READ THESE RULES & ANNOUNCEMENTS for the 2016 Top Sims Contest

[+ Salkath]

Welcome to Top Sims Contest of 2016! All announcements for the entire 2016 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, 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, February 15 to Sunday, April 3

Set 2, 2016 Contest

• Round 7, 2016 submissions: Monday, January 25 to Sunday, February 7
• Round 8, 2016 submissions: Monday, February 8 to Sunday, February 21
• Round 9, 2016 submissions: Monday, February 22 to Sunday, March 6
• Round 10, 2016 submissions: Monday, March 7 to Sunday, March 20
• Round 11, 2016 submissions: Monday, March 21 to Sunday, April 3
• Round 12, 2016 submissions: Monday, April 4 to Sunday, April 17
• Round 13, 2016 submissions: Monday, April 18 to Sunday, May 1
• Run-off Round 2: Monday, May 2 to Sunday, July 31

Set 3, 2016 Contest

• Round 14, 2016 submissions: Monday, May 2 to Sunday, May 15
• Round 15, 2016 submissions: Monday, May 16 to Sunday, May 29
• Round 16, 2016 submissions: Monday, May 30 to Sunday, June 12
• Round 17, 2016 submissions: Monday, June 13 to Sunday, June 26
• Round 18, 2016 submissions: Monday, June 27 to Sunday, July 10
• Round 19, 2016 submissions: Monday, July 11 to Sunday, July 24
• Round 20, 2016 submissions: Monday, July 25 to Sunday, August 7
• Run-off Round 3: Monday, August 8 to Sunday, October 23

Set 4, 2016 Contest

• Round 21, 2016 submission: Monday, August 8 to Sunday, August 21
• Round 22, 2016 submission: Monday, August 22 to Sunday, September 4
• Round 23, 2016 submission: Monday, September 5 to Sunday, September 18
• Round 24, 2016 submission: Monday, September 19 to Sunday, October 2
• Round 25, 2016 submission: Monday, October 3 to Sunday, October 16
• Round 26, 2016 submission: Monday, October 17 to Sunday, October 30
• Run-off Round 4: Monday, October 31 to Sunday, November 27

FINAL RUN-OFF OF 2015: Monday, November 28 to Sunday, December 25 - this run-off selects the Top Sim of 2016.

Set 1, 2017 Contest

• Round 1, 2017 submissions: Monday, October 31 to Sunday, November 13
• Round 2, 2017 submissions: Monday, November 14 to Sunday, November 27
• Round 3, 2017 submissions: Monday, November 28 to Sunday, December 11
• Round 4, 2017 submissions: Monday, December 12 to Sunday, December 25
• Round 5, 2017 submissions: Monday, December 26 to Sunday, January 8
• Round 6, 2017 submissions: Monday, January 9 to Sunday, January 22
• Run-off Round 1: Monday, January 23 to Sunday, February 19

Many thanks to FltCapt. Renos for putting together the calendar! 

[+ Salkath]

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.

[+ Salkath]

Winners for Set 1, 2015:

• Round 1: Alora DeVeau & Lobo, "Unlikely Fellows"
• Round 2: Renos & Traenor, "Point of View/Pain of View."
• Round 3: Didrik Stennes, "A different calling”
• Round 4: Akeelah D'Sena & Tabitha Gard, "Sleepover"
• Round 5: Merrick R'Ven, "Past Goodbyes"
• Round 6: Safine Tan, "The Room Where I Died"

Winners for Set 2, 2015:

• Round 7:  Captain Shelther Faranster, "Lost Context"
• Round 8:  Cpt Jalana Rajel, "Fear the Reaper"
• Round 9:  Dr Tarna & Iria, "The pain of rejection"
• Round 10:  Lt Commander Falcon/Rhino the hamster, "The New Smell"
• Round 11:  Doctor Saveron, "There, but for the vagaries of chance, go I"
• Round 12:  302nd Tactical Fighter Wing, "New Assignment"
• Round 13:  LtCdr Sinda Essen & LtJG Solaris McLaren, "New Experiences"

Winners for Set 3, 2015:

• Round 14:  Ens Paul Scudder & Ens Savan, "Submitting to the Current of the Godavari"
• Round 15:  Capt Jalana Rajel, "Familiarity"
• Round 16:  Lt Mirra Ezo & Lt Antero Flynn, "Big Trouble in Little Risa"
• Round 17:  P3 Damien Bagwell III & Lt Mirra Ezo, "Fighting fire with...foam?"
• Round 18:  Lt John Valdivia, "Unexpected visit"
• Round 19:  LtCmdr Kaitlyn Falcon & Yillara Khante, "Time to Play"
• Round 20:  Capt Tyr Waltas, "Showdown"

Winners for Set 4, 2015:

• Round 21:  Councillor Dempok, "Ashes and Bone"
• Round 22:  LtCmdrs T'Lea & Rune Jolara, "Defying a Direct Order"
• Round 23:  LtCmdr Kelly, "Man Overboard"
• Round 24:  Lazlo, "Lost Luggage"
• Round 25:  Lt Mirra Ezo, "Big dang heroes sir"
• Round 26:  LtCmdr Sabrina Holly & Cmdr David Cody, "Cooking Lessons & Kitchen Curveballs"