For all the people asking whether or not it is exactly a thousand words or only more or less than that, I think it is very plain from the content. For example:

> "Write 1,000 words about it"

> "you are writing the definitive 1,000 words for this photo. Make them count."

> "Does it have to be 1,000 words? Yes...Your entry must be exactly 1,000 words"

It also says that the prize is $1,000, and there's 1 picture - but I haven't seen anyone asking whether each of those is an upper or lower bound!

> Does it have to be 1,000 words?

> Yes. That’s what a picture is worth, after all.

Not to be pedantic but does this mean "1,000 words or fewer," "at least 1,000 words," or "exactly 1,000 words?"

I'm asking because with school assignments the number is usually a lower bound, but with writing contests it's often an upper bound (sometimes even a fuzzy limit).

• Gualdrapo

  today at 4:27 PM

  Took the bait and sent them my email to apply because, in the page linked, they would "send you the instructions" to it.

  But no, no exact definition of what they mean for "1000 words" - wether if it's minimum 1000 words or what, or how are they counting those 1000 words - throwing everything to a Word doc? a parsing script? Will they count things like an "I" or an "a" as a whole word?

  I'm thinking about giving this a try, though, but not being pretty clear about that rule seems quite odd.

• bjourne

  today at 4:47 PM

  "Does it have to be 1,000 words?

  Yes. That’s what a picture is worth, after all. Your entry must be exactly 1,000 words, not including the title (if you choose to write one)."

  • kmoser

    today at 5:00 PM

    Good catch, thanks. Unfortunately that information wasn't in the email.

    Now, do hyphenated words count as one word or two? Do numbers count as words (e.g. is "12 years old" three words or two?) If I write 1,000 words but concatenate them without spaces, is that still considered 1,000 words, or one single word?

    • bjourne

      today at 5:12 PM

      I don't know of any English word counting algorithm or MoS that does not count "12" as a word, do you?

• ko_lqc

  today at 3:58 PM

  if it's not exactly 1000 words, then no skill is involved and the writers may as well be published by Penguin or HarperColins or something.

  • danlitt

    today at 4:20 PM

    I don't understand this comment at all. "At least 1000 words" would require at least the skills of writing decently & writing a moderate amount based on little. I get that getting to exactly 1000 requires some skill, but how on earth is that the only skill involved?

    • sheept

      today at 4:28 PM

      It's relatively easy to write many words, but it takes more skill to express the same message with fewer words, like how video compression needs more time for fewer bytes and same quality. As Pascal once wrote, "If I had had more time, I would have written a shorter letter."

    • grimgrin

      today at 4:27 PM

      fwiw, this entire thread exists because of the ignored [2] in the link.

      [2] Write 1,000 words about it by August 31st, 2026.

      this is 1 of the two constraints. you may have to rework sentences. the skills exercised are these efforts

      • chrisweekly

        today at 4:33 PM

        This thread exists because of the ambiguity in "Write 1,000 words about it by August 31st, 2026."

        My personal instinct is to interpret it as a minimum of 1,000 words -- but it remains ambiguous.

        EDIT: After reading the site's content I think they may be targeting _precisely_ 1,000 words.

I am partially worried of discovering that writing a 1000 words is actually much harder for me now than it was when I was 13.

Looking forward to some writing assignments. Like in school. Sometimes I miss that in my day to day job. Using just human intelligence. Or maybe "dog intelligence" ;-)

I used to exercise, by writing “mini-sagas.”

50 words exactly.

Got the idea from Dan Pink, although he didn’t invent it.

Sounds kind of like they are spending $1500 on an email list of people interested in creative writing, plus gaining writing samples.

• msm_

  today at 5:13 PM

  There are A LOT of cheaper ways to get some writing samples on the internet. This is just someone having fun, and creating an interesting challenge for others to have fun with.

This is an exceptionally boring picture to write about. You can of course be imaginative about anything, but seriously.

• gwern

  today at 6:02 PM

  That's what makes the contest interesting. Anyone can write an interesting 1k words about an interesting picture. But can you write an interesting 1k words about an uninteresting picture? Remember what G. K. Chesterton said...

  (So far, judging from this page, it is easier to write an interesting debate about whether the rules require exactly 1k words and what is a 1k word entry, exactly, than about the picture. So far so good! We wouldn't want it to be too easy, after all. Gotta earn that $1k.)

• Metricon

  today at 6:07 PM

  Wouldn't a subjectively boring picture present an even greater challenge to the creativity of the writer involved in the competition? It could have been a picture of a Barton Newman painting; that would be a significant challenge to structure a 1000 word essay on.

• shawndumas

  today at 6:07 PM

  from the dog’s pov; so much noise and so many strangers. the smell of fresh dirt, then cement, water… so much water. the kids were excited and when it was done, oh the days of swimming, fetch, and fun. soon the stress was forgotten. the hot days of cool water and the smell of the food on the grill. but then the kids grew and left. and then the adult male was gone, too. now this is a reminder of how much fetching and roughhousing we did. now she’s gone a lot too. stupid fence; at least i could swim… but no.