Public Access: Double Feature Writing Contest
We are holding a writing contest for Public Access! It’s called the Public Access: Double Feature Writing Contest. Submissions are a Lost Transmission mystery for Public Access inspired by two different genre films.
The contest is being conducted in three phases. The phases are discussed below, but first…
Join us on Discord!
This contest is being run entirely through The Gauntlet Discord server, and you’ll need to join that server here, and then head over to the #writing-contest channel.
Phase I: Picking Movies
Phase I of the writing contest runs from March 24th, 2025 to April 7th, 2025. To complete Phase I, you simply have to fill out the form that will be pinned in the above Discord channel. By filling out the form, you’re telling us which movies you’d be interested in using as inspiration for your Lost Transmission entry, and whether you’d like to work solo or in a pair (more on that later). Your requested movies must each be a genre film (in this case meaning sci-fi, fantasy, or horror).
Phase II: Find a Collaborator (or not)
Phase II runs from April 7th to April 21st. We’ll put out a spreadsheet with everyone’s assigned movie. Everyone will have a unique movie assigned to them, based on their preferences when they submitted the form. Participants who wish to collaborate can reach out to another participant in order to form a pair (we will not be assigning pairs—participants are responsible for doing that themselves), and your shared submission will be inspired by your assigned movies. If you’re working solo or unable to find someone to work with, you’ll get in touch with Amanda (iamatrex) and she’ll assign your second movie to you.
Phase III: Writing and Submission
The remainder of the contest is the writing and submission period.
Your entry should be a Lost Transmission mystery for Public Access. A Lost Transmission is a special mystery that explores the weird history of Degoya County, the game's setting (see Resources for more information). Your mystery should take inspiration from two different genre (sci-fi, horror, fantasy) films. "Take inspiration" is interpreted very broadly for purposes of this contest. It could be that your Lost Transmission has situations and characters very similar to those in your assigned movies, or it could be that it simply has the same themes or aesthetics of those movies.
Submission Guidelines
Resources
This folder contains a copy of The Great Degoya County Chili Cook-Off, so you can see what the Lost Transmission format looks like, as well as an overview of the Lost Transmission format.
While it is not strictly necessary, you may also want to have the full rules of the game on-hand. If you want to participate in the contest but are unable to purchase the game, send an email to the above address and say that you’d like a copy of the rules for purposes of participating in the contest. No further explanation is required.
Jason and Alex discussed Lost Transmissions and the contest on a recent episode of The Darkened Threshold—we strongly recommend you listen.
Writer’s Workshop
Game creator Jason Cordova will be holding a special writer's workshop for contest participants. The workshop will be via Zoom on May 18th from 12 PM - 3 PM Eastern. The workshop will be recorded for folks who can't make it.
Public Viewing Folder
Entries will be made available for public viewing after the deadline for submissions has passed. If you don’t want your entry included in the public viewing folder, you can opt out by telling us so when you send your submission email.
Judging Criteria and Announcement of Winners
The entries will be judged on overall writing quality, creativity, and playability. Entries will also be judged on how creatively and effectively they incorporate elements from your assigned movies. The entries will not be judged blind, so feel free to discuss your entry wherever you wish. The judging panel will be announced at a later time. The winners and runners-up will be announced in late June during a special podcast episode.
Prizes
While the primary aim of the contest is to have fun and engage in a creative process with like-minded writers, there are also some prizes available. Prize money is awarded to the entry; if an entry was a collaboration, the creators can decide how to divide it amongst themselves.
Publication and Text Ownership
You own the text of your entry and are free to publish it wherever you wish after the announcement of winners. If you publish it commercially, please check in with us before using any named characters, entities, or locations from Public Access, apart from the general setting materials. Additionally, your commercial publication should say "This product is not associated with Gauntlet Publishing, but it is published with their permission" somewhere on the document. We are not actively seeking to publish any entries (again, the contest is for fun) but if something catches our eye that would be a good fit for our plans, we will make a formal publishing offer to the entrant. If the winning entry or a runner-up receives such an offer, we will pay our publishing rate in addition to the prize money.
Planned for Publication
It’s not a contest requirement, but you might wish to avoid writing something that is similar to something we already have planned for publication. Below is a short summary of what we have in the immediate pipeline; you can also ask the creators in Discord if your idea is similar to something we have planned for official publication.
Lost Transmission inspired by Hellraiser.
Lost Transmission version of The Dream, originally inspired by The Stuff.
Lost Transmission about a ghost hunter TV show.
Lost Transmission version of Convergence, inspired by desert wellness retreats.
We are holding a writing contest for Public Access! It’s called the Public Access: Double Feature Writing Contest. Submissions are a Lost Transmission mystery for Public Access inspired by two different genre films.
The contest is being conducted in three phases. The phases are discussed below, but first…
Join us on Discord!
This contest is being run entirely through The Gauntlet Discord server, and you’ll need to join that server here, and then head over to the #writing-contest channel.
Phase I: Picking Movies
Phase I of the writing contest runs from March 24th, 2025 to April 7th, 2025. To complete Phase I, you simply have to fill out the form that will be pinned in the above Discord channel. By filling out the form, you’re telling us which movies you’d be interested in using as inspiration for your Lost Transmission entry, and whether you’d like to work solo or in a pair (more on that later). Your requested movies must each be a genre film (in this case meaning sci-fi, fantasy, or horror).
Phase II: Find a Collaborator (or not)
Phase II runs from April 7th to April 21st. We’ll put out a spreadsheet with everyone’s assigned movie. Everyone will have a unique movie assigned to them, based on their preferences when they submitted the form. Participants who wish to collaborate can reach out to another participant in order to form a pair (we will not be assigning pairs—participants are responsible for doing that themselves), and your shared submission will be inspired by your assigned movies. If you’re working solo or unable to find someone to work with, you’ll get in touch with Amanda (iamatrex) and she’ll assign your second movie to you.
Phase III: Writing and Submission
The remainder of the contest is the writing and submission period.
Your entry should be a Lost Transmission mystery for Public Access. A Lost Transmission is a special mystery that explores the weird history of Degoya County, the game's setting (see Resources for more information). Your mystery should take inspiration from two different genre (sci-fi, horror, fantasy) films. "Take inspiration" is interpreted very broadly for purposes of this contest. It could be that your Lost Transmission has situations and characters very similar to those in your assigned movies, or it could be that it simply has the same themes or aesthetics of those movies.
Submission Guidelines
- You can submit one entry (whether working solo or in a pair).
- Each entry should be no longer than 4000 words.
- Submissions must be in a Google Doc, 11 pt. Arial, with no special formatting (bold, italics, and bullet points are fine).
- Send a link to your Google Doc to Amanda, who will be organizing the entries for the judges, via email: [email protected]. Subject line: “DOUBLE FEATURE WRITING CONTEST”. By submitting, you are representing your entry is a work of your own creation.
- When you send your submission email, indicate if you wish to opt-out of the public viewing folder (see Public Viewing Folder section, below).
- The deadline for submissions is 11:59 PM Eastern on May 26th, 2025.
Resources
This folder contains a copy of The Great Degoya County Chili Cook-Off, so you can see what the Lost Transmission format looks like, as well as an overview of the Lost Transmission format.
While it is not strictly necessary, you may also want to have the full rules of the game on-hand. If you want to participate in the contest but are unable to purchase the game, send an email to the above address and say that you’d like a copy of the rules for purposes of participating in the contest. No further explanation is required.
Jason and Alex discussed Lost Transmissions and the contest on a recent episode of The Darkened Threshold—we strongly recommend you listen.
Writer’s Workshop
Game creator Jason Cordova will be holding a special writer's workshop for contest participants. The workshop will be via Zoom on May 18th from 12 PM - 3 PM Eastern. The workshop will be recorded for folks who can't make it.
Public Viewing Folder
Entries will be made available for public viewing after the deadline for submissions has passed. If you don’t want your entry included in the public viewing folder, you can opt out by telling us so when you send your submission email.
Judging Criteria and Announcement of Winners
The entries will be judged on overall writing quality, creativity, and playability. Entries will also be judged on how creatively and effectively they incorporate elements from your assigned movies. The entries will not be judged blind, so feel free to discuss your entry wherever you wish. The judging panel will be announced at a later time. The winners and runners-up will be announced in late June during a special podcast episode.
Prizes
While the primary aim of the contest is to have fun and engage in a creative process with like-minded writers, there are also some prizes available. Prize money is awarded to the entry; if an entry was a collaboration, the creators can decide how to divide it amongst themselves.
- 1 winning entry will receive $500 USD.
- 3 runners-up will receive $200 USD each.
Publication and Text Ownership
You own the text of your entry and are free to publish it wherever you wish after the announcement of winners. If you publish it commercially, please check in with us before using any named characters, entities, or locations from Public Access, apart from the general setting materials. Additionally, your commercial publication should say "This product is not associated with Gauntlet Publishing, but it is published with their permission" somewhere on the document. We are not actively seeking to publish any entries (again, the contest is for fun) but if something catches our eye that would be a good fit for our plans, we will make a formal publishing offer to the entrant. If the winning entry or a runner-up receives such an offer, we will pay our publishing rate in addition to the prize money.
Planned for Publication
It’s not a contest requirement, but you might wish to avoid writing something that is similar to something we already have planned for publication. Below is a short summary of what we have in the immediate pipeline; you can also ask the creators in Discord if your idea is similar to something we have planned for official publication.
Lost Transmission inspired by Hellraiser.
Lost Transmission version of The Dream, originally inspired by The Stuff.
Lost Transmission about a ghost hunter TV show.
Lost Transmission version of Convergence, inspired by desert wellness retreats.
