Rivers & Waterways

Rivers can be national borders, the source of a religion, or the home of RIVER PIRATES! Tell us why one river in your world is important in this Worldbuilding Competition!

This event has ended!
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Competition Prompt

“Water is the driving force of all nature.“
— Leonardo da Vinci

This month, our competition is about Rivers and Waterways! So, tell us about a river or waterway in your world, and why it's important! Rivers are the life-blood of a world, spreading water, minerals, resources and even people across them! They can be borders, defenses and strategic locations. And rivers have inspired poetry, song, myths and art too! You must use the Geography template in World Anvil to be eligible!

Looking for more inspiration? Check out our video and our blog post for ideas!

Standard League Winner
RandoScorpio

Premier League Winner
Emily Armstrong

Prizes

In collaboration with our wonderful partners in this challenge, Kobold Press:

All participants win:

a PDF Bundle of Kobold Press Adventures

the challenge participation badge

the first two adventures in the Three Little Pigs trilogy: Nulah's Tale and Armina's Peril.

Winners receive:

the new Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding Volume 2 (physical copy)

a Featured Article on World Anvil

a live article read and feedback on a World Anvil Community Stream by World Anvil's Founders, Janet and Dimitris!

Premier League Shortlist

All shortlisted Premier League articles win a Featured Article on World Anvil!

Judges' Council

These are the experts from our community that judged the entries to the challenge and compiled the shortlist for Kobold Press:

Golemancer, author of Adin

Acolitus, author of The Awakening Dream

Kefkejaco, author of Niorath

Dr Emily Vair-Turnbull, author of Etrea

The Rules

How to Enter

All competitors need a World Anvil account (don’t worry, it’s free!) to get started. Once you’ve logged in and created your first world, you’re ready to enter the competition! Write your entry using the Geography template on World Anvil. When ready to submit, make sure that your article is not a draft (i.e. published) and public (not private). Then click the button on the right-hand side of the edit interface to submit it to the challenge!

Adjudication Process

The experts at Kobold Press will be choosing from a shortlist of the top 10 entries. The winner will be announced by the World Anvil Team on Saturday June 25th on the World Anvil Community Livestream. Entries will be judged on a number of criteria, including originality, presentation, and thoroughness. For more information on how the judging process works, check out this blog post.

Timeline	Event
May 1st - May 28th	Competition is opened and closed (both on livestream)!
May 28th - June 3rd	Sharing period, give feedback, make minor edits.
June 4th - June 25th	Adjudication and Judging
June 25th	Winner Announcement Date!

Other Rules

Articles must be submitted before the closing time to be eligible (please note the competition will close during the World Anvil livestream)
Only one article may be submitted per person (this does not mean one article per world, in cases where multiple authors work on a single world).
Articles will have a 5 day-long period after the deadline to make small edits, share, and get feedback from the community. This period will end when the shortlist is compiled.
Articles can be no longer than 2500 words in length! They must be new worldbuilding articles created during the writing challenge period.
Word Count will be counted by copying all words present in the article's body and sidebar into a word counter. Timelines will also be added in the word counter. BBCode does not impact word count. Linked articles do not impact word count, and will also not be considered during adjudication.
As always, World Anvil claims no ownership over your original work.

For any further questions or clarifications about this challenge, message the Community Team (@Community Team) on the World Anvil Discord or the World Anvil Facebook Group!

Social media sharing

Because community likes are an important metric in the competition, competitors may wish to share their entries on social media to garner more interest from the community.
Posts tagged with #RiversChallenge which mention @WorldAnvil may be shared by World Anvil's official social media accounts!

Leagues

There are two leagues that will be independently judged, the Regular and the Premier League. The Premier League consists of all the authors who have previously won a World Anvil competition. Winning a competition in the Regular league will promote you to the Premier League for future challenges.

Looking for inspiration or seeking some ideas? Make sure to stop by the World Anvil Discord, our Facebook Group or Subreddit for worldbuilding conversation and inspiration!