Author Topic: Voting Rules and Schedule  (Read 5285 times)

darusha

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on: April 16, 2020, 09:49:05 PM
The Escape Pod Flash Fiction Contest 2020 will be starting its voting period on April 27, 2020. We received a total of 224 submissions.

The stories have been split into 22 groups; 4 with 11 stories and 18 with 10 stories. Stories are assigned to the groups randomly; authors will not be informed in advance in which group their story appears.

The top three winners of each group will go on the semi-final round, where there will be 6 groups of 11 stories each.

The top three stories in each semi-final group will go to the final round, where there will be one group of 18 stories. The top three stories in this group will be the overall winners.

In any of the groups, if there is a tie for third place, the tied stories will all ascend to the next round. If there is a tie in the final round, the editorial staff will decide whether to consider all tied stories as winners or whether to hold a tie-breaker round.

In each group, you may pick up to 3 stories.  You may vote for fewer than 3.


VOTING RULES:

1. This contest is being run by me, Darusha Wehm. If needed, other forum moderators 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 of the stories that did not advance will be revealed at the end of each stage. All author names will be revealed at the end of the contest. Please do not try to publicly guess at the identities of the authors. 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. 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.

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 comments and unconstructive negativity will be deleted or edited, and the offending poster will be warned. Repeated poor behaviour could result in being banned from the forums and/or your story being removed from the contest.

4. Creating multiple accounts to vote for a story will get you banned from the forums and your story removed 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 read and re-read these rules before asking questions.

VOTING SCHEDULE:

Polls should open and close just after midnight UTC on the dates below. Each group will be open for voting for a week. A new group will open each day, for example:

Group 1 will open Mon, Apr 27, 2020 and close Mon, May 4, 2020     

Group 22 will open Mon, May 18, 2020 and close Mon, May 25, 2020 

The semi-final groups will be posted on Wed, May 27, 2020 close Wed, Jun 3, 2020.

The final group will start at Fri, Jun 5, 2020 close Fri, Jun 12, 2020.

Happy reading!



raroyce

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Reply #1 on: April 17, 2020, 11:35:02 PM
Hello. Looking forward to this.

;0


falynn

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Reply #2 on: April 22, 2020, 08:36:33 PM
Looking forward to reading some great stories!



jordanshiveley

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Reply #3 on: April 23, 2020, 08:20:03 PM
Is just saying on twitter "I entered the EP FF contest" considered cheating?

I write and design things. Sometimes they make sense.


Ocicat

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Reply #4 on: April 24, 2020, 05:03:15 AM
No, that's encouraged so long as you don't give any hints as to what your story is about, or what group it's in. Posting about it is fine before or on April 27th. After that it's discouraged before the semifinals. Unless that is that you post about every single group that's relased. That's actually cool.



ironblade

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Reply #5 on: April 26, 2020, 04:07:30 PM
Looking forward to it!



FictionPhial

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Reply #6 on: April 26, 2020, 08:37:42 PM
Yay! So excited for this tomorrow!  :D

"You should promise to do the impossible, because sometimes the impossible was possible, if you could find the right way, and at least you could often extend the limits of the possible.  And if you failed, well, it had been impossible." -- Going Postal


VSHarriman

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Reply #7 on: April 27, 2020, 11:57:15 AM
So where are the stories?



Languorous Lass

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Reply #8 on: April 27, 2020, 12:46:58 PM
So where are the stories?

Look under “Child Boards.”  You should be able to see “Group 1.”  If you can’t, post a message in the thread that asks you to post if you can’t see the story groups.



Melanie77

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Reply #9 on: May 01, 2020, 06:23:10 PM
Posting as suggested



zmbchsr

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Reply #10 on: May 01, 2020, 06:55:01 PM
 :)



Pamela

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Reply #11 on: May 01, 2020, 08:34:37 PM
Looking forward to reading the stories!



jordanshiveley

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Reply #12 on: May 01, 2020, 11:10:12 PM
Obviously, there is no right or wrong way to run this contest, and I am grateful the organizers are taking time out of their lives to do the UNPAID labor of running something like this. As a writer however I would much prefer to know if I'm making it out of the round my story is in when that round is over instead of agonizing over it for weeks and weeks? Just my two cents. Knowing I was knocked out would actually let me enjoy the other stories more fully.

I write and design things. Sometimes they make sense.


Wouter Bjerg

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Reply #13 on: May 05, 2020, 05:57:52 AM
Dang, I'm running late on these!
I've been taking my time reading a few stories every day, and just finished the last two in group 1, but voting has already closed! I guess I should really set some time apart to read a whole group in one sitting and then vote, each day.



ZalphaPrime

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Reply #14 on: May 09, 2020, 05:41:58 PM
Can't find mine.  :(



MBarnicle

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Reply #15 on: May 09, 2020, 06:41:18 PM
10-11 stories are being posted per day; there are nine more groups yet to appear, so 90ish stories have not been posted yet! :)



ZalphaPrime

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Reply #16 on: May 10, 2020, 05:28:14 PM
Cool! Thanks!  :D



Unblinking

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Reply #17 on: May 11, 2020, 12:50:00 PM
Obviously, there is no right or wrong way to run this contest, and I am grateful the organizers are taking time out of their lives to do the UNPAID labor of running something like this. As a writer however I would much prefer to know if I'm making it out of the round my story is in when that round is over instead of agonizing over it for weeks and weeks? Just my two cents. Knowing I was knocked out would actually let me enjoy the other stories more fully.

Results have been revealed as soon as the voting for a round is over, right?  So you should know whether it's advancing or not as soon as voting is over, unless i'm missing something.  :)



jordanshiveley

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Reply #18 on: May 12, 2020, 02:15:22 AM
It would seem the post I was replying to has been deleted

I write and design things. Sometimes they make sense.


mdouglaswhite

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Reply #19 on: May 12, 2020, 07:15:24 PM
Apologies if this information is elsewhere, but I cannot seem to find it. If a writer has a story currently in the Flash Fiction contest, are they still able to submit a different story to the general Escape Pod submissions portal? Or would this run afoul of Escape Pod's rule against multiple submissions? I ask because Escape Pod's general submissions will close on May 31 for a hiatus, and I am considering submitting a new story there before the deadline. Thanks! And thank you for all of the work going into this contest—I am loooving the opportunity to read so many unique flash fiction stories here :)



Wouter Bjerg

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Reply #20 on: May 12, 2020, 09:09:53 PM
Apologies if this information is elsewhere, but I cannot seem to find it. If a writer has a story currently in the Flash Fiction contest, are they still able to submit a different story to the general Escape Pod submissions portal? Or would this run afoul of Escape Pod's rule against multiple submissions? I ask because Escape Pod's general submissions will close on May 31 for a hiatus, and I am considering submitting a new story there before the deadline. Thanks! And thank you for all of the work going into this contest—I am loooving the opportunity to read so many unique flash fiction stories here :)

I believe the rules only apply to the specific story in question. They do not restrict other work from the same author (you) to be posted or submitted anywhere else, so go for it!



darusha

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Reply #21 on: May 13, 2020, 12:11:59 AM
If a writer has a story currently in the Flash Fiction contest, are they still able to submit a different story to the general Escape Pod submissions portal?

I can confirm that authors with stories in the contest can also submit a different story to the regular Escape Pod submissions queue.



darusha

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Reply #22 on: May 27, 2020, 12:12:58 AM
Voting is now open for the semi-final round of our flash fiction contest!

Semi-final voting will run from Wed, May 27, 2020 and close Wed, Jun 3, 2020 (shortly after midnight UTC).



darusha

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Reply #23 on: June 04, 2020, 11:51:02 PM
We’re down to the final twenty stories in the flash fiction contest! Final voting will run from roughly midnight Fri, Jun 5, 2020 UTC and close a week later on Fri, Jun 12, 2020.

The top three stories will be crowned the winners of the contest.