official READ THESE RULES & ANNOUNCEMENTS for the 2015 Top Sims Contest

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

Welcome to Top Sims Contest of 2015! All announcements for the entire 2015 contest will be posted in this thread.

The Top Sims contest allows members of our fleet to be recognized by their peers for superior writing ability. Unlike the Writing Challenges, this contest allows only sims that have been used in a current plot to be considered.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

• You can submit ANY sim -- from your ship, or another ship. You can submit your own sims if you wish. All sims are welcome, including staff (Captain, First Officer, etc.) sims.
• The sim must be written with good spelling, good grammar, and be in the correct format. Poorly structured sims will be disqualified.
• When a sim is submitted, it must have been created within the current submission period, or the previously lapsed submission period. Put another way: do not sims which are any older than a month.
• Submitted sims may not have any open dialogue tags. (i.e.: [respond here]) All dialogue in the sim must be filled in. (Just find the responding author's sim and fill in the blanks.)
• Sims must not include any "canon" characters. (i.e.- no characters who have appeared onscreen.)

Please find a balance between nominating too many, or too few sims. Don't submit every good sim -- instead, post every great sim!

Encourage your fellow crew-mates to submit at least a few sims a year. If you want your crew-mates to win more, you have to nominate the best sims, and encourage others to write higher quality sims!

HOW TO SUBMIT A SIM

First: Click the "Start New Topic" button. The format of the topic title should be as follows: "Character - Sim Title"

• For example: "LtJG Tristan Wolf - Everywhere you go, there you are"
• Note: Please do not clutter the topic title with an endless list of NPC or PNPC names or "JP" designations. Instead, simply include the primary character's rank and name. If it's a joint post, just include both rank and names -- no need to include the "JP" in there.

Second: Choose from the "Topic Prefix" box the correct round number. (To check what round we're currently in, see the contest calendar below.)

Third: Copy into the message box the complete sim. You don't need to worry about column width.

Check to make sure that the sim is readable. You can click the "Edit" button to fix any issues, but don't delay -- you'll be barred from editing the post after 60 minutes.

COMMENTING ON A SIM

Everyone is welcome to comment on submitted sims. If you're going to provide constructive criticism, you are required to employ the "hamburger" criticism method: first, mention something you like; second, something you didn't like; third, something else you liked. If you just want to provide praise, no hamburger method required!

Commenters who are rude, unfair, or overzealous in their commenting will be barred from future comments in the contest forum, and will have their actions brought to the attention of their CO.

CONTEST CALENDAR

Set 1, 2015

• Round 1, 2015 submissions: Monday, November 3 to Sunday, November 16, 2014
• Round 2, 2015 submissions: Monday, November 17 to Sunday, November 30, 2014
• Round 3, 2015 submissions: Monday, December 1 to Sunday, December 14, 2014
• Round 4, 2015 submissions: Monday, December 15 to Sunday, December 28, 2014
• Round 5, 2015 submissions: Monday, December 29 to Sunday, January 11, 2015
• Round 6, 2015 submissions: Monday, January 12 to Sunday, January 25, 2015
• Run-off Round 1: Monday, February 2nd to Sunday, March 15

Set 2

• Round 7, 2015 submission: Monday, January 27 to Sunday, February 8
• Round 8, 2015 submission: Monday, February 9 to Sunday, February 22
• Round 9, 2015 submission: Monday, February 23 to Sunday, March 8
• Round 10, 2015 submission: Monday, March 9 to Sunday, March 22
• Round 11, 2015 submission: Monday, March 23 to Sunday, April 5
• Round 12, 2015 submission: Monday, April 6 to Sunday, April 19
• Round 13, 2015 submission: Monday, April 20 to Sunday, May 3
• Run-off Round 2: Monday, May 11 to Sunday, June 28

Set 3

• Round 14, 2015 submission: Monday, May 4 to Sunday, May 17
• Round 15, 2015 submission: Monday, May 18 to Sunday, May 31
• Round 16, 2015 submission: Monday, June 1 to Sunday, June 14
• Round 17, 2015 submission: Monday, June 15 to Sunday, June 28
• Round 18, 2015 submission: Monday, June 29 to Sunday, July 12
• Round 19, 2015 submission: Monday, July 13 to Sunday, July 26
• Round 20, 2015 submission: Monday, July 27 to Sunday, August 9
• Run-off Round 3: Monday, August 17 to Sunday, September 27

Set 4

• Round 21, 2015 submission: Monday, August 10 to Sunday, August 23
• Round 22, 2015 submission: Monday, August 24 to Sunday, September 6
• Round 23, 2015 submission: Monday, September 7 to Sunday, September 20
• Round 24, 2015 submission: Monday, September 21 to Sunday, October 4
• Round 25, 2015 submission: Monday, October 5 to Sunday, October 18
• Round 26, 2015 submission: Monday, October 19 to Sunday, November 1
• Run-off Round 4: Monday, November 2 to Sunday, December 6

FINAL RUN-OFF OF 2015: Monday, December 7 to Sunday, December 27 - this run-off selects the Top Sim of 2015.

Set 1, 2016 Contest

• Round 1, 2016 submissions: Monday, November 2 to Sunday, November 15
• Round 2, 2016 submissions: Monday, November 16 to Sunday, November 29
• Round 3, 2016 submissions: Monday, November 30 to Sunday, December 13
• Round 4, 2016 submissions: Monday, December 14 to Sunday, December 27
• Round 5, 2016 submissions: Monday, December 28 to Sunday, January 10
• Round 6, 2016 submissions: Monday, January 11 to Sunday, January 24
• Run-off Round 1: Monday, January 25 to Sunday, February 21

Edited March 19, 2015 by FltAdml. Wolf

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

HOW VOTING WORKS
There are two types of voting in this contest: member voting and judges voting.

• After each round of submissions, all the sims from that round are voted-on by a panel of judges. The winning sim from each round of judges voting then proceeds to a run-off round.
• Run-off rounds are open to all members for voting. The winning sim from each run-off round proceeds to the final round.
• The final round is open to all members for voting. For a sim to win the final round, at least 20% of the voters for that sim must be from a ship other than the ship it originated from.

HOW THE JUDGES PANEL WORKS
The judges panel is comprised of one member from each ship.

• Judges are free to resign from the panel at any time or be switched-out but are expected to judge for a full "Set" (see the Contest Calendar).
• At the end of each Set, Captains will be encouraged to review their ship's judge.
• A judge's "term" lasts for three sets, after which they must be switched with a new judge from the crew. After a judge's term is over, and a new judge has been selected and served for at least one term, the previous judge is again eligible to begin a new term.
• Judges can be of any rank, as long as they are able to demonstrate a basic grasp of good simming skills.
• Each ship's Captain appoints the judge from their ship, but they are free to use whatever method they deem appropriate to select that judge. They can select themselves as the judge.

Judges use a ranked voting method called Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). For more information about IRV, see the Wikipedia page.

When voting, judges are not permitted to vote in the top slot the sim from their crew. This ensures that judges are not favoring their own crew's sims. They can still choose their ship's sim in the second slot or lower.

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

Winners for Set 1, 2015:

• Round 1: Leland Bishop: "Admiral Nibbles"
• Round 2: Tracey Townson: "Awaiting Deception" – SET 1 WINNER
• Round 3: Aralo Onil (PNPC): "Everything"
• Round 4: Raj Blueheart & Emerson Ravenscroft - "Photograph, An Alternate Tale"
• Round 5: Kalianna Nicholotti: "Recollections"
• Round 6: Talisa zh'Eriss & Michael Jellico (PNCP) "Transfer Request"
• Set 1 winner: Tracey Townson: "Awaiting Deception"

Winners for Set 2, 2015:

• Round 7: Saveron & Alora DeVeau: "Sad Songs Say So Much" – SET 2 WINNER
• Round 8: Zayar Feraoun, "They Were Here First"
• Round 9: Tyr Waltas: "Hearts I Leave Behind"
• Round 10: T'Mar & Liam Frost, "Changing of the Guard"
• Round 11: Surem (PNPC), "Better This Way"
• Round 12: John Valdivia & Raj Blueheart, "Old Friends Are The Best Friends"
• Round 13: Vance Sheridan & Sabina Tiam, "Shadows of the Noguwi"
• Set 2 winner: Saveron & Alora DeVeau: "Sad Songs Say So Much"

Winners for Set 3, 2015:

• ​Round 14: Hannibal Parker, "Cat Food"
• ​Round 15: Sovak, "Taarikh"
• ​Round 16: Maxwell Traenor & Noros (PNPC), "Max" – SET 3 WINNER
• ​Round 17: Aron Kells, "Turn and face the strange"
• ​Round 18: Kalianna Nicholotti, "Unremembered Familiarity"
• ​Round 19: Kellan Joran & Ashley Yael, "Regularly Scheduled Support"
• ​Round 20: Seth Ralston (NPC), "Showtime"
• Set 3 winner: Maxwell Traenor & Noros (PNPC), "Max"

Winners for Set 4, 2015:

• ​Round 21: Charlotte deBarres, "Bird Droppings"
• ​Round 22: Didrik Stennes, "Contrition Vol. 1"
• ​Round 23: Ceilidh Riverview, "The power of memory"
• ​Round 24: Alora DeVeau & Saveron, "Where Vulcan Flowers Grow" - SET 4 WINNER
• ​Round 25: Hannibal Parker, "Recognition, Resignation"
• ​Round 26: Wyn Foster, "What Friends are For"
• Set 4 winner: Alora DeVeau & Saveron, "Where Vulcan Flowers Grow"

Edited December 7, 2015 by FltAdml. Wolf
Updating with Set 4 winner.

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

Judges for Set 2:

• Apollo: Sinda Essen
• Atlantis: T'Var Helling
• Columbia: Brek
• Constitution: Cerissa Tyren
• Darwin: Kael Thomas
• Embassy: Hannibal Parker
• Excalibur: Irina Pavlova
• Garuda: Evan Delano
• Gemini: Alexander Richards
• SB118 Ops: Kaitlyn Falcon
• Victory: Ayiana Sevo

Judges for Set 3:

• Apollo: Sinda Essen
• Atlantis: T'Var Helling
• Columbia: Brek
• Constitution: Shelther Faranster
• Darwin: Kael Thomas
• Embassy: Hannibal Parker
• Garuda: Raissa Moonsong
• Gemini: Alexander Richards
• SB118 Ops: Kaitlyn Falcon
• Victory: Ayiana Sevo

Judges for Set 4:

• Apollo: T'Var Helling
• Avandar: Mary Fenelli
• Columbia: Brek
• Constitution: Sinda Essen
• Darwin: Kael Thomas
• Doyle: Sabrina Holly
• Embassy: Hannibal Parker
• Gorkon: Ayiana Sevo
• Invicta: Alora DeVeau
• SB118 Ops: Kaitlyn Falcon

Judges for Set 1, 2016:

• Apollo: Rune Jolara
• Constitution: Rustyy Hael
• Darwin: Maxwell Traenor
• Doyle: Sabrina Holly
• Embassy: Anora Manar
• Gorkon: Jansen Orrey
• Invicta: Alora DeVeau
• SB118 Ops: Trellis Vondaryan

Edited November 14, 2015 by FltAdml. Wolf

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

Reminder from the rules above about submitting sims:

Please do not clutter the topic title with an endless list of NPC or PNPC names or "JP" designations. Instead, simply include the primary character's rank and name. If it's a joint post, just include both rank and names -- no need to include the "JP" in there.

Thank you!

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

Just a reminder that Round 1 of 2016 starts tomorrow. Please use the Round 1 tag on your submitted sims, per the calendar above.

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

Congratulations to Alora DeVeau & Saveron! Their sim "Where Vulcan Flowers Grow" has won the title of Top Sim of 2015!