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HBOFF: Feet First Into Hell

Welcome to HBOFF: Feet First Into Hell, a writing contest for the upcoming release of Halo 3: ODST! The crew at the HBO Fan Fiction Forum want you to give them a piece of Halo fan fiction featuring the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers for a chance to win some swanky prizes!

Rules

1. Your story must feature ODST's in a significant role, though the story does not have to take place on Earth or during the events of any of the games.
2. 750 to 6000 words. We like longer stories, but if you really knock our socks off with something short, well, that's good too.
3. New, original work only. This must be your work and yours alone, and it must be a brand new piece. No resubmissions from HBOFF. Also, only one submission per person.
4. Do not post works-in-progress on the forum unless you want to be disqualified - this is a closed judging system and we don't want people to cry foul.
5. Please try to stick to Halo canon, though you can of course take artistic liberties. The Halo Story section and the timeline in particular are great resources. Halopedia is good, but not always terribly accurate.

Remember, these rules and the prizes below may shift around a bit. Check the official forum thread for changes and updates.

Other than requiring ODST's to appear, there are no restrictions on plot or style. Romance, tragedy, comedy, political thriller, parody, it's all good.

Submissions and Deadlines

Email your submissions to hboff.contest@gmail.com in .doc, .rtf, .txt or .pdf formats. Please don't submit them to the fan fiction section while the contest is running. Email us any time between now and 11:59PM EDT on September 18, but we won't hate you if it comes in a little bit late. Actually, if you submit early it would be great. This will give us more time to go over everything before ODST launches on the 22nd.

Your Illustrious Judges

• kabu
• kr-1426
• (ENS) Rabid_Gallagher
• CaptainRaspberry
• The 14th Wonder
• And Stephen Loftus

Prizes

1st Place - 1600 Xbox Live points and a limited edition copy of Halo 3: ODST complete with an ODST controller and Sergeant Johnson in Firefight, and your story gets posted on the contest page.

Two Runners Up - 800 Xbox Live points and a regular copy of Halo 3: ODST complete with Sergeant Johnson in Firefight, and your story gets posted on the contest page.

Two Honorable Mentions - You get a good pat on the back and your story gets posted on the contest page.

All the prizes are very much subject to change, so check the official forum thread for updates.

Good luck to everyone!