Contest Rules - Comments?
I was thinking of something informal. Some contests in the past have gone to the trouble of making the submittals blind entries and that sort of thing, but I don't think we really need to do that (do we?). I was hoping the contest could be fun and offer a bit of encourage to others to write and complete a short story.
Here were my initial thoughts:
Story requirement: A story with animals as a main element of the story; it could either be a story with an animal(s) as the main character, or about animals, or a story about a person who is somehow changed or affected by an animal(s). The story could be either fiction or nonfiction. The story could be in any genre, just so long as the story has a strong animal theme or presence.
Length of no more than 1500 words.
Three weeks from the start date (TBD) until the close of the contest.
Stories to be posted in Share Your Work. Since there is not a dedicated Writing About Animals sub-forum in SYW, I guess the stories could be posted in Other.
We could either all post in one thread in SYW, or each person could post their story with a thread heading that includes "Animal Story Contest". The entry could also be a link to a story elsewhere, such as a blog or personal website, just so long as the story has not been previously published (in the normal sense of the term).
After all stories have been posted, I could start a thread with a poll here in WAA, and others could vote for whichever story they like best. The voting period would be, say, ten days. Doing the voting by poll would have the advantage of being simple to set up; the disadvantage would be that everyone could see exactly how many votes their story got, or didn't get. A request would be made that no comments about any of the stories be posted until after the contest ends.
Grand prize to be a $25 Amazon gift certificate.
If there are enough entries to justify it, a prize for second and third places could also be awarded.
How does this sound? I'm complete amiable to whatever changes others think would make the contest a success and generate some interest.
I was thinking of entering a story myself, but if anyone thinks that that would somehow be unfair (or that I would get "sympathy votes"), I won't. Since others will be voting on the entries, I don't see a conflict offhand.
And I guess I'd need to get Anne's official blessing for the contest (which probably means I will have to promise not to threaten to eat any delicious parrots for the next few months).
