Mosaic
In a world where no two individuals are the same, diversity shapes every story — in voices, cultures, identities, beliefs, abilities, and dreams.
For this month, craft a story that places diversity at its heart — not as a backdrop, but as a driving force of connection, conflict, or change. Whether your protagonist is navigating a new environment, confronting their own biases, encountering someone utterly different from them, or standing at the crossroads of multiple identities — let the narrative unfold around how diversity transforms lives, challenges assumptions, or fosters unexpected alliances.
Your story can take any form:
A contemporary tale set in a multicultural city
A fantasy where species, clans, or ideologies clash and coexist
A romance that defies tradition or borders
A historical account of crossing boundaries
A sci-fi story where different worlds (literally or metaphorically) collide
Or even an internal journey exploring identity, neurodivergence, or generational perspectives
There are no limits, as long as the story reflects the richness, tensions, and possibilities that arise when difference is acknowledged, embraced, or questioned.
- Weave a tale based on the prompt given. (Head on to the thread of this post on our FB Group for an enlightening discussion with regards to this prompt.)
- Login to your profile on our website and draft your story.
- From the drop down under Prompts choose “#Mosaic″
- Attach a cover image for your story in LANDSCAPE with the dimensions: 1200px X 675px. Please use pixabay.com, pexels.com or unsplash.com to source lovely covers in jpg or png. In case your story has a cover of poor quality, is watermarked, or is a graphic image, it will delay the publishing process.
- Allow your story to be admin approved within 24-48 hours.
Rules:
- The submitted story must be between 2500-3500 words (each). Entries lower than or exceeding the word limit will stand disqualified for the event. (Penmancy Tip: Use https://wordcounter.io/ to check your word count.)
- There is no limit to the number of entries you may submit- though only the first one of them will be eligible for the contest.
- Previously published or plagiarised works will not be considered for contention. The writer of such content stands to be disqualified for the next Penmancy event.
- AI generated content stands invalid for the contest. Repeated offenders will be barred from participation in Penmancy events.
- Stories found to have been shared on another writing platform or blog before the declaration of results stand disqualified from the event. Kindly check the Terms of Use for details. You may share the story on your blog with a backlink to Penmancy’s original published post.
- In case a story is received after the submission deadline, it shall be considered as a guest entry and shall not qualify for the contest.
Winning criteria:
- The winner will be chosen on the basis of the judges’ scores (out of 10)
- plot/story/creativity (15 points)
- language/grammar (10 points)
- narrative voice & content (9 points)
- emotional impact, (8 points)
- characterisation (8 points)
- The entries adjudged by a panel of judges and event organisers shall be binding. Judges’ scores to be deemed final and may not be contested or sought from the Penmancy team.
- All writers are required to read and comment on 5 stories other than their own and encourage their fellow writers with valuable and constructive inputs. Comments like ‘nice’, ‘good work’, ‘brilliant piece’, etc., do not provide the necessary critique and are not helpful to anyone.
- Only stories that garnered and average score/rating of 7.5 and above, as aggregated on judges’ scores, shall be eligible for winning.
- Contest Duration
The submission for the contest is open from June 1 to June 30, 2025.
Results for the event shall be shared on July 7, 2025, at 8:00 pm.