Choose a Name for Our New Column!
Our temporarily titled "location bio" will focus on the landscapes and locations of Middle-earth. We need your help naming it!
Challenges have been a part of the SWG since our group was formed in 2005. Before the archive, there were challenges. Before References or any special projects or B2MeM or any of the myriad things we've done over the last decade-plus, there were challenges. Challenges end and a new challenges is posted on the 15th of the month. (Yes, that means there is one thrilling day each month when there are two active challenges!) Participants—both authors and reviewers—will receive a stamp in their challenge stamp collection for their participation. Deadlines apply only if you want your fanwork to receive a stamp.
Every challenge that has ever been offered by the SWG is available for use by creators of fanworks who are looking for inspiration. Even if the deadline for stamps is passed, you are welcome to use the challenges listed on our site. And comments on past challenge fanworks are always welcome and always receive a reward for that month. Want to join us? Click to read the guidelines below!
The Tengwar are one of the delights of visiting Middle-earth as a fan of Tolkien's work. Whether a serious student of the letters; dabbling with them, Appendix open, on a lazy afternoon; or simply admiring the way they flow across a title page (or the One Ring …), most Tolkien fans find them beautiful and packed with meaning beyond what it seems should be contained within a single letter.
This month (and a bit beyond!), we will feature a prompt per day taken from the Tengwar chart. The prompt will include a graphic of the tengwa and its name in Quenya and English. You can use any part of the prompt: the tengwa itself, the name, the English translation, the graphic, or some other creative interpretation we haven't even dreamed up yet! You may do as many or as few of the daily prompts as you would like. One prompt is worth as much as challenging yourself to do them all, so work at the level and pace that is comfortable for you. (However, there may be a special reward for anyone ambitious enough to try them all!)
Prompts will be posted daily at midnight UTC on our website, Tumblr, Dreamwidth, and the #monthly-challenges channel on our Discord. You do not need to do the prompt on the day it was posted; you can go back and do prompts you missed or do them out of order.
Thank you to Cuarthol and Anérea for the gorgeous banners and stamps this month!
View prompts for the Tengwar challenge.
Pick your prompts from four bingo cards themed around vintage literature, art, poetry, and fanworks. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Tolkien wrote more than just Middle-earth, and this challenge takes its prompts from his non-Ardaverse stories, essays, and poems. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Design your own figure skating program from a collection of prompts. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Prompts for this challenge are a pair of opposites. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
No matter if you're in the Northern or Southern hemisphere, it's a time of year to think about holidays. Whether you're bundling up in blankets or slipping a swimsuit into your suitcase, we invite you to an SWG holiday party! Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Spin our random generator to receive a prompt inspired by "The Nature of Middle-earth." Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Historians trace the first advice column to 1690, and in the three centuries hence, the heartsore, woebegone, and perpetually puzzled have turned to these "agony aunts" (and uncles) to solve their most debilitating dilemmas about family, work, and of course, love. Choose one of our real advice columns, tweaked just slightly, for your prompt. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Throughout history, wherever there is writing, there is erotica. This challenge pulls its prompts from "vintage" works of romance and erotica. (Nonromantic and nonsexual options are also available.) Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Complete Olympic events Middle-earth style! Challenge opened in . Read more ...
This month's challenge asks you to put a character, culture, or place in Arda in the Seventh Age. When the Seventh Age actually is--is it right now? in the future? or was Tolkien totally wrong and it's actually passed?--is completely up to you. Challenge entries should be posted here on or before July 10 for a stamp. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Go ahead and judge a book by its cover! We'll send you a book cover as a prompt to inspire your fanwork. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
In the spirit of poetry month and Legendarium Ladies April, create a fanwork using a poem by a woman poet as your inspiration. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
J.R.R. Tolkien wasn’t just the creator of Middle-earth. He was also a scholar of philology. One of his first jobs was with the Oxford English Dictionary, where he was assigned a welter of words beginning with W. In this month’s challenge, we’re presenting you a bingo card with Prof. Tolkien’s W words we hope will inspire a wealth of wonder, wit, worldbuilding, and general whimsy. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
We honor the theme of hope in Tolkien's work with prompts about joyful or happy times in the text. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Receive a postcard from an unnamed character and create a fanwork using the image, the message, or both. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Create a fanwork using our prompt generator that includes stock characters, common plot scenarios, settings, and episode types that are frequently featured in soap operas. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Sneak a peek into notebooks of the scholars and explorers of Middle-earth, with prompts that are images from historical naturalist publication. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
To reflect both the idealistic beginnings and the dark endings that are so frequent in the Legendarium, we invite you to create a fanwork inspired by utopian or dystopian prompts from novels, songs, artworks, or films. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Create a fanwork using one of our quotes from a woman in leadership. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Place the a law, custom, or tradition of Middle-earth as the focus of a fanwork. Challenge opened in . Read more ...