Alright Thunderdome, let’s see you write a story about a bowl of cereal! But be warned, only one of you can be a bowl of muesli with greek yogurt, and one unfortunate contestant will be served a bowl of soggy Rice Krispies with room-temperature non-fat milk to go with their losertar.

When you sign up, declare your cereal of choice. This is your cereal, and no-one else may share it with you. Should your feelings on cereal tend towards ambivalence, you may request a cereal as a flash rule.

How many words do I get?
You get as many words as there are calories in a standard serving of your chosen cereal, times ten. If you come from a civilized country where you use kilojoules, times 2.5. Maybe use this helpful converter?

Can I write a poem about my cereal? How about fan-fiction? Or erotica?
Nope, nope, and… tempting, but nope.

Should I be aware of which brands are and are not regularly stocked at Cost-Co?
Probably!

This is just about, like, the spirit of cereal, right? We should feel free to interpret this prompt loosely?
Definitely not. Your cereal of choice should feature prominently!

Side note, unrelated: would you say that you were a bit of a stickler for grammar and punctuation, and that these factor heavily into your judging approach?
I would!