Note: This schedule is currently a draft, to allow time for some outstanding queries to be resolved; I don't anticipate major changes, but there may be minor revisions.
There have been 92 submissions by 69 different authors. Given the very short lead time to the contest, compared to past contests, I think this is quite an impressive crop.
Based on these numbers, the voting will take the following schedule:
Round 1 - preliminaries
In round one, there will be ten groups - eight of 9 stories each, and two with 10 stories. The membership of the groups will be determined at random with the only constraint is that no group will contain two stories by the same author. The groups will be released at 2 day intervals and each will be open for voting for four days (96 hours). The top three stories from each group will proceed to the semi-final round.
Assuming all goes well and there are no unexpected delays, the schedule for round 1 should be as follows; note that as I also have a day job, I'm not going to commit to specific hours for groups to open or close:
-Group 1 - Voting opens 20 Sep, closes 24 Sep.
-Group 2 - Voting opens 22 Sep, closes 26 Sep.
-Group 3 - Voting opens 24 Sep, closes 28 Sep.
-Group 4 - Voting opens 26 Sep, closes 30 Sep.
-Group 5 - Voting opens 28 Sep, closes 2 Oct.
-Group 6 - Voting opens 30 Sep, closes 4 Oct.
-Group 7 - Voting opens 2 Oct, closes 6 Oct.
-Group 8 - Voting opens 4 Oct, closes 8 Oct.
-Group 9 - Voting opens 6 Oct, closes 10 Oct.
-Group 10 - Voting opens 8 Oct, closes 12 Oct.
Round 1.5 - tie breakers and second chance
If there are any ties in the first rounds that need resolving, they will be resolved in tiebreaker rounds after all ten groups have been voted for. In addition, there will be one special "second chance" round. This round will include the fourth place stories from each of the preliminary ten rounds. The two top stories from the second chance round will also proceed to the semi-finals.
- Tie-breakers will go up on 12 October (as soon as group 10 closes), and will close on 14 October.
- The second chance round will go up on 14 October, and close on 18 October.
Round 2 - Semi-finals
There will be four groups of eight stories each. Groups will be mixed so that no two stories that competed against each other in the preliminary rounds will face each other again, and no author will have two stories in the same group; beyond those constraints, the grouping will be random.
The top 2 stories from each group will proceed to the finals.
- Semi final 1 goes up on 19 October - 24 October.
- Semi final 2 goes up on 20 October - 25 October.
- Semi final 3 goes up on 21 October - 26 October.
- Semi final 4 goes up on 22 October - 27 October.
Round 2.5 - tie breakers
- Semi final tiebreakers will go up 27 October - 29 October
Round 3 - Final
The final eight stories will compete in a single poll that will determine the top 3 places.
- The finals will go up on 29 October - 5 November.
