The SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

You Can Win Valuable Prizes!

SurvivalBlog has an ongoing non-fiction writing contest. The writers of the top three contributed articles in the next 60 days will receive valuable prize packages:

First Prize:

  1. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  2. A Peak Refuel “Wasatch Pack” variety of 60 servings of premium freeze-dried breakfasts and dinners in individual meal pouches — a whopping 21,970 calories, all made and packaged in the USA — courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  3. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses. Their course catalog now includes their latest Survival Gunsmithing course.
  4. HSM Ammunition in Montana is providing a $350 gift certificate. The certificate can be used for any of their products.
  5. Harvest Guard is providing a 200-Piece Bulk Mix Pack of their Regular and Wide-Mouth Reusable Canning Jar Lids & Gaskets. This is a $161 + shipping value.

Second Prize:

  1. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  2. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from TOUGHGRID.com (a $287 value),
  3. Preparedness author Jennifer Rader is offering a $200 purchase credit for any of her eight published food storage and medical preparedness books. Rader is the editor of the Prep School Daily blog and author of Good Eats at the TEOTWAWKI CafΓ© series, the Armageddon Pharmacy series, and the Medicine Surrounds Us series.
  4. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of gun purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. A Berkey Light water filter, courtesy of USA Berkey Filters (a $305 value),
  2. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.
  3. A $200 credit from Military Surplus LLC that can be applied to purchase and/or shipping costs for any of their in-stock merchandise, including full mil-spec ammo cans, Rothco clothing and field gear, backpacks, optics, compact solar panels, first aid kits, and more.
  4. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

Honorable Mention:

A transferable $100 FRN purchase credit toward the purchase of any antique or percussion replica gun from Elk Creek Company will be awarded to each Honorable Mention prize winner.

Writing Contest Rules:

(Updated March 17, 2025)

To be eligible, an article must be an original work of at least 1,500 words. This is a merit-based competition, judging the skill of the writers and the practical value of the content of the articles. It is not a game of chance.

You can write on any topic related to preparedness that you think would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. To be eligible, an article must be an original work of at least 1,500 words. (A 3,000-word to 7,000-word article length is ideal. We do allow very long articles (up to 10,000 words), but we will serialize them, as the editors see fit.)

Be sure to thoroughly proofread your article, and have at least one friend or relative proofread it, as well!

All writings and illustrations must be original works and the copyright will become the property of SurvivalBlog.

Once your article has been submitted toΒ  SurvivalBlog, you cannot submit it elsewhere! Do not send us articles that you have already posted or submitted elsewhere. (Unless you retain–or have regained–full copyright.)

Once your article (and illustrations, if any) have been posted at SurvivalBlog, the copyright belongs to SurvivalBlog.

All photos and illustrations that you send us with your article must be your original work unless you obtain a signed hardcopy copyright release letter, OR you find pre-1930 public domain (noncopyrighted) illustrations.Β  You must include copies of permissions for any image that you did not personally photograph or draw/render if it is post-1930.

If you send photos or illos, keep in mind that our template calls for a wide horizontal photo for the main illustration at the top of each article.

We do not accept articles written by Artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT.Β  We know how to spot these, so don’t even bother trying.

We reserve the right to edit articles for length, grammar, spelling, and punctuation. We also reserve the right to excise any portions of an article that are off-topic. We reserve the right to post only those articles that we deem β€œblogworthy.”

You can only be awarded one of the top three prizes again after a 6-month interval.

Articles being paid for by a third party to place an article or links are not eligible and should not be submitted.

Articles that are promotional are not eligible for judging in the contest.

Articles may be posted under pseudonyms or initials, and that is preferred.

Guesswork is not acceptable. Unless you have tried something yourself or actually seen something done successfully, then don’t write suggesting that it “might work”, or “should work.” Nor can you recommend items that you’ve seen in a catalog but have never tried. People’s lives may depend on what you write, so be absolutely sure that what you write is trustworthy and authoritative!

Plagiarism and AI-Gens are Absolutely Unacceptable!

You must submit only your own original work. Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated text and images are not allowed, because they are often abstractions of copyrighted works. (Note: AI-assisted spelling and grammar suggestions are allowed, but nothing more than that.)

Brief quotes from other works are acceptable, but only if quotation marks are used. Most importantly, full attribution to the original author of those quotes must be given. Any plagiarism will be grounds to have your article removed and disqualified from the judging.

Special judging consideration will be given to the article with the most useful and detailed information on a practical skill that is applicable to a TEOTWAWKI situation.

You may include illustrations or pictures with your article. Images should be submitted separately from the article and in .jpg, .gif, .png, or .pdf format. Please do not embed the images in a Word document. (It is not always possible to lift the image for processing. Such embedded images will be ignored.)Β  All images submitted must be original to the author of the article. You, the author must own the copyright to them.

If you include photos, keep in mind that we use a WIDE HORIZONTAL format photo for the main illustration, with a minimum width of 600 pixels. (800 to 1,600 pixel width is preferred.)

The Ideal article length is 3,000 to 7,000 words.Β  However, articles up to 16,000 words are acceptable. Any article more than 3,000 words long will likely be serialized, over successive days.

Eligibility: SurvivalBlog advertisers, prize donors, editors, guest writers, columnists, or members of their immediate families are not eligible for contest prizes.

Prize winners of the top three prizes are not eligible for subsequent awards until six months have elapsed. But Honorable Mention prize winners are still eligible for all prizes in all subsequent rounds!

You can submit as many articles as you’d like.

Start writing, ladies and gents! You can submit as many articles as you’d like for judging. More than 360 writers have already won “Top Three” prizes with an aggregate value of more than $978,000.Β  And more than 930 writers have won Honorable Mention prizes. You too can win a prize, but only if you try.

Please submit your articles preferably in OpenDocument (ODT) format. But we also accept articles in RTF, MS-Word, or plain text format, via e-mail. Again, OpenOffice or LibreOffice .odt format is preferred. (Please do not send articles in Microsoft Works or WordPerfect format or any other odd formats, thanks!)

Note: If you sell a food storage, communications, night vision, body armor, alternative energy, shooting, or other preparedness-related product or service, then please consider becoming a SurvivalBlog advertiser or writing contest prize donor. It will provide you with some great publicity.

– James Wesley, RawlesΒ  – Founder and Senior SurvivalBlog Editor

Congratulations to the First Prize Winners of the Previous Rounds of the Contest: