Hey Steemians!

Welcome back to the third week of Season 24 of the Steemit Challenge, running from May 05 to May 11, 2025!

Are you ready to let your imagination soar high?

As you already know, the Team Wordsmiths is into the fiction niche, giving you the perfect platform to stretch your creativity and craft a compelling story based on this week’s prompt:

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Story Prompt

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Nadeesha loved wildlife photography. Every weekend, she carried her camera and went deep into the forest near her village. She waited silently for many hours to capture animals in their natural behavior. She has so many collections, like a leopard yawning, a deer drinking water, or a bird feeding its chicks.

One bright morning, before sunrise, she left her home. “Today I am going to explore a new trail. I heard that there is a hidden lake deep in the forest,” she said to her brother.

That night she didn’t return. Her family worried and asked for help. A search crew went into the forest and searched for her everywhere. She was nowhere, but one of the members of the team found her camera lying near an old tree.

When they checked the camera's memory card, they found something strange. They were frightened to see the last photo of the lens. There was a small wooden hut and a half-covered tall figure stood at the door of the hut.

The search crew looked everywhere again and again but no success.

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^{AI-Generated Image}

Then where did Nadeesha go? Who or what was the figure in the photo? What was the secret hiding in the forest?

Now it’s your turn to pick up where the prompt leaves off. Let your imagination take a walk in the woods and create a gripping, creative story. We’re excited to see where your mind takes this tale!

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A Few Tips for Crafting a Great Story

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• Make sure your plot is engaging and easy to follow.

• Show your characters making decisions and taking action.

• Build suspense, introduce twists, and keep your readers hooked.

• Most importantly, make your story meaningful and logical, whether it has a happy or sad ending.

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Contest Guidelines

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• The contest starts on Monday, May 5, 2025, at 00:00 UTC and ends on Sunday, May 11, 2025, at 23:59 UTC. Submissions outside this timeframe won’t be accepted. Check UTC Time Now

• The title of your post should be "Wordsmiths Fiction Week 3: Season 24 – The Last Photo"

• Post ONLY on your blog, not in any community.

• Your story should be between 500 and 900 words (not including the provided prompt).

• All submissions must be original and unique (No plagiarism or AI content).

• You can include up to 2 copyright-free images (besides your thumbnail) sourced from platforms like Pixabay, Pexels, Freepik etc.

• Write your story in any language supported by Google Translate or DeepL Translate, but stick to the theme of our provided story idea.

• Do not use the official contest thumbnail or images.

• Use the following tags:#fiction-s24wk3 #yourcountry #club (if any) #steemexclusive.

• If you set @null as 25% beneficiary, use the #burnsteem25 tag.

• Tag at least 3 friends to join the contest for example, @solperez, @fjjrg and @kouba01.

• Share your post on any social media platform like X. (Optional)

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Our Moderation Template

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Hello @, thank you so much for taking part in Week of the Steemit Challenge - Season 24! We truly appreciate the time and creativity you put into your entry. Your assessment, including feedback and scores based on our evaluation criteria, is provided below.

Criteria	Marks
Story Setting & World-Building:	0/3
Theme & Message:	0/2
Formatting & Presentation:	0/2
Originality & Uniqueness:	0/3
Total	/10

Feedback

(The moderator will record their observations in this section, highlighting the strengths of the post as well as areas that need improvement, and provide feedback to the author accordingly.)

Moderated by: @

Rewards

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• The top 6 stories will receive upvotes from SC01 based on our team’s evaluation.

• Outstanding entries may also get random upvotes from SC02.

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Important Reminders

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• Post ONLY on your blog, not in any community.

• Paste the link to your story in the comments section of this post.

• Don’t forget to vote and resteem this announcement post.

• Use #fiction-s24wk3 in your first 3 tags so we can find your post.

• In case of a tie, the winner will be decided based on story quality and team decision.

We look forward to your creativity and wish you best of luck.

Cc: @steemitblog, @dove11, @waqarahmadshah, @sur-riti.