2027 Founding Cycle Notice

1. Prize

The MIELOGOS Literary Prize recognizes outstanding literature created through Symbiotic Authorship.

Symbiotic Authorship describes a creative relationship in which a human author remains responsible for the work while interaction with artificial intelligence materially shapes its development.

For a practical explanation of what “materially shapes” means in this context, see the Entrant Guide, §1.

The Prize does not use an AI-text percentage test.

Literary recognition is based on literary achievement.

2. Founding Cycle

The first competitive cycle is the:

MIELOGOS Literary Prize 2027 — Founding Cycle

Public pre-launch begins in:

January 2027

Submissions open:

1 February 2027

Submissions close:

31 May 2027 at 23:59 UTC

There is no competitive advantage to submitting earlier within the submission period.

3. Eligible Public-Release Period

To qualify for the Founding Cycle, the underlying literary work must ordinarily have entered genuine public circulation between:

1 January 2024 and 31 December 2026, inclusive.

The controlling release date is the earliest reasonably verifiable date on which substantially the entered literary work entered genuine public circulation.

Changing platform, metadata, cover, ISBN or making light corrections does not ordinarily create a new release date.

A new English translation does not reset the eligibility date of an older underlying work.

A materially revised edition may be treated as a new literary object only where the revision materially changes the work as literature. The Eligibility Function decides that question under Founding Master §37.

4. Who May Enter

The Founding Cycle is:

International

Entrants must be:

18 years of age or older on the date of submission.

The 18+ requirement is an operational limitation of the Founding Cycle, not a literary judgment about younger authors.

Nationality, citizenship, residence, publisher territory and geographic origin are not literary eligibility criteria.

Participation remains subject only to any mandatory legal restriction binding the actual Prize Operator.

MIELOGOS membership is not required.

Membership provides no advantage in eligibility or literary judging.

5. Entry Fee

No entry fee is charged for the 2027 Founding Cycle.

6. Submission Limit

Each entrant may submit a maximum of:

2 works

during the Founding Cycle.

A collaborative work counts against the submission limit of each credited participating human author.

Collaborative works are eligible. Each participating human author treated as an entrant must meet the 18+ requirement. A representative may submit on behalf of underlying author(s) where the representative has a good-faith basis to believe the submission is authorized.

Each literary work follows:

one submission

one category

one competitive path.

7. Categories

The 2027 Founding Cycle includes four categories:

FICTION

Novels, novellas, short stories, collections and other fiction prose.

POETRY

Poems, sequences, chapbooks and collections.

LITERARY NONFICTION

Memoir, literary or personal essay, narrative nonfiction and other work whose primary object is literary rather than merely utilitarian.

GRAPHIC, HYBRID & EXPERIMENTAL LITERATURE

Works in which text may interact substantially with image, layout, digital form, graphic narrative or other formal experimentation, with a substantial literary dimension.

Symbiotic Authorship is not itself a literary genre.

Category placement concerns the literary form of the entered work.

For fuller category guidance, see the Entrant Guide, §6.

8. Language

The judging language of the 2027 Founding Cycle is:

English

English is an operational limitation of the Founding Cycle, not a literary judgment. Future Language Divisions may be established where sufficient literary competence and operational capacity exist.

The original work may have been created or publicly released in another language.

A complete English version may be submitted for judging.

The translation itself does not need to have been publicly released provided the underlying literary work satisfies the applicable release requirement.

Translation method is not subject to an AI-purity test.

The submitted English version is the literary object judged in the Founding Cycle.

9. Public Release

Eligible works must already have entered genuine public circulation.

Qualifying routes may include, among others:

• commercial publishing;

• independent publishing;

• print publication;

• ebook publication;

• literary magazines, journals or periodicals;

• genuine online publishing platforms;

• library-mediated publication;

• substantially complete serial publication;

• other independently verifiable public-release routes.

The work does not need to be freely available online.

Private circulation to a personally selected group does not ordinarily constitute public release.

The core distinction is whether the work was available through a publicly accessible or independently verifiable route to an audience not personally selected by the entrant. See Entrant Guide §4 and Founding Master §§27–30 for fuller guidance.

10. Submission Method

Entries will be submitted through the official MIELOGOS digital submission system.

Physical submissions are not accepted.

Each successfully recorded submission will receive a unique:

Submission ID

Entrants should retain that ID and use it in later work-specific correspondence.

The official correspondence address for the Prize is:

prize@mielogos.org

11. Review-Copy Formats

For ordinary text-based work, the primary review-copy formats are:

EPUB

PDF

DOCX may be accepted as a fallback where layout is not a constitutive part of the literary object.

For Fiction, Poetry and Literary Nonfiction, review copies should ordinarily be machine-readable and searchable.

Image-only scans should not be submitted where an equivalent ordinary digital text file can reasonably be provided.

12. File Limits

Where the literary object genuinely requires a larger, interactive or non-standard digital format, the entrant must contact MIELOGOS before the submission deadline to request an alternative review arrangement.

Alternative arrangements require authorization.

13. Competition Version

Entrants should submit the version of the work they actually wish to have judged.

After administrative completeness is confirmed and MIELOGOS acknowledges the accepted review copy, that file becomes the:

LOCKED COMPETITION VERSION

Acknowledgement is issued after administrative completeness review. The Founding Cycle does not promise a fixed acknowledgement turnaround; timing may vary with submission volume and technical or clarification needs.

There is no routine post-submission literary revision period.

A replacement may be authorized where there is a genuine wrong-file, corruption, export, transmission or other administrative or technical problem.

Replacement is not available for continued literary polishing after entry.

14. Symbiotic Authorship Declaration

Each entrant must provide a good-faith declaration sufficient for the Eligibility Function to determine whether the work falls within the applicable Symbiotic Authorship framework.

Entrants are not required to:

• calculate an AI-written percentage;

• count prompts;

• provide complete prompt histories;

• provide complete AI conversations;

• disclose their entire creative process.

Where a genuine eligibility question cannot otherwise be resolved, MIELOGOS may request proportionate clarification or limited corroboration.

15. Literary Assessment

MIELOGOS uses an openly human–AI literary-assessment process.

The Founding Cycle is led by:

Navi Musaget — Human Founding Judge

MIELOGOS also operates an:

AI Literary Assessment Function

which may use one or more AI models, providers or analytical configurations.

AI systems may assist with:

• first-pass literary analysis;

• comparative assessment;

• prioritization;

• advancement recommendations;

• critical challenge and alternative readings.

Different AI systems may reach different conclusions.

Such disagreement may be retained as useful information within the judging process.

AI assessments are arguments, not votes.

No AI system exercises independent institutional authority over Prize recognition.

Final institutional responsibility for competitive decisions remains human.

At least one Reserve Human Judge will be appointed before submissions open.

The Reserve Human Judge provides genuinely independent human literary authority where conflict, recusal or incapacity requires a transfer of decision-making authority.

If an entrant believes a material conflict may affect a submission, the concern should be raised through the official Prize correspondence route with the Submission ID and the specific conflict identified. Where a material conflict is established, authority for the affected work or decision is transferred under the Prize conflict rules (Founding Master §§75–76).

16. Founding Judge Ineligibility

No work for which the Human Founding Judge is a credited author, co-author or underlying human author may enter the 2027 Founding Cycle.

This restriction also applies where another person attempts to submit such a work on the author’s behalf.

17. Literary Evaluation

Literary judgment is holistic.

The Prize may consider qualities including:

• language and voice;

• form;

• structure and pacing;

• characterization and perspective;

• imaginative force;

• originality of execution;

• emotional and intellectual force;

• precision;

• thematic depth;

• aesthetic coherence;

• command of form;

• literary risk and ambition;

• memorability;

• the relationship between the literary project established by the work and what the work actually achieves.

These are evaluative lenses, not mandatory numerical score components.

They are applied in relation to the literary project established by the work itself; they are not a checklist in which every work must excel in the same way.

External prestige, sales, publisher status, previous awards and author reputation do not determine literary recognition.

18. Recognition Structure

In each category, MIELOGOS may recognize:

Longlist

up to 12 works

Shortlist

up to 6 works

Winner

maximum 1 work

Recognition places are:

caps, not quotas.

MIELOGOS may recognize fewer works than the permitted maximum.

A category may conclude with:

no Winner

if no work meets the literary standard for Winner recognition.

The 2027 Founding Cycle does not permit:

• joint Winners;

• second place;

• third place;

• Honourable Mentions;

• an overall Grand Winner.

19. Recognition Benefits

Longlist, Shortlist and Winner status are substantive forms of MIELOGOS literary recognition.

Recognized works may receive:

• official digital certificates;

• official MIELOGOS recognition marks or badges;

• public Prize citations where applicable;

• inclusion in the permanent public MIELOGOS Prize archive.

The Founding Cycle offers:

no monetary prize and no physical prize.

Copyright remains with the lawful rightsholder or rightsholders.

MIELOGOS does not obtain an automatic right to publish the complete submitted work.

20. Founding Cycle Calendar

A timely unresolved clarification, reconsideration or integrity matter may continue beyond an ordinary operational target where necessary.

Where a serious legal, technical, security, integrity or capacity issue requires a schedule adjustment, MIELOGOS may alter a milestone transparently rather than compromise the integrity of the cycle.

Material schedule changes will be announced through the official MIELOGOS website and, where practicable and relevant, communicated directly to affected entrants.

21. Literary Feedback

Submission does not guarantee:

• individual editorial feedback;

• manuscript reports;

• score sheets;

• individualized explanations of literary decisions.

Longlist, Shortlist and Winner decisions are literary judgments and are not subject to appeal merely because an entrant disagrees with the assessment.

22. Procedural Reconsideration

Procedural reconsideration is available for identifiable issues such as:

• administrative error;

• material factual error;

• material misapplication of an eligibility rule;

• failure to follow a published procedure;

• material conflict affecting the process.

A request must ordinarily be made within:

14 calendar days

of notice of the relevant decision.

Procedural reconsideration is not an appeal against literary taste or literary judgment.

Requests should be sent to prize@mielogos.org, should include the Submission ID where one exists, and should clearly identify the procedural or eligibility issue being challenged.

A reconsideration should not be determined solely by the person whose materially challenged action or determination is at issue; conflict-safe review follows the applicable Prize procedure.

23. Withdrawal

An entrant may withdraw a submission through the official MIELOGOS correspondence route.

Withdrawal ordinarily stops further competitive consideration where this remains practically possible.

Previously announced public recognition may remain in the historical Prize archive with an appropriate withdrawal notation.

Withdrawal does not automatically erase every administrative or historical record associated with the submission.

24. AI Processing and Privacy

Participation in the Prize includes disclosed use of digital and artificial-intelligence systems for legitimate Prize functions.

Submitted materials may therefore be processed through third-party services used for administration, eligibility, technical processing and literary assessment.

The particular systems or providers may change.

The applicable Privacy Notice will identify relevant processing arrangements as required.

The Founding Cycle Privacy Notice will be published before submissions open.

MIELOGOS does not ordinarily seek complete prompt histories, complete AI conversations or unrelated sensitive personal information.

Private submission materials are retained according to the applicable retention framework rather than as a permanent manuscript archive.

25. Rights and Responsibility

Entrants remain responsible for ensuring that they possess sufficient rights, permissions and authority to submit the work and permit the Prize activities required by the applicable Terms.

This may include rights or permissions relating to:

• co-authors;

• translators;

• publishers;

• agents;

• artwork;

• third-party material;

• contractual restrictions;

• privacy or publicity rights.

MIELOGOS does not provide individual legal advice.

26. Before Submitting

Before submitting, entrants should read:

• the Entrant Guide;

• the Prize Rules;

• the Terms of Entry;

• the Privacy Notice;

• the submission instructions;

• this Cycle Notice.

Then check the actual submission carefully:

Correct work?

Correct file?

Complete file?

Final version?

Opens correctly?

Correct title and author credit?

There is no advantage to submitting early.

27. Official Contact

Official Prize correspondence:

prize@mielogos.org

After submission, include the relevant Submission ID in work-specific correspondence whenever possible.

28. Governing Documents

The 2027 Founding Cycle operates under the adopted MIELOGOS Literary Prize governance framework and the cycle-specific documents applicable at the time of entry.

For rule precedence, Founding Master §112 establishes the following order:

1. Cycle-specific Terms of Entry; 2. Applicable Cycle Notice; 3. Founding Master / Prize Rules; 4. Operational submission instructions; 5. General explanatory website material.

2027 FOUNDING CYCLE — QUICK REFERENCE

This quick reference is a convenience summary. The full Cycle Notice and governing documents control where additional detail is required.