We’re looking to commission writers to inspire a storytelling contest that explores what internet technologies look like in better futures.
In a world where it can feel like politicians, economists and business leaders have stopped trying to imagine an economic system other than “late stage capitalism”, the NGI Impact Conference has been designed to prove that alternatives do exist.
The NGI Impact conference format takes its inspiration from science fiction, not just as a flight of fancy, but as a space to use storytelling, games, artwork and discussion to try out ideas and solutions that fallout outside the mainstream orthodoxy.
Within the conference, the fictional world of Witness is the experiment. A city floating the oceans of a post-climate collapse world, Witness is divided into “Distrikts”, each with their own culture, ideology and economic systems. Every distrikt is unique, independent, yet interconnected with their neighbours.
We want to see Witness’s distrikts from every angle- both how they are administered or governed, and what they look like from street level. How are ordinary people’s lives changed when their life isn’t governed by chasing a per-hour wage to feed a conveyor belt of bills? What are the alternatives? What could they achieve? What will the Internet look like in this future? Will we be using different technologies in place of the Internet we recognise today, or will the technologies we use now have new applications depending on the economics and governance each Distrikt uses?
What do we want from you?
To explore and build on the ideas that come out of Witness, we are looking to launch a writing contest for stories about the city and its distrikts. To make the contest as accessible as possible to writers of all levels, and quieten some of the terror of the blank page, we want to offer a selection of brief story “catalysts”, openings that help introduce the setting, and suggest potential stories, but which can be taken to inspire a wide range of different ideas.
These “catalysts” will be up to 1500 words long, and will be commissioned for a deadline of 30/10/2021. We will be paying a rate of up to 1000 Eur for the finished piece.
If be considered as a writer for this opportunity, please email us at ivan@edgerders.eu, with the subject line NGI WRITING CONTEST OPPORTUNITY. Please let us know about any previous work you’ve had published, and include a 500 word sample of prose fiction you have written.
We will be particularly on the look out for well written fictional settings, and engaging characters. We would prefer samples from your existing writing, not pieces written especially for this opportunity.
Get your samples to us by 7/10/2021 to be considered.