The Escape Pod Flash Fiction Contest of 2016 is about to enter it's voting period. This time, we have received a total of 132 submissions - a great showing, especially since this is the first contest where authors were limited to one entry each.
The stories have been split into 12 groups of 11 stories each. Stories are assigned to the groups randomly; authors will not be informed in advance which group their story is in.
In each group, pick up to 3 favorite stories to vote on. You are perfectly allowed to vote for less than 3. The initial groups will be released daily, from March 1 through March 12. Each group will be up for a week.
Once the stories have been voted on, there will be a second round, consisting of 4 groups of 9 stories each. These four groups will be posted simultaneously, as most voters will have already been able to read them by then. The second rounds will also be available for a week.
The top 2 winners from each second round group will go up to the final, which will also be open for a week.
In order to avoid delaying the contest for tie-break rounds, which have proven to be frustrating for everyone involved, we have introduced new rules for handlin ties this contest, as follows:
- If there is a two-way tie for third place (or for second place in round 2), both stories will ascend, resulting in an extra story in the next round.
- If there is a three-or-more-way tie in the first two rounds, the contest runner (that's me) will select which two stories ascend. This is the only time in which I get a vote.
- 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 rules.
VOTING RULES:1. This contest is being run by me, eytanz, the Escapepod forum moderator. 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. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will receive a contract to be bought and produced as flash fiction pieces at pro rates. Contact will be established with the winning authors at the conclusion of the contest. Escape Pod's editors also reserve the right to approach non-winning authors and offer to purchase their stories if they so wish.
3. Stories will be posted anonymously. Authors will be revealed after their story either loses or wins the contest. 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. We cannot stop you, but I urge you to just link to the contest in general, not your story. That said, please do tell your friends about this contest and about Escape Artists! I will be keeping an eye on any fishy business, and if I think something is up, I will take action. It is easy to find cheaters.
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.
4. 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 unconstructive 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, 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. The voting polls will allow voters to change their votes; sometimes, people's impressions of stories change over time and we want to allow people to revise their votes if they honestly wish. However, if we catch people voting tactically (e.g. changing a vote from a popular story to a less popular story in order to weaken the competition in a round where their own stories participate), they will be banned from further votes in the contest.
8. In order to encourage more people to participate, the contest board (where this rules post is posted) is currently visible to everyone, including non-forum members. However, the submissions themselves will be posted in sub-forums that will be hidden and available only to registered members of the forum, and will remain so permanently. This will ensure that the entries are not available to a general audience and prevent them as being considered as published by most markets. If needed for outside publishing purposes, an author can request a story to be deleted. Simply message me on the forums or at eytan@escapeartists.net with your concerns. Note, however, that if you choose to withdraw and delete your story, we will not delete the comments made by voters in the story's comment thread.
Again, always remember our
one rule. We want to keep this contest fun, constructive, and inviting. Criticism can be tough to take and tough to dish out. You can be harsh in your criticisms, but remain respectful to the author and other forumites and there won't be any problems.
Please read and re-read these rules before asking questions. That all said, any questions, comments, concerns?
VOTING SCHEDULE:(Note that because of external constraints, I may not be able to open all polls at exactly the same time each day. In general, I will aim for 7am, GMT, as the opening/closing time for polls. If they start late, the missed time will be added on to the end).
March 1: Group 1 opens
March 2: Group 2 opens
March 3: Group 3 opens
March 4: Group 4 opens
March 5: Group 5 opens
March 6: Group 6 opens
March 7: Group 7 opens
March 8: Group 8 opens, group 1 closes.
March 9: Group 9 opens, group 2 closes.
March 10: Group 10 opens, group 3 closes.
March 11: Group 11 opens, group 4 closes.
March 12: Group 12 opens, group 5 closes.
March 13: Group 6 closes.
March 14: Group 7 closes.
March 15: Group 8 closes.
March 16: Group 9 closes.
March 17: Group 10 closes.
March 18: Group 11 closes.
March 19: Group 12 closes, round 2 opens
March 26: Round 2 closes, final round opens
April 2: Final round closes, winner announced
