Writing Contests

Check back here for all the announcements and rules about our writing contests.

Our Q1 2022 writing contest is now complete.
See who won here.
Stay tuned for the next writing contest announcement.

Details from past Q1 2022 contest:

CASH PRIZES:

1st Place - $100

2nd Place - $50

3rd Place - $25

Chatables publishes voice-interactive "conversational stories" in which virtual characters talk to you, the listener, and you answer back. These stories are currently published in our Storyteller Cafe voice app on Amazon Alexa.

Please use our voice app and get a feel for the content before entering this contest! Say"Alexa, open Storyteller Cafe." Currently available in the U.S.

We publish stories aimed at grown ups, but with content that is family safe. Our current target audience consists of people 65 and older who don't have an opportunity to get out and socialize much and who sometimes feel lonely or bored.

THIS CONTEST: We're looking for you to write an original "educational" chat for Storyteller Cafe. An educational chat is a fact-based conversation that lasts somewhere around 7 minutes and covers an interesting topic.

To hear samples, ask your Alexa to "open Storyteller Cafe." Then ask for one or more of these stories by title: "Grace Kelly's Romance," "The Roommate of James Stewart," "What happened to Kennedy's Father," "The Lincoln Memorial," "Insects in Space." Your contest entry could be an additional story about Grace Kelly, James Stewart, or John F. Kennedy.

For detailed instructions on designing your educational chat, see the following videos:

Scripting an Interactive Educational Chat - Part 1

Scripting an Interactive Educational Chat - Part 2

For tutorials on using Express, see the following videos:

Introduction to Expresso

Advanced Expresso Tips

We welcome entries from all authors! To learn more about how to write a conversational story and how to use our tools, please visit our For Authors and sign up for our free online course.

Important: Create your own character(s), but each character will have to be performed by one of these 4 adult voices: US Male, US Female, UK Female, UK Male.

To stay up-to-date on the latest announcements, helpful tips, be sure to request access to our private Facebook group for Chatables authors.

Official Rules

No entry fee is required.
Must be 18 or older to enter.
Entries must adhere to our editorial guidelines.
All entries must be original works by the entrant, in English.
Authors retain the rights to their submissions.
To be eligible for a prize in this contest, the scripted interactive conversation must represent an "educational chat" as described in the videos.
Entries must be written using Expresso (the Chatables writing editor) and submitted in Expresso format (.json).
Each entrant may submit no more than two entries to the contest.
Each entrant is eligible for only one cash prize.
Chatables is under no obligation to publish the author's contest entries.
By submitting to the contest, the author grants Chatables LLC the right to publish the story in a voice app experience.
Authors whose stories are accepted for publication will be required to sign an Authors Agreement prior to publication.
Entries must be received by amy@chatables.com in Expresso format (.json) by February 15th, 2022.
Three cash prizes will be awarded as follows:
- 1st Place - $100
- 2nd Place - $50
- 3rd Place - $25
All judges or members of the Chatables staff are ineligible for a prize.
The judges' decisions are final.
Winners will be notified by email no later than March 10th, 2022.