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, 2014Round 2, 2015 submissions: Monday, November 17 to Sunday, November 30, 2014Round 3, 2015 submissions: Monday, December 1 to Sunday, December 14, 2014Round 4, 2015 submissions: Monday, December 15 to Sunday, December 28, 2014Round 5, 2015 submissions: Monday, December 29 to Sunday, January 11, 2015Round 6, 2015 submissions: Monday, January 12 to Sunday, January 25, 2015Run-off Round 1: Monday, February 2nd to Sunday, March 15Set 2Round 7, 2015 submission: Monday, January 27 to Sunday, February 8Round 8, 2015 submission: Monday, February 9 to Sunday, February 22Round 9, 2015 submission: Monday, February 23 to Sunday, March 8Round 10, 2015 submission: Monday, March 9 to Sunday, March 22Round 11, 2015 submission: Monday, March 23 to Sunday, April 5Round 12, 2015 submission: Monday, April 6 to Sunday, April 19Round 13, 2015 submission: Monday, April 20 to Sunday, May 3Run-off Round 2: Monday, May 11 to Sunday, June 28Set 3Round 14, 2015 submission: Monday, May 4 to Sunday, May 17Round 15, 2015 submission: Monday, May 18 to Sunday, May 31Round 16, 2015 submission: Monday, June 1 to Sunday, June 14Round 17, 2015 submission: Monday, June 15 to Sunday, June 28Round 18, 2015 submission: Monday, June 29 to Sunday, July 12Round 19, 2015 submission: Monday, July 13 to Sunday, July 26Round 20, 2015 submission: Monday, July 27 to Sunday, August 9Run-off Round 3: Monday, August 17 to Sunday, September 27Set 4Round 21, 2015 submission: Monday, August 10 to Sunday, August 23Round 22, 2015 submission: Monday, August 24 to Sunday, September 6Round 23, 2015 submission: Monday, September 7 to Sunday, September 20Round 24, 2015 submission: Monday, September 21 to Sunday, October 4Round 25, 2015 submission: Monday, October 5 to Sunday, October 18Round 26, 2015 submission: Monday, October 19 to Sunday, November 1Run-off Round 4: Monday, November 2 to Sunday, December 6FINAL 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 15Round 2, 2016 submissions: Monday, November 16 to Sunday, November 29Round 3, 2016 submissions: Monday, November 30 to Sunday, December 13Round 4, 2016 submissions: Monday, December 14 to Sunday, December 27Round 5, 2016 submissions: Monday, December 28 to Sunday, January 10Round 6, 2016 submissions: Monday, January 11 to Sunday, January 24Run-off Round 1: Monday, January 25 to Sunday, February 21