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Inspired by a Picture: "May I Help You?" - A Writing Challenge

This challenge is to write a story based on the picture below.
Any picture is provided here under the doctrine of 'fair use' which is believed to apply. It is not the site's intent to infringe copyright. Copyright owners considering that this does not apply to their work should enter into dialogue with the webmaster by email [for their convenience they may use the submissions email address]. Items where copyright is asserted will either be taken down, or attribution made, at the copyright holder's choice.

2016 Story from a Picture Challenge - May I Help You?

Please note that the authors may chose to alter the (assumed) age of anyone in the picture. The picture is an inspiration, not a literal model. You should consider the spirit of the picture when casting your votes, not precision of literal interpretation.

Submissions and Dates

Opening date

Voting is now open. There is a six week period between the opening and closing of submissions. For the avoidance of doubt, all times are UTC taken from our server. Check your time zone! All submisions will be acknowledged. No acknowledgement means no arrival.

Runners and riders

Full entrants

The stories are as follows. The order changes each time the page is refreshed, to try to get folk to read and rate all the tales:

Until polls open this is just a list. Once they open the titles link to the tales.

Cast your vote

There are two ways. Each story has a survey at the foot which relates to how well you judge that it met your needs as a reader. That's probably the most useful for the authors. After that, once you have read them all, please come here and rate them all, if you like, one against the other.

Which three stories interpreted the picture best

You may tick a maximum of three stories for those you believe gave the best interpretation of the picture. The stories are listed in the order they arrived with us

Black Eyed David
The Elephant in the Room
I Do Like to Be Beside The Seaside - Getting There
Fifty Yard Line
Thrift Shop Nation
The Boy at the Park


Current Results

Which are your favourite three stories?

You may tick a maximum of three stories which you enjoyed the most The stories are listed in the order they arrived with us

Black Eyed David
The Elephant in the Room
I Do Like to Be Beside The Seaside - Getting There
Fifty Yard Line
Thrift Shop Nation
The Boy at the Park


Current Results

Voting period

Voting lasts for three weeks only. Polls open on 18 October 2016 at noon, and close at noon on 8 November 2016. Poll opening and closing is programmatic

Rules

The basic rules are simple:

The story may be a new story, an existing story published in this site or elsewhere, or current work in progress (ie part of a serial that you also enter in the challenge). For this challenge, the more so since the picture is a cliché, absolutely no stories with adult/youth themes or heavy BDSM content will be allowed, and no exceptions will be made. Scatology, coprophagy, or faeces play will not be accepted. Diaper fetish is, likewise, deprecated.

Stories do not need to contain or avoid sexual encounters, nor need they be gay male stories, though authors' attention is drawn to the fact that this is primarily a gay site, with a gay male majority in the audience.

All stories that are accepted for the challenge will remain the copyright of the authors, and the authors and submitters give an absolute assurance that the stories may be published here. Authors' attention is drawn to the copyright statement at the foot of every page on this site. Stories accepted into the challenge and published on the site may not subsequently be withdrawn.

By submitting a story into the challenge the submitter gives an absolute assurance that he or she has the right to submit the story, that it is their own original work (or that they have the author's permisison to submit it), and that it does not break any other person's copyright. Should the submitter be in breach of any undertaking in law, the submitter agrees that the webmaster be held harmless and that any such breach is the total personal responsibility of the submitter. Anyone recognising a work as their own and submitted without their consent, or having any issues with it should register this by clicking here and emailing the webmaster, explaining their reasons in detail.

Results

An overall results page shows all the results gathered in one place. Obviously polls have to be open for the results to show! Until polls are open it is pretty obviously a work in progress.