Flash Fiction Competition! AI, Technology and the Humanities

TORCH is delighted to announce its first ever flash fiction competition for #TORCHGoesDigital!

PROMPT: How might ecosystems and living species be preserved, protected and nurtured by intelligent machines? For example, AI helps track endangered species, predict the movement of poachers, and monitor deforestation via satellite imagery.

On the flipside, how might our naivety lead us to invent systems that have unintended consequences?

Let your imagination run wild! Remember, keep your short story UNDER 1,000 WORDS!

PRIZE: First prize wins £100! The top three stories will be featured on our website. 

DEADLINE: 5pm, Friday 27 March 2020.

Rules and Regulations: 

1. Entries must be in English, your own unaided work, and not a translation of another writer. 

2. Entries must be longer than 100 words, but shorter than 1,000 words or fewer. 

3. Please send all entries as a pdf or Word document to torch@humanities.ox.ac.uk. Judging is anonymous. Your name and address must not appear on the pieces entered, nor any other marks that could identify you. Please identify yourself in the body of the email, not the attached entry itself. 

4. Maximum two entries per person. 

5. The closing date is 5pm Friday 28 March 2020. The winning entry, and two runners-up will be notified by Friday 3rd April 2020. 

6. TORCH reserves the right to publish the top three entries on our website and social media channels ad infinitum. Authors may also publish their pieces elsewhere. 

7. We will not enter into any correspondence about the winner or entries, nor will we make changes to entries received. Incomplete submissions will not be accepted. The judges’ decisions will be final. Your entry in the competition means you accept these rules.

8. We will abide by good practice in the running of this competition, but cannot be held responsible for circumstances beyond our control such being unable to acces our website services. Prizes may be withheld or altered if we receive no outstanding entries, or insufficient entries.

9. Entry is FREE. No entry form is needed. 

10. Notification of receipt of entry will be by email.

11. Stories cannot be altered or substituted once they have been entered.

12. Entry is taken to be acceptance of these rules.

13. No fan fiction or use of copyrighted material, characters, song lyrics etc. Plagiarism in any form will not be tolerated.

14. The flash fiction competition is international and welcomes entrants in English from all countries.

15. Entering or winning the competition does not confer a lasting association of any kind with TORCH.

Prompt courtesy of AI Artists.