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 Contests & Activities: December 31, 1969 Issue [#187] |
| Subject: [NEWSLETTER] Contests ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Contests This week: Edited by: sensityMore Newsletters By This Editor  ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** 1. About this Newsletter 2. A Word from our Sponsor 3. Letter from the Editor 4. Editor's Picks 5. A Word from Writing.Com 6. Ask & Answer 7. Removal instructions ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Newsletters in general provide some great reading, both from the selected links to Writing.Com members' items and from the informative help and advice given in the editorials. The Contest Newsletter is your portal to understanding the mechanics involved with the contests. Even though some of the links may have become invalid, previous editions of each newsletter still provide useful tips and advice that you might have forgotten. Take a search through them whenver you get a chance. You might find the exact information or incentive you need to go forward with an idea you've had or write an entry you've been thinking about. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only **  ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** QUESTIONS CONCERNING CONTESTS Welcome!  First, we'll tackle the BIG question: should you have a contest?Since there are only three answers to this (yes, no, I don't know/maybe), I'll say a few words about the "I don't know" one by giving a few positives and negatives that might help you decide. Positives: They're fun, interesting, a great way to meet more Writing.Com members, a great way to reward and acknowledge members, and they provide some really good reading. Negatives: They can be time-consuming, irritating whenever the guidelines aren't followed, a challenge when you can't decide which entry is the best because several possibly could be, and they can be frustrating if you've advertised it all over the place and still only receive a few entries instead of what you might have been expecting.  What kind of contest should you have?There are several types, so it's really up to you as to which you would enjoy the most. (1) Fiction (2) Poetry (3) Prose (not quite fiction or poetry) (4) Non-fiction (5) Image (members create sigs or images for specific items and reasons) (6) A combination (accepting fiction, prose, poetry and non-fiction or any combination of two of these) (7) Genre (accepting only a specific genre such as mystery, romance, comedy, etc.) (8) Ones using prompts (words, phrases, beginning/ending, or scenarios that members have to incorporate into their entries) Should you use prompts? Prompts offer one of the most overall enjoyable reading (and possibly writing) experiences for a contest host and judge(s). It's fascinating to see how many different writings evolve from a simple list of words or scenario you ask members to write around. The most interesting one (IMO) is offering a beginning and ending and asking members to fill in the rest.  Can you finance the contest?Prizes can be in the form of gift points, sigs, upgrades, Merit Badges, Awardicons, reviews or any combination of these. They can also be items that are mailed to the winner(s). You can ask for donations, which might help to increase the quality and number of prizes to be awarded, however, that can be tricky if (for whatever reason) you don't receive any. It's for this reason that before you create a contest, at least a grand prize should already be available and ready to send. Unfortunately, there is never a certainty that you'll receive donations for your contest. However, there is another aspect to this. Afterall, these two polls ("Invalid Item" and "Invalid Item" ) showed that several members considered the main reason for entering a contest was for the challenge and experience it profided. So, it doesn't take an enormous amount of gift points or prizes to have a great contest...just give them a unique and challenging writing experience.   Should you judge the contest yourself? Invite several others to judge? Judge it along with the others?Sometimes it might be easier and quicker to decide the winners yourself. Sometimes it's more fun to have other members' opinions and help. Having judges adds a few more variables to the formula for hosting a contest: (1) there possibly could be delays in the process if one or more judges don't log in or don't get back to you with their choices, (2) the winners chosen by the judges differ greatly from the ones you thought should win. However, there is a solution to each of these two negatives: (1) a judges' deadline could be set and the contest judged by that deadline, regardless of any absent submissions, (2) accept that "the judges have spoken" and that's what you asked them to do. Afterall, not everyone is going to agree with you, nor should they. Good judges can be a great asset to a contest. How should the judges let you know of their decisions?There are several ways of accomplishing this: (1) each judge emails their choices to you and the other judges or just to you, (2) you create a temporary judges' group and a group message forum if it's a one-time contest and a more permanent group and forum if it's to be an on-going contest, so you and the judges can communicate (3) you create a survey, list all the qualifying entries and have the judges choose their winners and submit them to you. Two of these methods are private (only between you and each separate judge), and two are shared between you and all the judges. How do I combine the judges' decisions to determine the final winners?One method is to eliminate all entries not selected by a judge. Then find the entry that was chosen by the most judges and declare it to be the "grand prize" winner, and go down the scale using that method for selecting the other winners. (If an entry was chosen by one judge for third place, by another judge for grand prize and not at all by another judge, but no other entry was chosen by two out of the three judges, then it would be the "grand prize" winner.) This works under ideal conditions, otherwise, this method won't be the one you'll want to use. Another method is to have the judges rate each entry from 1 to 10, using decimals also (4.5, 8.9, 7.3, etc.). Add each entry's final score and the one with the highest is "grand prize". Then go down the scale for determining the other winners. This is usually a good method because of the decimals used. It narrows the selections quite well and the winning line-up is usually evident. As far as methods for judging are concerned, there can be any number of ways of accomplishing it. It depends on what is preferred. Where can you find someone to make an image for the contest intro?One way is to search the "C-Note" area. Chances are that whoever has created them, also might create images for members. Several have "sig shops" in their portfolios.  How can you have a visually creative intro if you don't have an upgraded membership?This was covered in one of my earlier editions. Use Writing.com ML tags to enhance your contest's intro. Should you delete disqualified entries?Some hosts do and some hosts leave them. Most hosts (I'm assuming) have a "final" list of "quick links" to all the qualifying entries (links compiled in a row, either posted in a message in the contest forum, in the intro of the judges' group forum, or in a private (or public) static item. This really helps when you're undecided about which entry should win. It also puts all the qualifying ones together (less confusion). Should you allow posting entries directly in a message in the contest forum?Some hosts do. Most hosts don't. Allowing it gives members without upgrades a chance to not have to use their item limit for a contest entry. But if you don't have the opportunity to check on the entries often, some might be posted that warrant a higher rating than what you've given your contest (a "GC" entry and your contest is rated "E", etc.). Should you read/rate/review each entry? Anonymously?All entries obviously should be read! And, while you might not have the time to give an indepth review, it's only right that you rate it and send comments when entries are read. (Although, along the contest route, I think I somehow missed maybe two entries...read them, but was interrupted offline and didn't send the rate/reviews.) As for sending the rate/reviews anonymously, in the beginning I considered that because I didn't want members to get their hopes up of winning if I liked an entry and gave it a really good review. It's got to be at least a little disappointing for a host/judge to really like your entry, only to discover later than other ones won. But, finally, I opted to go ahead and send rate/reviews as I would if it they were any other items on Writing.Com. Besides, even though I understand there might be times when someone would want to do something anonymously, it's not one of my favorite words. Should you notify winners and give out prizes before or after announcing winners in the contest forum?That's another one of those "host's preference" questions. It seems easier for me to announce them first in the contest forum and then notify each winner by email and send the prizes. But whichever way works for you is fine, as long as their notified. As you can see by the options available, contests are flexible. As you can also see, contests are not always that simple, especially the first one, but I hope this helps. Taking a glance at past editorials is also a good idea. Or emailing any questions you might have to me or any of the other Contest Newsletter editors might help as well. Have fun and Happy Contesting. "Invalid Item" "THE CONTEST" is a competition for all cases, all genres, and all stories and poems that are 25K and under, with a rating of 18+ or under. This past round's winners will be announced (along with the newest round's winners) in my next edition. This newsletter has been previously written and submitted in case I was unable to submit one for my regularly scheduled edition. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** CONTESTS DAILY
WEEKLY
MONTHLY
Submit an item for consideration in this newsletter! http://www.Writing.Com/main/newsletters.php?action=nli_form ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter! http://www.Writing.Com/main/newsletters.php?action=nli_form Don't forget to support our sponsor! InstantPublisher.Com: Self publishing made easy and affordable. All file types accepted with many options. Starting at $100 for 25 copies in 7-10 days! Visit us today! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** If you have any questions or comments, please email me or one of the other Contests Newsletter editors: pam1146 laurencia janie Have a question or comment for the Editor? http://www.Writing.Com/main/newsletters.php?action=nli_form ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** To stop receiving this newsletter, go into your account and remove the check from the box beside the specific topic. Be sure to click "Complete Edit" or it will not save your changes. |
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