Heget's Blatherings

It's that time of year again! The SWG challenge mods have been busy concocting challenges for 2026 that we hope will inspire and intrigue our fanworks creators. As part of our challenges, participants receive small "postage stamps" in a collection on their profile, and for the past three years, we have invited artists to help us create those stamps. No matter your level of expertise with traditional or digital art, we welcome all volunteers who'd like to share their work with challenge participants!

If you'd be interested in creating a set of stamps for one (or more) of our 2025 challenges, here is how it will work:

• Comment here (or otherwise contact the mods) and beginning on Monday, December 22, we will grant access to a bare-bones list of the 2025 challenges, the number of stamps needed, and the due date. If you want to remain absolutely unspoiled as to upcoming challenges, than this is probably not for you! We will send additional details on the challenge and specific stamps needed once you choose the challenge you want to work on.
• Create your set of stamps. You have a lot of creative free rein here. Stamps must
  • include the month number of the challenge. Most of the time, we also include the challenge name (or part of it) too, but this is not required.
  • thematically match the challenge that month.
  • be appropriate for all audiences: no violence, blood/gore, nudity, or sexual content.
  • use our templates or a similar postage stamp template that is not drastically different from ours. (Please check with us first.)
  • use only art and images that you have permission to use, which means that you must own the copyright or have permission from the copyright holder to use the image for this project, or the image is in the public domain.
• Email your completed stamps to the mods before the due date! We will send you a reminder about a month before your stamps are due.

Please note that while we can (and will) credit you as an artist on the challenge page and any announcements about the challenge, we cannot include credit on the stamps themselves or with every appearance of the stamps on our site.

You will also have the option of designing the challenge banner for that month if you wish to do so. (It is not required.) Banners are used on the challenge page, as well as in announcements on our site and social media about the challenge. Requirements for stamps apply to banners as well, with the addition that the banner should include the challenge name, dates, and text "SWG Challenge" or "Silmarillion Writers' Guild Challenge" somewhere on the banner. We prefer that the art used on stamps not be used on the banner as well. Banners should be at least 500px wide.

In participating in this project, you are granting the SWG the right to use your stamps and banner, including any art or photography that they contain, on our website and social media, in accordance with the terms described here. This includes minor modifications, such as resizing graphics to work with the layout of our site.

If you are interested in learning more or gaining access to the sign-up page, please comment here or contact us. Sign-ups are first-come, first-served, and we will close sign-ups on December 31 or once all have been filled, whichever comes first.