2012 Top Sims Contest Rules & Announcements

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

Welcome to Top Sims Contest of 2012! All announcements for the entire 2012 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 ineligible.
  
• 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!

Also 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

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

NOTES:

• Use the "Prefix" drop-down to select the round you're submitting for.
  
• 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.
  

COMMENTING

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.

ABOUT THE VOTING

After each round, we'll set up a vote on which of those sims deserves to go to the semi-finals. There are 3 semi-finals rounds. Semi-finals are judged by a group of staff. The top sim from each semi-final goes on to the final round to be voted-on by everyone.

Please vote on sims, and encourage your crew to do the same. But remember: this is NOT a popularity contest. We welcome submissions of your crewmate's sims, but ALL sims should be rated based on their MERIT, and NOT the fact that someone is your crewmate. Any crews found "stuffing the ballots" or ratings, will be disqualified PERMANENTLY - yes, that means the whole crew!

If there is a tie vote, those two sims will continue to the next round of voting for a run-off.

For a vote to win the final round, at least 10% of its votes must come from a ship other than the one the sim was created on.

CONTEST CALENDAR

Each round has two parts: submission period and voting period. Each period of the round lasts two weeks.

Round 1:

Submissions: through 01-05

Voting: Tue 02-07 to Sun 02-19

Round 2:

Submissions: 01-06 to Sun 02-19

Voting: Mon 02-20 to Sun 03-04

Round 3:

Submissions: Mon 02-20 to Sun 03-04

Voting: Mon 03-05 to Sun 03-18

Round 4:

Submissions: Mon 03-05 to Sun 03-18

Voting: Mon 03-19 to Sun 04-01

Round 5:

Submissions: Mon 03-19 to Sun 04-01

Voting: Mon 04-02 to Sun 04-15

Run-off Round 1 (Staff Judges Voting)

Includes: Rounds 1-5

Voting: Mon 04-16 to Sun 04-29

Round 6:

Submissions: Mon 04-02 to Sun 04-15

Voting: Mon 04-16 to Sun 04-29

Round 7:

Submissions: Mon 04-16 to Sun 04-29

Voting: Mon 04-30 to Sun 05-13

Round 8:

Submissions: Mon 04-30 to Sun 05-13

Voting: Mon 05-14 to Sun 05-27

Round 9:

Submissions: Mon 05-14 to Sun 05-27

Voting: Mon 05-28 to Sun 06-10

Round 10:

Submissions: Mon 05-28 to Sun 06-10

Voting: Mon 06-11 to Sun 06-24

Round 11:

Submissions: Mon 06-11 to Sun 06-24

Voting: Mon 06-25 to Sun 07-08

Round 12:

Submissions: Mon 06-25 to Sun 07-08

Voting: Mon 07-09 to Sun 07-22

Run-off Round 2 (Staff Judges Voting)

Includes: Rounds 6-12

Voting: Mon 07-23 to Sun 08-05

Round 13:

Submissions: Mon 07-09 to Sun 07-22

Voting: Mon 07-23 to Sun 08-05

Round 14:

Submissions: Mon 07-23 to Sun 08-05

Voting: Mon 08-06 to Sun 08-19

Round 15:

Submissions: Mon 08-06 to Sun 08-19

Voting: Mon 08-20 to Sun 09-02

Round 16:

Submissions: Mon 08-20 to Sun 09-02

Voting: Mon 09-03 to Sun 09-16

Round 17:

Submissions: Mon 09-03 to Sun 09-16

Voting: Mon 09-17 to Sun 09-30

Round 18:

Submissions: Mon 09-17 to Sun 09-30

Voting: Mon 10-01 to Sun 10-14

Round 19:

Submissions: Mon 10-01 to Sun 10-14

Voting: Mon 10-15 to Sun 10-28

Round 20:

Submissions: Mon 10-15 to Sun 10-28

Voting: Mon 10-29 to Sun 11-11

Run-off Round 3 (Staff Judges Voting)

Includes: Rounds 13-20

Voting: Mon 11-12 to Sun 11-25

FINAL ROUND (Membership Voting)

Includes: Winners of Run-off Rounds 1-3

Voting: Mon 11-26 to Wed 12-26

Edited July 26, 2012 by FltAdml. Wolf
Fixing schedule/run-off rounds.

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

We're currently on ROUND 4 of the contest. Please mark any submissions with the "Round 4" prefix.

Also -- Cmdr. Eden Redstone will be taking over leadership of this contest, to help us get back on track!

[+ Roo]

We're now starting Round 5 of the contest. So, please remember to mark your submissions with the "Round 5" Prefix.

Voting is open now through midnight on the 1st of April for Rounds 2 - 4 (which puts us back on track and clears up the backlog).

Sorry for the delay and looking forward to lots of entries going forward.

Good luck to you all,

Roo

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

Hey folks -- there's been a slight mix-up with the schedule. Here's what's going to happen:

1. SUBMISSIONS: We're still accepting Round 7 submissions through April 29th, on schedule.

2. VOTING ON ROUND 6: We'll post a voting thread for Round 6 submissions that will start today or tomorrow and last until May 6th.

3. VOTING ON ROUND 7: Voting for Round 7 submissions will occur on schedule, starting next weekend.

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

Unfortunately, Cmdr. Redstone isn't able to continue as the facilitator here However, Lt. Alleran Tan of the Avandar has volunteered for the position, and will be taking over in the next few days. Everything should remain pretty closely to schedule.

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

I reviewed the rules today and realized that, since we no longer have a Top Sims Contest page on our website (it redirects to here), we were missing some rules which may be helpful to folks. I have added those rules, so I encourage everyone to review them today.

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

We're currently in Round 1 of 2013, from now until December 1.

Starting December 1, all sims should be marked "Round 2."

Starting January 1, 2013 all sims should be marked "Round 3." At that point, we'll post a schedule showing the rounds that follow from there.

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

Run-off, Round 3 winner has been decided by our judges panel: Colt Daniels, "Lost in the Woods"

Congratulations to Lt. Daniels!