official 2014 Top Sims Contest Rules & Announcements

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

Welcome to Top Sims Contest of 2014! All announcements for the entire 2014 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 -- the window to open a post closes after a short while.


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, 2014

• Round 1, 2014 submissions: Monday, November 4 to Sunday, November 17
• Round 2, 2014 submissions: Monday, November 18 to Sunday, December 1
• Round 3, 2014 submissions: Monday, December 2 to Sunday, December 15
• Round 4, 2014 submissions: Monday, December 16 to Sunday, December 29
• Round 5, 2014 submissions: Monday, December 30 to Sunday, January 12
• Round 6, 2014 submissions: Monday, January 13 to Sunday, January 26
• Run-off Round 1: Monday, January 27 to Sunday, February 23

Set 2

• Round 7: Monday, January 27 to Sunday, February 9
• Round 8: Monday, February 10 to Sunday, February 23
• Round 9: Monday, February 24 to Sunday, March 9
• Round 10: Monday, March 10 to Sunday, March 23
• Round 11: Monday, March 24 to Sunday, April 6
• Round 12: Monday, April 7 to Sunday, April 20
• Round 13: Monday, April 21 to Sunday, May 4
• Run-off Round 2: Monday, May 5 to Sunday, June 1

Set 3

• Round 14: Monday, May 5 to Sunday, May 18
• Round 15: Monday, May 19 to Sunday, June 1
• Round 16: Monday, June 2 to Sunday, June 15
• Round 17: Monday, June 16 to Sunday, June 29
• Round 18: Monday, June 30 to Sunday, July 13
• Round 19: Monday, July 14 to Sunday, July 27
• Round 20: Monday, July 28 to Sunday, August 10
• Run-off Round 3: Monday, August 11 to Sunday, September 7

Set 4

• Round 21: Monday, August 11 to Sunday, August 24
• Round 22: Monday, August 25 to Sunday, September 7
• Round 23: Monday, September 8 to Sunday, September 21
• Round 24: Monday, September 22 to Sunday, October 5
• Round 25: Monday, October 6 to Sunday, October 19
• Round 26: Monday, October 20 to Sunday, November 2
• Run-off Round 4: Monday, November 3 to Sunday, November 30

FINAL RUN-OFF OF 2013: Monday, December 8 to Sunday, December 28 - this run-off selects the Top Sim of 2014.

Set 1, 2015 Contest

• 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

[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]

Judge 1 - Apollo
Judge 2 - Darwin
Judge 3 - Discovery
Judge 4 - SB118
Judge 5 - Embassy
Judge 6 - Garuda
Judge 7 - Excalibur
Judge 8 - Tiger
Judge 9 - Vigilant

Judges panel for Set 1, 2014:

1. T'Mar
2. James
3. Hsina Amman
4. Will Rogers
5. Alucard Vess
6. Kotir Arith
7. Vitor Silveira
8. Alex Blair
9. Leo Handley-Page

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

Winners for Set 1, 2014:

• Round 1: Cade Whitman (PNPC), "I Left My Heart in San Francisco"
• Round 2: Jalana Laxyn, "I am here, don't you hear me?"
• Round 3: Irina Pavlova, "Churches"
• Round 4: Sinda Essen, "Fighting Fire with Fire"
• Round 5: Eyas Wulfantine & Alexander Richards, "Kindred Spirits"
• Round 6: Tyr Waltas, "Confronting The Past"

* Run-off winner for Set 1: Jalana Laxyn, "I am here, don't you hear me?"

Winners for Set 2, 2014:

• Round 7: Aron Kells & Arden Cain: "The Seeker"
• Round 8: Liam Frost & Hsina Amman, "Qualifications"
• Round 9: Tyr Waltas, "Here we go again"
• Round 10: Raj Blueheart, "Dreams Made Of Memories (Part 2)"
• Round 11: Nienne Kenoi, "A Moment Described"
• Round 12: Kalianna Nicholotti, "Legacies"
• Round 13: Eileen McCleran, "When the unknown gets impatient"

* Run-off winner for Set 2: Kalianna Nicholotti, "Legacies"

Winners for Set 3, 2014:

• Round 14: Toni Turner & James, "Dinner"
• Round 15: T'Lea & Dade Adarnis, "A Fitting End"
• Round 16: Tyr Waltas, "When the Demons Come"
• Round 17: Della Vetri & T'Lea, "You're hired, so deal with it."
• Round 18: Alleran Tan, "Missing This"
• Round 19: Quinn Reynolds & Roshanara Rahman, "Explanations, Or the Absence Thereof"
• Round 20: Rode Mitchell, "Memories"

* Run-off winner for Set 3: Della Vetri & T'Lea, "You're hired, so deal with it."

Winners for Set 4, 2014:

• Round 26: Luna Walker, "To Sleep, perchance to nightmare"
• Round 25: Sky Blake & Tristam Core, "A holographic step"
• Round 24: Quinn Reynolds & Alleran Tan, "Symmetry"
• Round 23: Alleran Tan, "The Broken Mirror"
• Round 22: Ben Kaji, "To the Briefing!"
• Round 21: Della Vetri, "Extreme Babysitting"

* Run-off winner for Set 4: Della Vetri, "Extreme Babysitting"

Edited December 10, 2014 by FltAdml. Wolf
Updating with Set 4.

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

We're currently in Round 5.

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

I've updated the list of winners for Sets 1 and 2.

Run-off Round 2 is open -- vote now!

The contest is currently in Round 15.

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

I've updated the list of winners to include Set 3, and the run-off winner from this set: Della Vetri & T'Lea, "You're hired, so deal with it."

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

REMINDER: Today starts Round 1, 2015!