How can we best improve the writing contests?

Could probably be done with just author approval and people who don't mind contributing the time needed to prepare and publish the anthology.

 

I'm not sure how you get to that page from the main navigation - I had a look and couldn't find it.

Maybe someone could sticky a link to it in the contests forum?

 

Yes, I agree that's a problem if it were something published by the forum ownership. I was more thinking it was something a member could do, with consent of the authors. The liability issues would still exist (you'd need a good written contract with the authors) but it wouldn't necessarily be liability for the forum itself, just for the individuals moving forward with the project.

We had a member on a writing forum where I'm a moderator publish a compilation off of a series of writing contests. I don't think the forum ownership was involved at all. The member just got agreements from all of the contest winners.

But, yes, all of those issues you and Daniel raise still existed, they were just taken on by the member who did the publication. Any publisher faces those IP issues--relying on authors who submit to be submitting their own work.

 

Here's a thought - how about a sidebar widget for the monthly contests?

 

I was thinking we add special fancy medals for members who frequently vote and give feedback in the contests.

 

I think that might be too much work for the admins to keep track of.

 

Not if you added a function to the program where a counter adds one everytime someone votes, and then after certain milestones it unlocks medals in the individual user panels. Initially may be a pain to write, but it should be self-sufficient thereafter.

 

Another good idea, but unfortunately something that's beyond the permissions of the Mod and Admin team.

 

Ah, the curse of the missing owner.

Hey, maybe that could be a prompt for a future writing contest...

 

The contests absolutely need to be made more prominent.

There was a story posted in General Fiction by @Zeppo595 which could easily have been entered into last month's contest, but he said he didn't know there was one:
https://www.writingforums.org/threads/christmas-steps-2763-words.164390/

I wonder how many other members aren't aware of the contests?

Daniel was on on New Year's Eve. I hope that means he's now around and contactable to make changes. I seriously think a sidebar widget is needed.

 

Reading through these posts, it becomes apparent the short story contest once got more attention than it does today. That’s too bad. It is such a wonderful experience, a real growing experience, for the budding writer. It has allowed me to take all sorts of risks and really broaden my abilities. I am so grateful for it. No exaggeration, the short story contest has made me feel like a writer.

How to make it better? Well, for one, the medal problem needs to be fixed. And I am motivated to write this for the sake of @ps102 – he finally won a short story contest, and the latest flash fiction. He has worked so hard over the last year to improve, and had made remarkable strides. He has earned and deserves his medals. I’m bothered more by his missing medals than my own (in the last year I have won 5 short stories, 7 flash fiction, and 3 poetry – but no medals).

@Seven Crowns – thanks for every month giving us the opportunity.

 

I also want to express my praise for the contests. No doubt, I wouldn't be the same without them. And that's not light-hearted praise. I really mean it. Submitting to the contests, then the workshop to understand where I went wrong, was a really good cycle of attempt-feedback-reattempt that really helped me honed my skills. I learned a lot from the other contestants too, and I got lots of great advice on the workshop.

The contests themselves are honestly great and I'd love them to become more visible.

Although I didn't plan to raise a point about it, it is true that no medals have been awarded in over a year. These contests are a lot of hard work, so those who put in that work also want to see those digital awards pinned to them. It's nothing more than a badge of honour, but not having them at all will undoubtedly hurt the contests.

I personally put in the work because I wanted to improve my craft, so I wasn't awfully bothered, but I'm also not going to lie that I would want them.

But I think that the contestants who won at least deserve a word on whether the medal engine will ever work again. We should know that stuff.

At the same time, I understand that the mods don't have a lot of power due to the way the system is set-up.

I plan to keep participating and none of that is going to change. I give a big thanks to @Louanne Learning for her support and for raising the point.

 

Me too!

 

We do need a bit more participation some months. It was just us three for the flash contest! Medals are a good incentive as you say. I don't enter in every contest, but I do aim to try to write at least one thing for either poetry, flash, or short every month (or two, depending).

One idea occurred to me, but it might be a crazy idea. Kinda hard to predict how it could go. But how about this - stories entered in contests are eligible for "free" critique in the workshop.

I know a lot of the active participants are already fairly active in the workshop, but it might incentivize newer members to submit.

 

We do!
I think you're missing the points made above and the medals are a minor element. The bigger issue is the lack of interest in the competitions, both in terms of entrants and those whose cast votes. I'm not sure there's anything you or the other mods can do about it and this discussion isn't new.

 

You're right, and I'm not mad at anyone. I never 'called any out'. I just wanted to know if it'll ever happen. There was silence this whole time, after all.

I get your pain of old software + no backend access. It's why I didn't really want to ask about it because I knew It'd be the answer.

But Daniel is bound to show up at some point. Maybe he has issues going on in his life. Personally I'm more interested in the well-being of all members here.

So, neither me or @Louanne Learning raised an issue meant to put you in a tough spot. We just wanted to know. And I appreciate this discussion happening.

It is also true that we should be thankful you keep this place running despite those big issues. In the end, I got what I wanted out of it, and isn't that really matters?

I've known this for a while now. I do enjoy the contests and I thank @Seven Crowns @dbesim and @thirdwind for running them. It's hard work but all three of you do a great service to beginner writers.

Still, it's not just a 'few pixels'. It's what they mean. A £500 bill is also a bit of paper, yet some people would kill to have it.

Not that I'm complaining or anything.

There's not much, no. One possible thing is giving the regular voters special banners and a pretty colour in their name. The main challenge, I imagine, is keeping track with the voters though. There's no part in the software to help with that, and it has to be done manually.

One way to do it is this: Require the 'regular voters' to write why they voted for x piece and not the others, weighing in their constructive reasons for not doing so. To not overwhelm the mods the is to limit the 'writing' to 500w, maybe less. People who regularly do this can get a special banner and pretty colour for their name.

And the piece of writing is of course 'proof' that they voted. Something well-written wouldn't come from someone who didn't read & vote on the entries.

I think that's doable that way because no dependence on software. It acts like advertisement, too.