Hold on to your hats! There are 220 stories coming your way! That's a lot of flash fiction, more than any of our sister podcasts have had in Contest V, and more than Podcastle had in Contest IV. We also have two stories with the exact same title, which I think is a first. So be on the lookout for that, I guess. It might be awkward if they both get to the finals.
The first group will be posted on May 15th, and new groups will be posted every two days thereafter. 16 groups in all! Each to have 13-14 stories. Groups were generated randomly, without regard for when a story was received or who submitted it. Voting for each group lasts 7 days. Three winners from each group go to the Semifinals. After a group closes, authors will be revealed for all eliminated stories.
You will vote for up to 3 stories in each group. You do not have to vote for any and you can vote for fewer than three, but you are limited to three votes per group.
The semifinals start June 22 (hopefully). There will be 4 semifinal groups, each with 12 stories (at least). A new group will be posted every day. Three stories from each group will advance to the finals. Each semifinal group will also be available for a week. Each group will be seeded with approximately equal amounts of first, second, and third place winners from random groups. No story will be in the same semifinal as other stories from its original group.
The final round will be from July 3-10.
Ties:
- If there is a two-way or more tie for third place both stories will ascend, resulting in an extra story in the next round.
- If there is a tie for third place in the final round, the editorial staff will offer a contract to all the tied stories; if this is considered unfeasible (say, there's a 5-way tie), then there will be a tiebreaker round.
The full schedule is posted at the bottom of this post, after the contest voting rules.
VOTING RULES:
1. This contest is being run by me, Ocicat, Podcastle forum moderator. If needed, other forum moderators or editors may be brought in, and that will be announced. If one of the moderators submitted an entry, they will not use any of their moderator abilities in the contest forums without disqualifying their entry.
2. Stories will be posted anonymously. Authors will be revealed after their story either loses or wins the contest. If we discover that an author has revealed their authorship of a story before it is allowed (in the contest threads or elsewhere), that is grounds for disqualification of the story. The contest is to be won on the merits of the story, not the popularity of the author. Please do not try to guess at the authors, at least publicly. Those posts will be deleted and the poster will be warned. As an author, please do not try to garner outside support through blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc. - please just link to the contest in general, not your own story. It is very easy to see when something dubious is going on with the voting.
3. As always, constructive discussion is encouraged about all stories posted in this contest. The key word here is constructive. Normal forum rules remain in place. Be civil and respectful. That's our one rule. Rude and nonconstructive negativity will be deleted or edited, and the offending poster will be warned. This goes for authors as well. You are free to comment on any story, including your own (without revealing that it's yours, of course), but keep it civil and respectful. I reserve the right to kick any author and their stories out of the contest should there be ample reason.
4. Creating multiple accounts to vote for a story will get you banned from the forums and your story kicked from the contest. If you are sharing a computer, living space, or router with someone else who will be voting or creating an account, make sure to message me. Failure to do so may result in various adverse effects such as account deletion and/or banning.
5. It is perfectly fine to vote for your own story. In fact, we encourage all authors to do so because that levels the playing field. Only avoid voting for your own story if you genuinely believe other stories should win over it, not just to be polite, please.
Please watch out for voting fatigue. This is going to last nearly two months, and the first month will have 13-14 stories posted every other day. That's about 3,000 words a day. If you can't vote in every group, don't. But don't let that stop you from voting again in later groups, or coming back for the semifinals or finals.
VOTING SCHEDULE:
Group voting will usually start in the early AM of the day, Pacific Time zone. But there are no guarantees.
Group 1: May 15-22
Group 2: May 17-24
Group 3: May 19-26
Group 4: May 21-28
Group 5: May 23-30
Group 6: May 25-June 1
Group 7: May 27-June 3
Group 8: May 29-June 5
Group 9: May 31-June 7
Group 10: June 2-9
Group 11: June 4-11
Group 12: June 6-13
Group 13: June 8-15
Group 14: June 10-17
Group 15: June 12-19
Group 16: June 14-21
Forums were down for a bit, dates re-adjusted:
Semifinal A:
June 22-29 June 25-July 2
Semifinal B:
June 23-30 June 26-July 3
Semifinal C:
June 24-July 1 June 27-July 4
Semifinal D:
June 25-July 2 June 28-July 5
Final:
July 3-10 July 6-13