Announcing the Bellwether Winter 2023 Writing Contest: Speculative Fiction

The Bellwether is pleased to announce our second writing contest! This time we are asking you - all Bellevue University students and employees - to put on your thinking hats (and possibly put a white cat on your lap!) and ponder the ads, products, and services that will be featured during Super Bowl CVII in the year 2073! The prompt and instructions are below - go for it!

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• Imagine it's 50 years in the future --the year 2073--and the highly anticipated Super Bowl CVII is just around the corner. What do you think the TV ads for the big game will look like and what products or services will they be promoting? How will the game and ads be viewed? (Smell-o-vision?)
• This is not only a writing contest - this is a wide-open speculative fiction contest in which you pick the genre! 
• You could write a magazine or newspaper article reviewing the top TV ads that will feature during the Super Bowl in 2073. 
• You could write a magazine or newspaper article reviewing the products or services that are featured in the 2073 Super Bowl TV ads. 
• You could write a script for a 2073 Super Bowl TV ad. 
• You could record an actual ad (video or audio) that would air during the 2073 Super Bowl. 
• You could write an editorial opinion piece about how one of the products or services featured in the 2073 Super Bowl ad is going to either bring about the downfall of society or be the best thing since sliced bread.

Instructions for Entrants

These are merely suggestions! We want you to take the prompt, dive into your imagination, and create a peak into the future. Remember: Audentes Fortuna iuvat!

Submit your entry via email before the end of the day on Tuesday, February 28, as an attachment or a link to your OneDrive to bellwether@bellevue.edu. Please use “Super Bowl 2073” as the subject line. Make sure you set any OneDrive link permissions to allow anyone to view.

• 1st Place: $50
• 2nd Place: $30
• 3rd Place: $20

Winning entries will be announced in March and published in the next issue of the Bellwether

Contest Rules

1. The writer must be a current University student or employee.
2. The entry must be the submitter's original work, and NOT previously published.
3. Written submissions may be no longer than 1,000 words. Video or audio must be no longer than 1 minute.
4. Entries cannot contain excessive profanity and/or gratuitous violence and/or be sexually explicit. This is a for a family-friendly event and kids might be in the audience.
5. Participants are limited to ONE submission.

For questions or additional information, contact Professor Karla Carter.