Why free tiers exist at all

In much of the United States, a prize decided by chance among people who paid a fee is a lottery, and private houses may not run one. Sponsors avoid the whole question in one of two ways: judge on merit, or offer a genuine no-purchase route in. Careful houses do both.

So a free door is not a marketing flourish. It is often the thing keeping the contest lawful — which is exactly why you should trust a contest that has one more than a contest that does not.

How to spot the free contest that is not really free

Read the rights clause first. If entering assigns publication, adaptation or audio rights, the fee was your book. Walk away.

Look for a mandatory purchase dressed as a step: a required paid critique, a required membership, a required anthology copy. A no-fee contest with a required purchase is a paid contest.

Check whether the free tier is judged by the same people against the same published criteria. A free tier read by nobody is a mailing list in costume.

The Open Door at Drakenscroll

The Open Door is a permanent free tier of the Drakenscroll Prize. There is no fee, no purchase and no coin of any kind. The prize is three motion graphic illustrations drawn from your own book — scenes or characters, set in motion by this house, yours for a cover reveal, your feeds or your launch.

It is deliberately smaller than the four paid builds, because a free entry cannot fairly be weighed against a paid one, and each bracket is judged only against itself. What it is not smaller in is attention: the same reading, the same criteria, the same proclamation on September 10, 2027.

The one thing it asks is work. Every entrant, free or paid, must first walk all 23 free instruments of the Workshop and hold the Seal.

What you keep

Your copyright, in every tier. Entering the Drakenscroll Prize grants this house no rights in your manuscript. A winner's build is made with their permission and delivered to them.

Asked and answered

Can a free entry win one of the paid prizes?

No, and that separation is the point. Each tier is a closed bracket judged only against itself: a free Open Door entry competes for the three motion graphic illustrations, and a paid entry competes only within its own tier.

Does paying improve my chances in the free tier?

No. Nothing you buy affects the Open Door in any way. No purchase is necessary to enter or win.

Is the free tier judged or drawn?

Judged, on published criteria, exactly like the paid tiers. Chance decides nothing at this house.