Around the World and Web includes announcements and items of interest from beyond the SWG.
Ainur Week 2026
Ainur Week will be returning from November 16 to 22, 2026.
Glorthelion Week 2026
𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔
Hello everyone and welcome to another year of Glorthelion week! An entire week dedicated to Glorfindel and Ecthelion relationship.
The event will run on Tumblr from November 16th to November 22nd. All creations are welcome, as long as it is created by you. Don't forget to tag #glorthelionweek and mention the blog (to make sure I can see your creation in case tags don't work).
Prompts are not mandatory! You can follow them, be inspired by them or let your imagination go wild and create whatever you want! Event rules can be found here.
Prompts 2026:
↳ Day one: A Glance across the Square | The Bells of Festivals | Gifts of the Heart
↳ Day two: Words in the Dark | Following the Star | The Weight of the Sword
↳ Day three: Silver and Gold | Sun and Moon | The Roar of the Waterfall
↳ Day four: Silver Flutes | The Language of Flowers | Water Mirrors
↳ Day five: A Final Glance | Entrusted Secrets | "I will find you again"
↳ Day six: Ashes and Sorrow | Waiting in Mandos | Forever Changed
↳ Day seven: Beyond the Circles of the World | Constellations | The Promise Kept
Happy creating!
Nolofinwëan Week 2026
Nolofinwëan week welcomes fan creations centering any members of the House of Fingolfin and their descendants through the ages.
Nolofinwëan week welcomes fan creations centering any members of the House of Fingolfin and their descendants through the ages.
To Participate:
- Create fanfiction, fanart, headcanons, close readings and musings, moodboards, photography, rec lists or anything else that inspires you to celebrate Nolofinwëan characters.
- Mention the blog @nolofinweanweek in your post and include the hashtag #nolofinweanweek2025 in the first 10 tags.
- If you would like, add your work to the AO3 collection.
- Take inspiration from the nonmandatory daily prompts.
- Complete one or more of the community challenges.
Rules & Requirements:
- There are no minimum or maximum requirements; anything goes!
- There are no content restrictions or rules on tagging beyond what AO3 requires of you. If you post to tumblr and your fill is Mature or Explicit, and/or falls under one of AO3’s major warnings, please provide tagging on your post, though!
- That said, please refrain from using genAI.
- This fest operates firmly under the premises of ‘don’t like; don’t read,’ ‘ship and let ship’ and ‘your kink is not my kink but that’s okay’ (if you’re unfamiliar with these concepts, see this post). We will not tolerate any shaming, harassment, or attempts to police content.
The mod runs on CET, but folks can post content or interact with the blog at their convenient time.
All prompts are non-obligatory—feel free to interpret as loosely or closely, to cross-match, or to ignore altogether!
Day 1: It Was But a Dream
- Characters: Turgon, Anairë, Idril
- Silmarillion Phrase: “poured forth their joy in music and song”
- Inspirational art:
Amber Fort, Jaipur #1 Photograph by Inger Hogstrom
Day 2: Breath of Darkness
- Characters: Elenwë, Argon
- Silmarillion Phrase: “there was now no returning”
- Inspirational art:
The Night Is Stirring (Anger) by Zao Wou-Ki
Day 3: Light Splinters the Sky
- Characters: Eöl, Eärendil, Gil-galad
- Silmarillion Phrase: “as a naked flame”
- Inspirational art:
Day 4: Embraced in the Mist
- Characters: Fingon, Aredhel
- Silmarillion Phrase: “green things even among the pits and broken rocks”
- Inspirational art:
Shan-Shui style painting by Yang Tianyou
Day 5: Flames Arising in Might
- Characters: Fingolfin, Maeglin
- Silmarillion Phrase: “shadows of madness and despair”
- Inspirational art:
Burning the Slums of Nairobi by Kiure Francis Msangi
Day 6: The Sea’s Embrace
- Characters: Elros, Elwing, Tuor
- Silmarillion Phrase: “still hope may seem bright”
- Inspirational art:
Moon Trace Art Installation by Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts
Day 7: New Beginnings; Old Longings
- Characters: Elrond, Celebrían, Peredhil Descendants
- Silmarillion Phrase: “love would lead me”
- Inspirational art:
14th International Tolkien Mailing Competition
The Hungarian Tolkien Society invites you to join the international “Quendi” category of the Tolkien Mailing Competition: five rounds of quizzes, riddles and creative tasks. This category is organised in English, open to any individual participant, and also to teams of 2–5 people. The five rounds of the competition will last from November to April. Application deadline: 5 November, 2026.
The Tolkien Mailing Competition ("TLV" abbreviated from its Hungarian equivalent "Tolkien Levelező Verseny") takes place for the 21st time this year—and it is international for the 14th time. In the first years it was organised only in Hungarian, and only for groups of Hungarian students aged 10–18-years. As many people above this age group became interested in the competition, we launched a separate category for individuals in Hungarian, and at the same time we decided to go international. The outcome was definitely encouraging. In the past few years the international Quendi category had many participants (and for a while even an organiser) from various foreign countries: you can see here the final results of the previous competition.
(Click here for the Hungarian article about all categories.)
In the international Quendi category both the challenges and the communication will be entirely in English—but you don't have to be perfectly fluent in English for taking part in the competition. You only have to be able to understand the texts by Tolkien, and maybe to write a story or an essay—it does not have to be of academic level. The competition was originally devised for middle and high school students, and we did not make big changes in the style, but it is open to anybody who feels young enough for it. You can always choose to count your years by Elvish standards!
Participation in the Quendi category requires a thorough knowledge of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. Other works by Tolkien may be needed occasionally, as some questions (riddles, quizzes, etc.) can refer to those, but you will have about four weeks for each round, that is, plenty of time to look up in the books everything you might need.
Besides the quizzes, there will be creative challenges. For example, you may be asked to describe a situation, write a short poem, make a drawing or take a photograph, etc. We would like to be proud of our participants, so we ask you to share the rights of your creative productions royalty-free (and you accept this condition by your registration for the competition). Your works—with due credit to authors/artists—might be published by the Hungarian Tolkien Society, e.g. on our website, www.tolkien.hu, or in our journal, the Lassi Laurië. (You can read about Lassi Laurië in English here.) Please do not publish these works yourself without consulting us first, and especially not before the end of the competition. (Artwork submitted by teams is credited as teamwork by default, but you can add the name of the actual author/artist for each piece.)
You can participate in the Quendi category alone as an individual competitor, or you can participate as a member of a team of 2–5 people. The individual competitors and the teams will receive the same set of tasks, but the winner will be announced separately for individuals and teams.
As an individual competitor, you can make the decision to solve only the quizzes or only the creative tasks in each round: besides the absolute winners of the individual and team subcategories, the separate winners of the lexical and the creative parts will also be announced. This choice is only available for individual competitors, teams are expected to do the full version!
We will go on with the team competition only if we receive at least 5 applications from teams. If we have to cancel the team competition, team members will have the opportunity to compete on their own or to withdraw their application. There is also a maximum limit of 60 competitors (individuals and teams counted together) in the Quendi category (and we got quite close to this limit last year).
The contest starts in November and continues until April. Every month you will receive the questions of the next round (five rounds overall), and you will have to submit your solutions until the indicated deadline (you will have about four weeks for each round). Communication is done via e-mail. Our e-mail address is tlv[at]tolkien.hu: questions and comments are always welcome there. We are happy to answer all your questions about the competition—except disclosing the solutions of the actual tasks.
Not submitting your solutions for two consecutive rounds means quitting the competition.
There will be no prizes in the international category, only the public announcement of your achievement and a certificate sent by e-mail. There is no registration fee, either.
If you want to participate, please fill in this online registration form.
Registration as an individual competitor: choose the “I am competing alone.” option on the form.
Registration as a team: each team member should fill in a registration form separately, choose the “I am a member of a team of 2-5 people.” option, and provide the same team name. We also need a contact person for each team. Please agree on a unique team name and choose a contact person from the team before starting the registration.
You should see an automatic confirmation message after the successful registration, but if you are in doubt about the success of your registration, ask the organisers via e-mail whether they have received your registration or not! You should receive the first round of tasks during the week after the application deadline. If you do not receive it, write to us!
The application deadline is:
5 November, 2026
Tolkien Food Week 2026
Tolkien food week 2026 themes
2nd of November- Dùnedain travel food
3rd Nov- plant-based
4th Nov- hobbit hole recipes
5th Nov - Elven feasts
6th Nov - at the Prancing pony
7th Nov- Dwarven banquets
8th Nov - at the Valar's table 🦅
Fics, recipes, ficlets, art, photos, polls, crack... have fun
These are mere suggestions ofc, you absolutely can post when you want on theme or not 😉
(Headers/banners here if you want)
The White Oliphaunt 2026
Sign ups will open on November 1st, 2026. See the blog linked in this announcement for more details.
Around the World and Web Archive
Events listed here are no longer active but are listed on the site for historical purposes.
Tolkienshortfanworks Challenge for April
The April challenge at the tolkienshortfanworks community on Dreamwidth has been posted. This time it involves the use of one or more pair of words in your piece.
Here are four pairs of rhyming words: rabbit / habit; eggs / legs; daffodil / codicil; bun / run. Your challenge is to pick one or more of these pairs and use both words of the pair in your prompt fill. Although the words rhyme, they do not need to be used as rhymes (that is: they don't need to be at the end of rhyming lines of verse) to fill the prompt. Perhaps you are spotting that these word pairs were originally inspired by thoughts of Easter, but your piece does not need to be seasonal in any way. Bonus points if you get in more than one pair of words or come up with a way to get mileage out of the rhyme, especially if it is in an unexpected way!
More details these monthly challenges at the linked post.
New participants always welcome!
Barduil Month 2023
Barduil Month is a month-long celebration and creation event on Tumblr for the Thranduil/Bard the Bowman ship from The Hobbit, loosely inspired by 30 Days of Barduil. We accept all canons (the Peter Jackson movies, Tolkien’s book, and others) as well as any alternate universe and canon divergence possibilities–let your creativity run wild! The event runs 1 April through 30 April 2023.
Any content and fanwork about Barduil is welcome! You can create fic, art, gifsets, edits, playlists, cosplays, crafts, and anything else. Please tag your posts with #barduilmonth2023 and tag this blog, @bi-widower-dads, so they can be found. For courtesy purposes, please have a “read more” on longer posts.
At this link you can find a list of prompts to help get the creative juices flowing, though don’t feel obligated to necessarily abide by them!
Here you can find the AO3 collection for this event.
For further information, please check our F.A.Q. post.
Teitho: February/March Photo Challenge
Choose from two photos for the February/March contest prompt. Could the hands holding the sword be those of a new Rider of Rohan while he listens to the voice of his trainer? Or perhaps a ranger of the Ithilien, taking a moment to rest and to thank the Valar for keeping him safe during a fierce skirmish with enemies headed to Mordor?
Whichever picture captures your imagination, we look forward to reading the stories that these pictures evoke in your mind! Please submit them to teitho.contest@gmail.com on or before March 31.
All of Arda Is Autistic 2023
All of Arda Is Autistic is a month-long fanfiction event on Tumblr for neurodivergent fans celebrating neurodivergent headcanons of Tolkien's characters. The event runs from 1 April to 30 April, which is Autism Acceptance Month. All Tolkien fans who fit somewhere under the neurodivergent umbrella (self-diagnosed or clinically diagnosed, it doesn't matter) are welcome to participate. This event is during Autism Acceptance Month, but allistic neurodivergents are totally welcome to join as well! Neurotypicals, feel free to support the event and enjoy the stories!
Official tags for the event are #all-of-arda-is-autistic and #all of arda is autistic 2023.
Tolkien Ekphrasis Week 2023
Material culture and art add vibrancy to our lives, and it seems that there are so many options in Middle-earth ripe for interpretation! A poem on Nerdanel's statues, a tapestry capturing Nessa's dance, a prose fic describing the impact of seeing Númenor's frescoes, a painting exploring the beautiful quotidian architecture of a Hobbit hole ...
This is a Tolkien-fandom-wide event dedicated to the art of ekphrasis in Tolkien's worlds. Its goal is to illuminate the artistic surroundings of the places, people, and stories we love, in as many media as possible. As such, fanworks are welcome to take almost any form: see the FAQ for the full list!
The prompts are multi-part. The first part of the prompt is mandatory, describing the kind of art to be interpreted. The subsequent parts are optional thematic, formal, or visual add-ons that people may choose to incorporate or not.
For example: "Day N. Art form: Metalwork. Formal prompt (writing): Epistolary format. Formal prompt (visual art): Mixed media. Thematic prompt: Trade and cross-cultural connection."
If you miss the day, or are desperate to create work about some form of art not included in the prompts, don't worry! Posting amnesty/prompt free-for-all day will be June 17, and posting here and in the AO3 Collection will be open for a year from June 10, 2023.
How It Works
Prompts are currently being posted! Participants will have slightly more than two months to create whatever sort of art they like inspired by one or more of those prompts. Then, no later than June 9, 5 PM PST, they will post their works to the AO3 Collection (linked above), tagged with the appropriate day. The mod will do a quick check, and then the week of reveals will begin. During the week of June 10-June 16, pre-posted fanworks will be revealed daily according to theme (see calendar) in the AO3 Collection and reblogged on Tumblr. On June 17, anyone who missed the deadline will have an opportunity to post their late works and have them celebrated on Amnesty Day.
In short, the timeline is:
- Read prompts starting March 22.
- Create!
- Post tagged work to AO3 before June 9 deadline.
- Enjoy daily reveals between June 10 and June 16.
- Amnesty day June 17 for late posters.
Inclusion
Tolkien Ekphrasis Week is open to all characters, genres, and ratings, and all Tolkien canons. This includes books, movies both live-action and animated, fan-made films like Born of Hope, TV shows that have aired (so yes to Rings of Power, no to the yet-unreleased Rohan animated series), and game canons such as Lord of the Rings Online. It also includes Tolkien's non-Arda works, such as Roverandom. Crossovers between two or more Tolkien canons are welcome.
Tolkien Ekphrasis Week wants to be as inclusive as possible. As such:
- All canons and versions of canon are equally welcome and encouraged to participate.
- Fan creators of all levels of experience should feel more than welcome to join in the fun.
- All languages are welcomed, and works in languages other than English are actively encouraged.
- All styles of art and all types of fic are permitted. Apart from following the Art Form content prompt for each day, there are no restrictions on genre, style, rating, or ship. There is one exception: no character bashing.
Above all, this event is supposed to get us thinking and feeling about art, which is for everyone. With this in mind, TEW asks participants to be respectful and inclusive at all times. In particular, TEW values its queer and trans participants and participants of color and will moderate as necessary to ensure that this event remains a welcoming space.
Please see the FAQ for full instructions on how to post and tag.
Calendar
June 9: Submit all works to the AO3 Collection
June 10-16, 2023: Reveals
- June 10 - AO3 collection reveals begin with Day 1 Prompt (Textiles and Fashion)
- June 11 - Day 2 Prompt (Lutherie and Instrument-Making)
- June 12 - Day 3 Prompt (Dance)
- June 13 - Day 4 Prompt (Gardening and Landscape Architecture)
- June 14 - Day 5 Prompt (Music)
- June 15 - Day 6 Prompt (Calligraphy)
- June 16 - Day 7 Prompt (In-Universe Religious and Devotional Art)
- June 17 - Amnesty Day and Free-for-all posting
June 18, 2023: Tumblr Queue begins posting tagged works.
June 9, 2024: AO3 Collection and DW community close to posting.
Housekeeping
The DW site is the primary home of Tolkien Ekphrasis Week 2023: this is where to check first for dates, news, FAQs, links, and prompts!
Prompts will also be posted on Tumblr. The Tumblr blog will be used for event promotion ahead of the event, answering questions via the ask function, and reblogging your creations, if they are posted and tagged on Tumblr.
This event does not and will not exist on any other form of social media other than Tumblr and DW, though I encourage you to spread the word in your other online communities.
Links
Polyship Week 2023
Polyship Week offers prompts for all fanwork types that focus on polyamorous characters and relationships. The event runs 16-22 April 2023.
- Works featuring polyamorous characters and relationships of all kind are welcome — any characters, ships, fandoms, and OCs too!
- Works may be in any medium — fic, art, gifsets, podfic, vids, and more!
- Participate in as few or as many days as you like. Choose your favorite prompt each day or mash them up — whatever sparks your imagination!
- Please tag us @PolyshipWeek or use the hashtag #PolyshipWeek23 so we can reblog your creations! Artists, please also remember to tag or link to the OP as requested for the art memes when you post. :)
Ao3 Collection | carrd | Twitter | Tumblr
WIP Big Bang 2023
We are the WIP Big Bang and our goal is to take the stories we've already started and to finish them by August 8, 2023. We are an all-fandoms-welcome exchange and will have artist claims and everything. It's like a real Big Bang, with a twist. You only need at least 500 words of a story you've already written prior to signing up and the goal isn't a word count* but to finish the thing. So, are you ready to defeat that WIP? Sign up now!
Schedule
All times are by 8:59pm PST. Convert time zones.
Sign-ups Begin- April 1st
Sign-ups Close- April 21st
Check In #1- April 22nd
Check In #2- May 15th
Snippets Due- June 1st
Art Claims Begin- June 17th
Check In #3- June 22nd
Check In #4- July 6th
Rough Drafts Due- July 15th
Posting Claims Begin- July 23rd
Posting Claims Ends- August 1st
Final Drafts/Art Due- August 7th
Posting Starts- August 8th
Posting Ends- October 31st (the last two weeks are reserved for emergency posting)
B2MeM 2023: Drabble Duel and Eregion Art-a-Thon
Drabble Duel
Are you a writer who delights in the shortest of stories, the tiniest of tales? Then come join us from March 17 to March 25, and help settle the debate!
How to play:
- Two collections will be provided. Glorfindel’s Drabble Gallery & the Girabbit’s Drabble Exhibition.
- The rules are simple. If you believe that a drabble is exactly 100 words, not a single one more or less, post your drabbles to Glorfindel’s Drabble Gallery. Should you agree with the Girabbit that 99 words are as true of a drabble as 111 words are, post your drabbles to Girabbit’s Drabble Exhibition.
- On March 25, the Mods from Spies in the Shadows will tally all drabbles that were posted in the correct collection, according to the AO3 word count feature, and whoever received more support will win the argument!
Post your drabbles to the B2MeM 2023 AO3 collection. There are also live drabbling events available on the B2MeM 2023 Discord server; contact one of the B2MeM mods for an invite.
Complete Drabble Duel guidelines can be found here.
Eregion Art-a-thon
We are calling all artists to make use of the portal and submit their art to the Museum of Eregion, and if perhaps… there are some subtle hints hidden in those arts that could alert Celebrimbor to his future fate, then who could possibly object? (Do make sure they are subtle, though. We would not wish Annatar to catch on!)
How to play:
- This event will primarily happen on Discord, though there might be a Tumblr museum as well once the portal has closed again. If you are not playing Spies in the Shadows, but want to join the server for the week, DM one of the mods for an invite or hit us up on tumblr @spring-into-arda.
- You will be given access to bingo prompt cards that you can use to create for the event.
- We will have some live creating events throughout the week, and a bingo night!
Gen Freeform Exchange 2023: Nominations and Sign-Ups
Gen Freeform Exchange is a multi-fandom exchange focused on gen fanworks, with freeform tag matching so that you can request and offer all your favorite gen tropes. We’re defining gen fanworks as works with no romantic or sexual content. Gen can focus on platonic relationships (friends, family, colleagues, enemies-with-whom-there-is-no-sexual-tension, etc), usually indicated by a & between characters rather than a /, or it can focus on a singular character with no particular focus on any relationship.
Both solo characters and gen character combos can be requested. Media allowed: fic, art, vids, and podfic.
Please follow this comm for all your info about the exchange!
Schedule
March 4-11 9:59PM EST - Nominations
March 13-20 9:59PM EST - Signups
March 23 - Assignments sent by this date
May 14 9:59PM EDT - Assignments Due
May 21 9:59PM EDT - Work Reveals
May 28 9:59PM EDT - Creator Reveals
Links
Poll: LotR Ladies Week Date
We're planning a LotR Ladies fandom week and would like to know what month would work best for as many people as possible to be able to participate. Keep in mind other fandom events going on in those months too that you might be participating in- we want to know what time frame would the most people have space for. (Here's a list of some of the other fandom events that may be happening this year!)
