The Fine Print
Required by lawyers. Tolerated by us.
Skill-Based Competition
The Analog is a skill-based writing competition. Entries are judged on merit — prose, voice, legibility, and adherence to the prompt — not on chance. This is not a sweepstakes, raffle, or lottery.
Entry Fee & Refunds
The $10 entry fee is non-refundable once the prompt has been delivered, which happens immediately after payment. If something goes catastrophically wrong on our end, write to us. We are reasonable people, occasionally.
Eligibility
Open to entrants 18 years of age or older. Void where prohibited by law. International entries welcome (see FAQ). Employees, judges, and immediate family of The Analog are not eligible to win prizes.
Rights to Submitted Work
By entering, you grant The Analog a non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free license to publish, excerpt, and reference your entry — with attribution — in future correspondence, on this site, and in printed collections. You retain authorship and copyright of your work.
Privacy
We collect your name, email, and mailing address solely to administer the competition: to send the prompt, announce results, and mail letters. We do not sell, share, or rent your information. We can barely manage to file it.
Free Method of Entry (Maryland and Elsewhere)
No purchase necessary. To enter without paying the $10 fee, mail a hand-addressed, hand-written request on a 3" x 5" index card — including your full name, mailing address, and email — inside a stamped envelope addressed to our P.O. box, together with a separate self-addressed, stamped #10 envelope bearing sufficient postage for our reply. Write "FREE ENTRY REQUEST" by hand on the outer envelope. Upon receipt, we will mail the current round's prompt to you in your self-addressed envelope. One free entry per person, per round. Requests must arrive at least fourteen (14) days before the postmark deadline. Photocopied, printed, typed, or otherwise mechanically produced requests will be disregarded. Free entrants compete on equal footing with paid entrants and are eligible for all prizes.
Judge's Decision Is Final
The judge's decision is final and not subject to appeal, review, reconsideration, strongly worded letter, or polite follow-up inquiry. All rulings on eligibility, prize awards, and honorable mentions rest with the judge alone.
No Guarantee of Response
Entry does not guarantee a personal response, ranking, or honorable mention. The judging is final and, as established, performed by one opinionated person in a quiet room.
Mail at Your Own Risk
The Analog is not responsible for entries lost, delayed, damaged, or digested by the postal service. Postmark dates are determined by the post office, not by us, not by you, and not by the moon.
Contact
Written correspondence preferred, of course. For everything else: info@theanalogpost.com.