Categories (note : please also read the "Judging Criteria" below carefully)  

- Fiction (500 ~ 2000 words**)

-Poetry (no minimum ~ 2000 words**)

- Non-fiction (500 ~ 2000 words**) Includes essays, travel writing, & personal narratives.  

- Non-native speaker (500 ~ 2000 words**) - can be either fiction or non-fiction. This special section is for both Koreans and others whose first language is not English. We know you have much to tell us, even if your English is not 100%! We especially welcome viewpoints that are different from those we usually see on Pusanweb. It will help the editor and judges if you can find a native English speaker to check your work first.
However, if you can't find a native speaker to check it, let us see the story anyway. Dont be shy !   

 **Note on word length : These word ranges are a rough guide only. We are not going to publish your novel (not in one posting anyway!), but if you have something dramatic to say, feel free to push over the limit a bit. And of course if you have a poem to move us with, tender, cutting, powerful, sublime ... it doesn't have to hung by the neck on a 500 word scaffold.  

Judging
 
50% - Online Voting
50% - Pusanweb Writing Panel  

Prizes  

First prize winners in each category will receive 50,000 won.
Second prize winners in each category will receive 20,000 won.

Submission Guidelines  

a) All entries must be sent to writings@pusanweb.com within a basic email or as an .rtf or .doc attachment.

b) For more information about formatting, please read our regular submission guidelines in the Pusanweb Writings section .

c) Entries can be posted using a pseudonym, but all submission emails must include the writer's real name, a valid e-mail address and phone contact number, and a clear title for the piece.

d) Please indicate whether your piece is Fiction, Non-fiction, or Non-native speaker; (non-native speakers may choose to be judged in the general Fiction or Non-fiction categories if they are quite confident of their English). 

e) Provided that they meet the criteria for elegibility, all stories submitted to Pusanweb Writings during the contest period will be entered into the contest. (If you do not wish your story to be considered for a prize, let us know. We can still publish your piece in the normal way). 

f) Copied (plagiarized) work will be eliminated from the competition immediately. We want to see your original ideas and insights. Note : the editor is professionally trained in detecting plagiarism.

g) Copyright for all competition entries remains with the authors. 

Eligibility  

The Pusanweb Writing Contest is open to all the readers of Pusanweb, provided only that they deal with themes broadly related to Korea. Members of the Pusanweb Writing Panel and all those involved in the management of this website are not permitted to enter.  

Judging Criteria  

What are we looking for? We are generally impressed by these qualities in a piece of writing :

a) Literary skill. Hey, it doesn't have to be Nobel Prize material. However just as rock music and a classical concerto (for example) can be well done or awful, so writing from any genre can be good or bad. We like to see well-crafted work.  

b) Interest for a reasonable number of readers. Well, you can make almost anything interesting if you are clever enough. You can also make almost anything uninteresting. On a website we can actually see how many people vote with their mouse clicks. Hint :- the title of any piece of writing has a big impact on the number of people who read it. That is not enough though. You want them not just to start, but also to finish reading your masterpiece ! Yes, we know that sex sells, but at least for the purposes of Pusan Web, that is not enough either. We are not prudes, but anything a bit fresh should be able to justify itself by the other criteria too.

c) Insight. This is a bit difficult to define simply, but the general idea is that readers should go away from your writing with some new bit of understanding. Of course, there are stories which are so entertaining that new insights may come low on the list. Usually though, narrowly prejudiced writing, or ruminations on your own belly button will neither entertain nor inform too many people.  

d) A focus on East Asia, especially Korea. We don't want to be too parochial about this, but there are millions of web sites out there dealing with the world in general. Pusanweb's best value is bound to be as a resource on Busan, Korea and East Asia (in that order). That is why readers generally come to visit us, so we have to favour material which is relevant to that mission.  

Well, good luck ... and get writing !! Remember, send your stories to writings@pusanweb.com .

 The Pusan Web Writings Team
Busan, South Korea

This Contest is proudly sponsored by