We received 153 entries, which have been randomly sorted into 12 groups. These will eventually to to three semifinal groups, and then a final group with three winning stories that will be purchased and run on Podcastle.
Voting on each group will last for one week. Each forum member may vote for three stories, and the three stories with the highest vote count will move to the next stage of the contest. Ties may result in additional stories moving forward. Author names will be revealed once a story has been knocked out of the contest.
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.
Semifinal groups 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.
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.
Editorial may decide to buy other stories as well, regardless of how far they progressed in the contest.
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 promote your particular story 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, banning and getting the story you're voting for disqualified.
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.
6. You may not vote for any other story for which you know who the author is (such as if that story was written by a friend or family member).
Please watch out for voting fatigue. This is going to last nearly two months, and the first month will have 12-13 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: April 7-14
Group 2: April 9-16
Group 3: April 11-18
Group 4: April 13-20
Group 5: April 15-22
Group 6: April 17-24
Group 7: April 19-26
Group 8: April 21-28
Group 9: April 23-30
Group 10: April 25-May 2
Group 11: April 27-May 4
Group 12: April 29-May 6
Semifinal A: May 7-14
Semifinal B: May 8-15
Semifinal C: May 9-16
Final: May 17-24
