NO MORE NEED TO HIDE - Freedom to Love, Freedom to Be
Washington, DC
July 19th-21st, 2024

Guidelines for 2024 Conzine


We all love when our fandom writers and artists expand the universe of Beauty and the Beast!  A favorite way to do this is through our annual conzine. But, as with all other activities and events in our wonderful fandom, it can’t happen without you. 

We’re asking you to join us in producing a great conzine by sharing your creativity and vision with fans everywhere. The 2024 conzine will be published digitally on a thumb drive, which provides broad options for contributions: poetry, fanfic, essays, artwork, music videos, wallpapers, games, music, and more.  So, please consider creating something to delight your fellow fans!

Anyone can contribute to the conzine, even if you are not planning to attend the con itself.  All attendees will receive the conzine, and there will be options to order one for those who cannot be with us in Washington, DC this summer.

We will have some updates for you soon, so please watch for announcements on Facebook, BBTV, CABB – New Chambers, and other websites.

Here are the general guidelines for the 2024 Conzine:
  1. Any and all contributions are welcomed, but your work must not have been published, shared, or posted anywhere else prior to inclusion in the conzine.
  2. We will not give permission for anyone to post your work online. You may wish to give a website permission to post your work after the convention, but we will not.
  3. The deadline for all contributions is May 1, 2024.
  4. Contributions may be any season or rating, but please identify them as Classic or Third Season; G, PG-13, R.)
  5. Be sure to label your submission with the name you wish to have posted (i.e., your actual name or a pen name).
  6. Send only finished, edited items. We cannot accept drafts, nor can we make changes once a contribution has been submitted.
  7. If you need an editor, please let us know and we will try to find one for you; however, it might be faster to ask another fan yourself.
  8. All written submissions will be edited for mechanics (grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc.) without notifying the author. No other editing, such as for content, will be done.
  9. There is no maximum page limit on fanfic.
  10. You may submit more than one item; however, if you are sending more than six items, please check in with the editor in advance.
  11. Illustrations can be inserted into stories, but they must be sent separately, not within the body of the story. You may indicate where you wish the art to be placed by including a note in the text of your story, and we will do what we can to honor your request.
  12. Illustrations must be identified as follows: your own work; used with permission and credit; or open source.
  13. When submitting artwork, remember that the higher the resolution, the better your art will look. You may submit it in black and white or color.
  14. Documents must be set in .doc, .docx, .rtf or .odt format. Do NOT send .pdf files.
  15. For fanfic, essays, and poetry, please use Times New Roman 12 point font, left margin alignment, and single spacing with one break between paragraphs. Many specialized fonts cannot be reproduced in the conzine.
  16. If you use footnotes, please do not insert them into the body of your story. Simply note them with a superscript number. Otherwise, your footnotes might interfere with those in subsequent stories.
  17. Please ask if you need help with any technical aspects.
Send fiction and essay submissions to Linda. 

Send art, music videos, wallpapers, games, and music submissions to Karen.

Please clearly state in the subject line: Submission for 2024 Conzine.

If you have any questions, please contact Linda SB at the email above.

We hope you will be part of the 2024 conzine! We can’t wait to see what you come up with!


Conzine Essay Project

BatB has touched all our lives in so many amazing ways. We’ve often shared our own stories, and we’d love to do that in a special way in this year’s conzine.

In what will be a wonderful addition to the plethora of fanfic, art, poetry, and other submissions, we’re asking those in our fan community to consider writing an essay based on the con theme – “No More Need to Hide: Freedom to Love, Freedom to Be”.

How did BatB inspire and free you to be the person you are today? To paraphrase Catherine, how did BatB help you become the best of what it means to be you?

Your essay should be from an individual, personal point of view, telling how our beloved show brought freedom to your life. It can be any length and can be published under a pen name, but please see the submission guidelines above so that you can send it to us in the correct format. If you have any questions, please contact Linda SB.

The deadline for submissions is May 1, 2024.

We hope you’ll want to be part of this special project for the 2024 conzine!

Conzine Story Challenge

We hope our wonderful fandom authors are already writing for the upcoming conzine!

We’re looking forward to receiving your stories, poetry, song lyrics, essays – whatever your imagination creates.

As a special inclusion for the conzine, we’re also issuing a Story Challenge for you to consider. As you know, the theme of this year’s con is “No More Need to Hide: Freedom to Love, Freedom to Be”, and that concept is the basis for the Story Challenge.

We’re asking you to write a story about an event in any BatB character’s life that gave them the freedom to do something they’d been denied, something they’d always wished they could do or be. What was the event or dream or goal? How did it give freedom to the character? The main character should be someone from the series (i.e., a canon character), but you are free to add original characters as well.

Your story can be any length and should follow the submission guidelines above. If you have any questions, please contact Linda SB.

The deadline for submissions is May 1, 2024.

And just to offer more encouragement, there will be a random prize drawing among all the writers who submit a story for this project. A very lucky writer will be awarded one of Karen Crow’s (Crowmama) beautiful BatB prints.

We’ll look forward to including your stories for everyone to enjoy!


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