Competition rules and regulations (UPDATED 23rd Feb 2026)

Competition will run from 23:00 hrs UK time on a Friday night to 23:00 hrs UK Time on a Sunday night.

The entry fee is £10 (GBP) and is non-refundable. Entries close 22:00 hrs UK Time on Friday of contest.

£1 (GBP) of all entries will go to Galapagos Conservation Trust’s 'Adopt a Blue-footed Booby' scheme.

All entrants will receive an email at the competition start time. There will be a selection of 3 prompts to choose from in three categories;  1) Genre  2) Location  3) Character (i.e Romance, Church, Astronaut)

One selection must be made from each category.  We will be very lenient with how far you push the prompts to their limits but any that do not include them will be disqualified.

The story should be a maximum of 500 words. We will be using this free online tool to verify all entries, so we advise you to check your story's word count on there before submitting.

All entries must be written in English and attached (as a word doc or pdf) with no contact details visible via the competition entry form. The entry form asks which prompts you have chosen and to detail any trigger warnings.

Any early (before 23:00 UK Time on competition start date) or late entries (after 23:00 UK Time on competition closing date) sent via this form will be deleted without reading. If you need to contact us please do so via this form.

Any stories found to be using AI will be disqualified. 

An initial shortlist of (maximum) 5 stories will be selected and announced via email and on the site within 6 weeks of closing entry time. A further (max of 10) selection of stories will receive honourable mentions. For the full judging process click HERE

The winner(s) will be announced within 14 days of the shortlist being announced

It's not compulsory, but if you include a Blue-Footed Booby (or other Galapagos animal*) in your story, you will automatically be displayed in the Booby Hall of Fame once the competition has finished. You will be asked on story submit if you wish your bio and story to be published too. 

You will also go into a draw to win a your chosen animal soft toy (from the adoption pack on the charity website)

*New for the February Contest. The animals that are included in the bonus are;

- Blue-Footed Booby

- Galápagos Sea Lion

- Galápagos Penguin

- Hammerhead Shark

- Whale Shark

- Flamingo

- Galápagos Giant Tortoise

Minimum age to enter is 18

An Entry (Story) can be disqualified at The Booby Prize's discretion any time after submission for any reason, including the following reasons: 

a. Stories that glorify racism or sexism, or celebrate the discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals or other marginalized groups. 

b. Stories containing overly graphic sexual content or extreme/excessive gore. 

c. Stories that would be deemed illegal, including but not limited to the sexualization of minors (bearing in mind this is an international competition - the legal age in US and Canada is taken as the limit), incitement to violence or terrorism, and extreme obscenities. 

d. Stories written with little to no effort or that were clearly generated using AI, as determined by our admin team. 

e. Stories containing intellectual property (IP) that the author does not own (e.g., 'fan fiction'). However, authors may use IP from creative works if they are in the public domain. For example, writing a spin on The Three Little Pigs would be perfectly acceptable. 

f. The Entry goes over the maximum word count or under the minimum word count (if applicable). 

g. There was no effort to adhere to the prompts or any one of the three prompts are missing from the story.