READ ME: Mini-Contest General Information

[Airan]

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Mini-Contest Corner. As the description for this board says, this is going to be a place for us as a community to host up small competitions and writing games to help pass the time in between each new Survivor Competition. Though it says it in the board description, I'll repeat it here: these are not Survivor Competitions, nor will they replace them. They are much shorter and won't require any sort of time commitment. As I imagine different users will take turns coordinating them, each will likely have different themes and prompts, submission guidelines, and rules.

To put it bluntly, these mini-contests are an experiment to try and keep the board more interesting, nurture a healthy and active community of writers, and provide interested users experience in coordinating competitions and judging writing. I'm making this board as a place for us improve our writing, and have fun doing it.

Right, so how do these things work?

As we are still experimenting with this concept, Mini-Contests will be held bi-monthly so that coordinators have ample time to judge their submissions as well as prevent any potential fatigue among the applicants. If this doesn't seem to be a problem, and there's enough demand for it, then we may potentially make them run every month instead. Again, this concept is still in the experimental stages.

Mini-Contests start on the 1st of each respective month when the coordinator will issue a prompt as well as their chosen rules for submission.

Prompts can be about anything and may take a variety of different concepts and approaches to keep things fresh. One month may be something simple like just creating an interesting narrative, while another may suddenly ask you to change up your writing style and write something you've maybe never tried before. Here at Redwall Survivor, we want you to improve your craft and tell interesting stories, and sometimes that means forcing you out of your comfort zone.

When the prompt is decided upon and made public upon the forum, the contest will have officially begun. It will run from a three to four week period where users will make submission(s) before an established deadline. The coordinator will judge them, and then turn over their personal favorites (3-5 based on how many submissions received) to the audience who will vote for which one wins. The important thing here, is that unlike our Survivor Competitions, there is no time commitment or responsibilities that come from entering these contests. You will simply make a submission, and then wait for the results. Simple as that.

So, what do you get for winning? Well for one: bragging rights. And for two: you'll receive a medal that is awarded to your profile, letting all users know for the rest of time about your victory. This medal will upgrade and get a bit fancier if you keep getting more victories under your belt. And for three: you'll earn the title of Mini-Contest Champion. This will also award a medal in your profile, but it will only remain there so long as you retain your title through each contest. This will obviously be hard to do, so there will probably be something special if you manage to keep a hold of it for a certain number of contests. These medals are still being worked on at the moment, but  I'll have more information on them soon.

Right, onto some quick rules about the board itself-

Rules For Participants and other Users-

?   There will be absolutely no creation of topics in the Prompts and Rules section of the board. This section will be where we, of course, announce each new mini contest as it is developed, and reveal the rules for submission. It is important we keep it as organized as possible so that users can quickly find the information they need to submit their work. Normally I would make this board 'Read Only' so that this wouldn't be possible, but with the fact that we're planning for multiple different users to helm these, I just don't find it very practical to have to go and make each of them moderators each time there's a contest. However, you are definitely allowed and encouraged to make comments on the actual prompt threads.

?   Like with our Survivor Competitions, there will be an anonymity rule. It is required that you do not disclose which submission is yours. Only the coordinator should know this information. This is of course to prevent any potential bias among voters

?   When the Coordinator makes their picks to be voted upon for the winner, they will make a thread in the Results and Discussions section of the board. All discussion, including reviews, should stay in this thread.

?   Like with all discussions regarding submissions, criticism will remain civil and constructive.

?   If you're a lurker on the board and would like to participate, you'll need to register for an account so that you can send contest coordinators your stories. I check the pending accounts daily, so if you don't immediately get accepted, just give me about 24 hours and I'll have you approved.

?   If you have any suggestions for future prompts, or think you'd like to coordinate one, you can send me a private message. I'm open to all suggestions regarding the content of these contests, as well as how they function.

Rules for Coordinators

?   How you run your contest is up to you, however I would advise you to include some form of word count limit in regards to submissions and for it to be no longer than 2000 words- and that's of course, only if you think you can manage it. 2000 words doesn't sound like much, but with the potential to get anywhere from 10-15 applicants, it can add up very fast and become overwhelming.

?   Try to keep the time frame of your contests consistent and well organized. Things come up, and sometimes there are delays, but a contest should never go longer than 40 days. Deadlines, rules, word counts, and of course, the prompt, are all your jurisdiction however. Lay it out however you like.

?   A Mini-Contest will never take place in the same month that a Redwall Survivor is accepting applications. In the event that the scheduling overlaps with these periods, then we will push the Mini-Contest to the month following when applications are closed.

?   In order to keep results as organized as possible, please post them using the new spoiler tags I've installed on the forum. This will allow you to make it so that your results don't require much scrolling to go through, will make them more organized, and may even add a little bit of drama to the participants when they check to see if they made it :P Here's an example of what I mean-

Submission 1-
[spoiler]This is where the body of the first submission would go.[/spoiler]

Submission 2-
[spoiler]This is where the body of the second submission would go.[/spoiler]

and so on.

?   Lastly, please include a link to this topic when you post your prompt, as there is important information in here and I don't think it practical to have to constantly copy and paste these rules into every prompt.



Welp, that's about all there is to it. Remember that we all want to improve our writing craft, so let's all put our best effort into these, and provide great feedback for one another. I look forward to reading all your submissions :)