paying for submissions, as promised.

WARNING: Any suspected cheating will immediately disqualify the contributor and there will be no appeals.  You are still encouraged to promote your work through your own blogs, websites and social media.

If you any questions email me at ahwupdate at gmail dot com. Please also feel free to share this announcement across Facebook and Twitter. Good luck everyone.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger on Amazing Stories and a volunteer editor for Alt Hist magazine. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly and The Were-Traveler. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.