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:
- The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
- 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),
- A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three-day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
- DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (a $1,100 value),
- Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
- A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
- American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
Second Prize:
- A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
- A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, that have a combined retail value of $589,
- Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
- Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit. This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum-sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag. The value of this kit is $220.
- An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).
Third Prize:
- Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
- A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
- Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
- A transferable $150 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 firearms purchasing privacy!
Honorable Mention:
$100 Purchase credits from Elk Creek Company for each Honorable Mention writer.
Writing Contest Rules:
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 must be original works and the copyright will become the property of SurvivalBlog.
Once your article has been submitted to SurvivalBlog, you cannot submit it elsewhere! Do not send us articles that you have already posted or submitted elsewhere. (Unless you own–or have regained–full copyright.)
Once your article has been posted at SurvivalBlog, the copyright belongs to SurvivalBlog.
We reserve the right to edit articles for length, grammar, spelling, punctuation and to excise any portions that are off-topic. We reserve the right to post only those articles that we deem “blogworthy.”
You can only be awarded one of the top three prizes again after a 12-month interval.
Articles that are promotional are not eligible for judging in the contest.
Articles may be written under pseudonyms.
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 is Absolutely Unacceptable!
You must submit only your own original work. 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.) 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 HORIZONTAL format photos, with a minimum width of 600 pixels. (700 pixels to 1,200 pixels is preferred.)
Eligibility: SurvivalBlog advertisers, prize donors, editors, and families of staff members are not eligible for the contest.
Prize winners of the top three prizes are not eligible for subsequent awards until one year has elapsed. Honorable Mention prize winners are still eligible for all prizes in 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 250 writers have already won “Top Three” prizes. And more than 600 writers have won $30 Honorable Mention Amazon gift card prizes. You too can win a prize, but only if you try.
Please submit your articles only in RTF, MS-Word, OpenDocument, HTML, or plain text format, via e-mail. OpenOffice or LibreOffice .odt 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 writing contest prize donor. It will provide you with some great publicity.
– James Wesley, Rawles – Founder and Senior SurvivalBlog Editor
Congratulations to the Winners of Previous Rounds of the Contest:
- Round 1: B.H. in Spokane, for his article titled “On Preparing Your Children”, which was posted on October 24, 2005.
- Round 2: “EMT J.N.” who wrote the article: “Getting Your Group to Buy In: The $20 Medical Kit” which was posted on January 13, 2006
- Round 3: K.A.D., for his article titled: “Defending Your Home: An Outline of Security for Troubled Times” which was posted on March 28, 2006.
- Round 4: Northwest Huey, for his article titled: “Using Rechargable Batteries” which was posted on May 28, 2006.
- Round 5: TruthFirst, for his article titled: “How to Build an Inertial Well Slow Pump for Grid Down Emergencies” which was posted on July 31, 2006.
- Round 6: R.E.M., for his article titled: “Maximizing Food Storage Life” which was posted on September 26, 2006.
- Round 7: SF in Hawaii, for his article titled: “Wheat Sprouts and Wheatgrass as Survival Foods” which was posted on November 6, 2006.
- Round 8: JLM, for his article titled: “Gardens For the Future” which was posted on January 26, 2007.
- Round 9: E.C.W., MD, for her article: “Wound Care: An Emergency Room Doctor’s Perspective” which was posted on February 24, 2007.
- Round 10: “Grandpappy” for his article “How to Harvest, Process, and Store Vegetable Seeds” which was posted on May 11, 2007.
- Round 11: John O. MD for his article “Survival Labor and Delivery” which was posted on July 10, 2007.
- Round 12: “Polar Bear” for his article “Converting Diesel Vehicles to Run on Waste Vegetable Oil” which was posted on September 10, 2007.
- Round 13: “LP” for his article “Preparedness While on Business Travel –What to Pack” which was posted on November 24, 2007.
- Round 14: J. Britely for his article “Prepare or Die” which was posted on January 30, 2008.
- Round 15: Paul C., for his article “My Seven Favorite North American Edible Wild Plants” which was posted on March 25, 2008.
- Round 16: KLK for her article “How To Prepare for Radiation Emergencies”, which was posted on May 16, 2008.
- Round 17: Thomas G., for his article “The Tomato Rebuild–Machining Technology is Crucial to Modern Society”, which was posted July 16, 2008.
- Round 18: Terry B., for his article “How To Make Den-Type Game Traps”, which was posted August 27, 2008.
- Round 19: Carolyn W., for her article “Gardening and Seed Saving” which was posted on November 28, 2008.
- Round 20: George S. for his lengthy article “Field Gear on a Shoestring Budget” which was posted on January 12, 2009.
- Round 21: Dr. K. for his two part article: “TEOTWAWKI Medicine and Minor Surgery” which was posted on March 24 and March 26, 2009.
- Round 22: Mike U., for his article “Unconventional Wisdom for CCW Permit Holders”, which was posted on May 19th, 2009.
- Round 23: Mike S., for his article “GPS for Day-to-Day Use and Survival”, which was posted on July 14th, 2009.
- Round 24: Old Dog in Alaska, for his article “Grub and Gear–Lessons Learned from an Alaskan Trapper”, which was posted on September 22nd, 2009.
- Round 25: InfoRodeo for his article “The Dumpster List”, which was posted on October 31st, 2009.
- Round 26: Lin for her article “Feeding Your Family Well During Hard — and Harder — Times”, which was posted on December 9th, 2009.
- Round 27 : Dan in Oklahoma for his four part article: “The Home Foundry, Metal Casting”, that was posted in February, 2010
- Round 28: C.F., for “A Southwesterner’s Experience in Family Preparedness”, which was posted on April 2nd, 2010.
- Round 29: Old Dog in Wisconsin for “Getting My Lists Together”, posted on July 15th, 2010.
- Round 30: Nomad Medic for “Dealing With Diarrhoeal Diseases”, posted on September. 26th, 2010.
- Round 31: T.K. for Bugout Base Camp: “My Solar School Bus”, posted on November 15, 2010.
- Round 32: J.E. for “Preparing for the Aftermath–Lessons from the 1930s”, posted on December 24, 2010.
- Round 33: K.M. for “What is a Well-Stocked First Aid Kit?”, posted on March 15, 2011.
- Round 34: J.B. in Montana for “Preparing Kids for Disasters”, posted on May 28, 2011.
- Round 35: R.B. for “The Will to Act: Your Ultimate Bug-out Kit”, posted on July 30, 2011.
- Round 36: David J. for “Small Scale Alternative Energy in Suburbia”, posted on September 22, 2011.
- Round 37: Paul B., for “Staple Foods Storage By The Numbers”, posted on November 10, 2011.
- Round 38: A.A.A, for “Barter, Post-TEOTWAWKI: The Micro Store” posted on December 22, 2011.
- Round 39: Jim B., for “The Extreme Solar Still Concept” posted on March 31, 2012.
- Round 40: Barefoot Yankee Gal for “Kitchen Cupboard Medicine”, posted on April 3, 2012
- Round 41: Dr. Moutaintop for “The ABCs of Trauma”, posted on July 29, 2012.
- Round 42: Dan in Alabama for “Make Your Own Retort Style Charcoal”, posted on September 19, 2012.
- Round 43: D.A., DVM for “A Veterinarian’s Perspective on Prepper Medicine”, by D.A., DVM, posted on November 6, 2012.
- Round 44: T.S.H., MD for “Field Care For Your Newborn”, posted on December 20, 2012.
- Round 45: Lockstich for “Industrial Sewing Machines for Prepared Families”, posted on February 8, 2013.
- Round 46: Steven in Alabama for “When Bugging Out is Not an Option: Hunkering Down with a Quadriplegic”, posted on May 24, 2013.
- Round 47: Sophie for “Prepping the Texas Cowboy Way”, posted on July 12, 2013.
- Round 48: Tennessean for “Protection from Radioactive Fallout”, posted on September 12, 2013.
- Round 49: TX ER DOC, for So, “You Bought Fish Antibiotics. Now What?”, posted on November 20, 2013.
- Round 50: Mountain Top Patriot for “Want to Raise Pigs?”, posted on January 1, 2014.
- Round 51: G.A. (RN) for “Setting up a Sick Room in Your Home”, posted on February 26, 2014.
- Round 52: T.Y. for “Low Moisture Aged Cheese – Hard food for Hard Times”, posted on April 2, 2014
- Round 53: M.H. for “Killing, Dying, and Death – Part I” and “Part II”, which was posted on Sunday, July 27 and Tuesday July 29, 2014
- Round 54: Leo Medic for “Musings of a Law Enforcement Paramedic, Part 1”, “Part 2”, “Part 3”, “Part 4”, and “Part 5”, which was posted on September 2-6, 2014.
- Round 55: ShepardFarmerGeek for “Ebola Unafraid: A Preliminary Ebola Treatment Protocol, Part 1” & “Part 2” as well as “Making Your Own, Part 1” & “Part 2” which was posted on October 27, 28 and November 11, 12, 2014
- Round 56: I.S. for “Motorizing a Country Living Grain Mill for 12-volt Battery and Solar – Part 1” & “Part 2”, which were posted on January 21st and 22nd, 2015.
- Round 57: M.R. for “Your Brain On Paper—How to Write Useful Operating Instructions – Part 1”, “Part 2”, and “Part 3”, which were posted on February 27th and 28th and March 1st, 2015.
- Round 58: Florida Mom for “Our Founding Fathers Were Right” which was posted on April 1st.
- Round 59: Prepperdoc for “Protecting Both Tube and Transistor HF Communications Equipment From E1 EMP Pulse – Part 1” and “Part 2” which was posted on June 5th and 6th.
- Round 60: Iowa Farm Boy for Traversing the Hinterlands – (“Parts 1”, “Part 2”, & “Part 3”) which were posted on three successive days in August of 2015.
- Round 61: TLS for “An Alternative to Calcium Hypochlorite” which was posted on November 21st.
- Round 62: J.R. for for “What’s For Dinner – Part 1”, “Part 2”, “Part 3”, “Part 4”, “Part 5”, and “Part 6”, which was posted on January 8th, 9th, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th, 2016
- Round 63: R.C. for “Winter Survival- Part 1”, “Part 2”, and “Part 3”, which was posted on February 23rd, 24th, and 25th, 2016.
- Round 64: B1 for “Crises Preparation- Part 1”, “Part 2”, and “Part 3”, which was posted on April 8th, 9th, and 10th, 2016.
- Round 65: D.D. for “Tracking Dogs- Part 1”, “Part 2”, and “Part 3”, which was posted on June 21st, 22nd, and 23rd, 2016.
- Round 66: J.P.R. for “Quick Reference Manual Regarding Disaster Survival and Recovery on the Road- Part 1”, and “Part 2“ which was posted on September 6th and 9th.
- Round 67: L.M. for “Purchasing Power: Past, Present, Future- Part 1”, “Part2”, “Part 3”, “Part 4”, and “Part 5” which was posted on November 8th through November 12th, 2016.
- Round 68: J.U. for “Prep Your Ride – Part 1”, “Part 2”, and “Part 3” published on January 3rd, 5th, and 6th, 2017.
- Round 69: N.M. for “Every Day Carry for Today’s World – Part 1”, “Part 2”, “Part 3”, and “Part 4” published on March 28th, 29th, 30th, and 31st, 2017.
- Round 70: J.D. for “Austere Dentistry and Temporary Fillings” published on April 1st, 2017.
- Round 71: J.E. for “Horizontal Relationships: The Key to True Independence- Part 1” and “Part 2” published on July 4th and 5th, 2017.
- Round 72: J.F. Texas for “Recognizing and Resolving Common Vitamin Deficiencies” published on August 6th, 2017.
- Round 73: Florida Mom for “A Stitch in Time – Part 1” and “Part 2” published on November 17th and 18th, 2017
- Round 74: Alaskan Gardeners for “Mid-Scale Grain Gardening in Alaska- Part 1”, “Part 2”, “Part 3”, and “Part 4”, published on December 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th, 2017.
- Round 75: J.M. for “Perspectives on Patrolling-Part 1”, “Part 2”, “Part 3”, “Part 4”, and “Part 5”, published on March 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th, 2018.
- Round 76: A.&J.R. for “Bring Your Own Bandaids- Part 1”, “Part 2”, “Part 3”, “Part 4”, “Part 5”, and “Part 6”, published on May 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th, 2018.
- Round 77: B.M. for “Getting Home Long Distance in the Event of An EMP/Solar Flare- Part 1”, “Part 2”, and “Part 3”, published on June 28th, 29th, and 30th, 2018.
- Round 78: JBH for “Survival Fitness and Health-Part 1”, “Part 2”, “Part 3”, and “Part 4”, published on September 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th, 2018.
- Round 79: I.S. for “How to Build a Compact, Portable Range Barricade- Part 1” and “Part 2”, published on November 24th and 25th, 2018.
- Round 80: K.B., M.D., for Medical Action Sheets (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, & Part 4) which was published December 26-29, 2018.
- Round 81: Nivek, for New Zealand: Thoughts After Seven Years (Part1, Part 2, Part 3) which was published February 7-9, 2019.
- Round 82: L.R. for It is Planting Time (posted in two parts on May 7 and May 8, 2019).
- Round 83: Doctor Dan for Family Medical Preps Part 1 & Part 2, posted July 17 & 18, 2019.
- Round 84: T.R. for Build the Plan vs. Test the Plan, which was posted in five parts from August 20 to August 24, 2019.
- Round 85: M.B. for his four-part article Black Powder for Self-Reliance, which was posted on October, 8th, 9th,10th, and 11th, 2019.
- Round 86: St. Funogas, for his two-part article that ran Jan. 9-10, 2020: Rocket Water Heater – Part 1 and Part 2.
- Round 87: Greg X. for Generators for Family Readiness – Part 1 and Part 2
- Round 88: PapaP for his two-part article: The $100 Homestead Grain Winnower. It was posted on May 30th, 2020 and May 31st, 2020
- Round 89: Lisa for Adventures in Central Texas Gardening, which was posted on July 21, 2020 (Part 1), and on July 22, 2020 (Part 2).
- Round 90: A Advocate, for his article Finishing an 80% AR Lower Receiver. It was posted in three parts on September 18-19-20, 2020. Links: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
- Round 91: A.D.C. for: Kitting Out The Kalashnikov which ran in four parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 — posted November 5-8, 2020.
- Round 92: Steve A. for: Simple Heat Treating for a High Carbon Steel Knife Blade — posted in two parts on January 19th and 20th, 2021. Links: Part 1 and Part 2.
- Round 93: J.T. for Volume Vegetable Gardening. (Links: Part 1 and Part 2.) It was posted on March 16th and 17th, 2021.