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.

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.

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.

"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)."

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.)

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.

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.

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?

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?

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."

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

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

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.