The “Opening Up Digital Fiction Writing Competition” seeks to highlight popular/mainstream “born-digital” stories: fictional narratives created for and exclusively read/played on digital devices (hypertexts, literary games, multimedia stories). These works currently have no commercial publication platform, and thus even the most prominent digital writers rely on day jobs, arts grants, and/or donations from their audience. Likewise, readers of digital fiction have few central resources to find and read these works, as without a commercial platform they rely on fan wikis and (mostly academic) databases.

This competition brings digital writers and readers together. Writers benefit from recognition, cash prizes (amounts based on other writing competitions), and establishment of a digital fiction publishing platform. New readers are brought to the form through competition promotion and public/school workshops on creating digital fiction, and benefit from participation in the online publishing environment that enables reviews and purchases. These readers also improve their digital literacy skills through reading the competition entries and participating in the workshops.