YWO Official Contest (w/ Real Prizes)

[Shaun]

We're hosting our first ever official contest. What's so official about it? Well, it has real prizes! Not fake prizes, but real ones. You can win free stuff!

First, the rules:
1. All submissions must be sent to sbsmag@(no spam)yahoo.com with the subject "Contest: Your Story Name". This way it goes to the right folder.
2. You may submit poetry or fiction. Poetry should be no more than 40 lines long and fiction should be no longer than 7,500 words.
3. No excessive violence or gore. Be reasonable.
4. You must be a member of YWO (duh)
5. Your story or poem must address the theme of this contest--literally or metaphorically, either one.
6. All entries must be in by Dec. 1st.

The theme:
Heroes

The prizes (for the winner, either a poem or a piece of fiction):
1. One free item from the Zazzle store (except the hooded sweatshirt) of your choice OR a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com.
2. Publication in SBS Magazine AND an interview published in the magazine. Editing may apply here.
3. A big smiley face of congrats for winning.

There you go. Good luck!

[Zombified]

Alright!

I sure hope Mods aren't exempt from this...

[Shaun]

Nope. Everyone may enter this, even Andy. The only people who can't enter are those that are judges, which right now is just me.

[Shaun]

Unless you're a judge :P

[Carraka]

So it's going to the email we both have access to, but I can still enter? Excellent! That means I can wait till the last day, read all my opponent's work, and then beat them all! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

o.O

I'm submitting mine on the last day.

[GeorgeMichael]

o.O

I'm submitting mine on the last day.

ditto. :P


But seriously, great theme! :) :D


I'm really looking forward to this now. Now I have something to do in school today.

[sXe_Jinxeh]

A smiley face of congrats?!?!?

That's incentive enough to enter!!!

[Starry]

Hmm, I'll see if I can come up with anything. Whether or not I end up submitting anything depends mostly on my homework load over the next couple of weeks. *shrug*

[Shaun]

Haha! Well, you have two months to come up with an entry. It shouldn't be too hard.

[GeorgeMichael]

You don't have ... school to do in school? O_o

...

let's put it this way, I could probably sleep all year long for every single class and still ace all of my finals. But that's because I'm a natural genius :P

Nah, we do work, but not much. I have A LOT of free time on my hands at school.

[Nyx]

sweeet, looks like fun.
:D

[Mercy]

I might enter. I have an idea....but whether it'll come through or not....x.x

[Zombified]

Nyx?
Georgie AND Mercy are entering?

Forget that!

I have lost all hope of winning.

[Shaun]

Enter anyway.

[Nyx]

Nyx?
Georgie AND Mercy are entering?

Forget that!

I have lost all hope of winning.

Eh Zomb? Have you forgotten that I can't write well?:rolleyes:

[Rouge]

Eh Zomb? Have you forgotten that I can't write well?:rolleyes:

*slaps*
LIES.


I may enter... I have to think of something first. :mellow:

[Shaun]

Nyx, you can too write well! I want one of your stories, remember?

[Diocletian]

How many entries can we flood you with?

[Shaun]

One entry per person.

[Mercy]

Sent =)

[jordanisonfire]

Meh, I'm not gonna do this. I have nothing against this sorta competition, just I don't want any prizes from YWO at the moment. I'm gonna submit to SBS anyway, so I'm not missing anything, haha.

[Diocletian]

Okay, I'll submit, but just because you asked so nicely.

[Ace]

1. All submissions must be sent to sbsmag@(no spam)yahoo.com with the subject "Contest: Your Story Name". This way it goes to the right folder.
2. You may submit poetry or fiction. Poetry should be no more than 40 lines long and fiction should be no longer than 7,500 words.
3. No excessive violence or gore. Be reasonable.
4. You must be a member of YWO (duh)
5. Your story or poem must address the theme of this contest--literally or metaphorically, either one.
6. All entries must be in by Nov. 10th.

The theme:
Heroes



Um, I was just wondering - does the poetry have to be 40 lines? Because I have a poem, and it's about 90 lines, but it's only 250 words... so would that matter? Or is that a no go...? Just wondering...:confused:

[Shaun]

Go for it, Ace! That would be fine.

[dj4ever]

Who does school in school?
:P

[Ace]

Sent! :D

[Diocletian]

Any tentative date of results? I'm assuming it would be earlier than anticipated because there weren't many entries...

[Shaun]

Maybe next week. Maybe not. I'm not sure. It depends.

[Shaun]

I'm actually going to extend the deadline. The reason being that we didn't get very many submissions, especially poetry (3 fiction, 1 poetry) and it's going to be very difficult to make a good judgment with that few of submissions.

So, I'm extending the deadline to Dec. 1st (any time on that day, doesn't matter when or in what time zone). Thanks for your patience and understanding! Everyone else, SUBMIT!

[dj4ever]

Does it have to be a completed piece?

[Shaun]

Yes, it does. One of the prizes is publication, and we can't publish an unfinished piece.

[lango]

Just wondering
When you say "Heroes"
Do you mean it has to be about the tv series "Heroes"
Or does it just need a hero as a theme?

[Shaun]

The theme is heroes, not to be confused with the TV show. We don't do fanfic around these parts :P.

[lango]

Ok awesome :D
Lets see if I can submit a piece in... 3-4 days

[Shaun]

Well we got absolutely no additional pieces of literature, which makes this all rather difficult...

If I extended the deadline once more would that help people get work in to the contest?

[Zombified]

For Gods sake!

This isn't fair.

We people who actually took the time to write something are now being snubbed because people aren't submitting?

This is bullshit.

[Shaun]

For Gods sake!

This isn't fair.

We people who actually took the time to write something are now being snubbed because people aren't submitting?

This is bullshit.

At this point it's between cancelling the competition because we barely have enough submissions to even make a proper judgment or trying to get more submissions. The other option is to just have submissions turn into regular submissions. I can't choose a winner based on barely a handful of submissions. That's not fair to you or the magazine.

[Zombified]

You can't judge THREE submissions?

Seriously?

Obviously people can vote on who's better in American Idol, or we can vote on who's the better candidate for President, but we can't judge THREE different stories for a small press magazine?

[Crocolyle]

How many more submissions do you need? I have a 20-pagish screenplay that sort of fits the description... It needs a little more work, but I could have it finished in like two hours if I really cared. Though, I wouldn't want it published because it's for my friend, who does stop motion, so I think the point is kind of moot, in my case...

EDIT: Not tonight though. My apartment mates and I are baking a ham...

[Shaun]

Zombie, calm down dude. You're going crazy man. Take a chill pill.

Croc: I'd like to have closer to ten submissions of prose and poetry (so twenty). We have 3 fiction and 1 poem...hard to really judge anything with that...

[Zombified]

No. I'm not gonna calm down.

This is unprofessional and stupid.

If you extend the deadline again, I will pull my story from the contest.

Simple as that.

Better yet, if it will get you to judge the contest, I'll take my story out so you can choose between two.

Better?

[Shaun]

Reducing the number won't make me judge the contest any sooner. And you can do what you feel you have to do. I want more stories in this contest to look at. Three stories and a poem are not enough.

[Mercy]

As long as you have more than one entry, then you are capable of judging a contest.
I realize that not many people submitted, either because they lost interest or forgot.
As this is a writing site for young adults, some of them may not completely understand the fact that a deadline means that the time for you to send in a story is limited.
Extending the deadline will not help anyone and I doubt that you will get submissions this late.

The fact is, it is unprofessional and Zombified has every right to be angry. Even I'm angry.
You should be strict with your rules, not bend them for other people. By doing that, you will soon no longer be in control. A contest is different than administrating a website. You can't be nice by giving people extra time. It will make them better by teaching them to write before the deadline.

Just judge what you have.

[Starry]

I don't really see why this is such a huge deal. So you didn't get as many submissions as you wanted. That sucks, but it's no reason to cancel the contest. Just judge what you have, and if you really don't have one story that's good enough to go into the mag (which I doubt, considering the people who did submit) then don't put it in. Simple as that.

[Shaun]

Yes, because telling them "well, nothing is good enough" will make this all the better...

[Starry]

Well, it's better than, "No, I won't even judge you, because you don't have enough competition."

[Mercy]

You have to remember Shaun, you're judging teenagers. We're still learning, there will be no masterpieces. You are not going to magically get a submission that is as good as Poe or Twain or any other writer. Your job is to pick the best out of the ones you have, not wait for the best.

[Crocolyle]

You have to remember Shaun, you're judging teenagers. We're still learning, there will be no masterpieces. You are not going to magically get a submission that is as good as Poe or Twain or any other writer. Your job is to pick the best out of the ones you have, not wait for the best.

Unless I submit. Jay Kay. :P

But seriously.

(Yeah, I know I'm nowhere near that good : ()

[Diocletian]

Just choose the best out of what you have. Why punish the people who took the time to write something and submit it? No - reward them by actually showing them that you care about the fact that they took interest in this thing.

Anyway, I too am considering pulling out my entry if the contest isn't over by the time of this new deadline.

Also, a good idea might be to allow more than one submission so those people who already submitted can send in other stuff. That would increase the pool of submissions, even though it's by the same people.

[Nyx]

Nyx, you're co-editor, kick Shaun up his well-deserving butt.

Hm, well I can see his point. But you guys' point is better xD I'll see what's going on....

[Shaun]

A decision will be made before the 5th of January. Imelda is here until the 31st and I want to spend the rest of my time with her. So that's what's happening and then I will have a decision for the contest.

[Shaun]

Edit: Results are in. Firstly, my comments on each entry (real names not provided for obvious reasons)!

The Bus Stop by Diocletian: Fascinating rendition of a man caught in limbo between life and death. This one grabbed me by being well written, with minor errors, and generally original. Strong story, strong character, and strong connection to the theme (even though it was a minor connection).

A World Without Heroes by Ace: This was a poem. It had a very clear connection to the theme, but I think it's main problem was that it was too concise. Certainly an easy poem on the eyes, though, as it didn't attempt to be outlandish, but rather simplistic.

Standoff by Zombified: Twisted fictional rendition of a hostage negotiation scene. Doesn't end all that well. My one contention with the piece was in the end where the police officer makes it seem like the hostage is okay, but doesn't consider the psychological implications of what has happened (i.e. a boy being kidnapped by his father, held at gunpoint, and then having to watch his father be killed by sniper fire). The image was painted well, though, but it had that one little thing that bugged me. Good writing.

Hero Without a Home by Mercy: A story about a young girl and her relationship to an intelligent homeless man. Certainly a heart warming story with a tragic ending. One issue I had was that there were occasions where the narrator told us a lot of information that I wish had been conveyed. The ending sort of laid out the framework of the piece, and I would have preferred the piece to allow the reader to figure things out. Well written and touching, though. I think death was a major theme in all of the works submitted, by the way, particularly death and loss.

But now you're wondering who the winner is, aren't you? You're probably sitting there trying to figure out which one I chose! Four people to choose from, three stories and a poem...which one could it be?

Well, I'm going to tell you. The winner is
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Diocletian! Which means that particular individual needs to PM me so we can figure out all the specifics of the price.

Congrats, Dio, and thanks for the submissions everyone!

[Diocletian]

Awesome the contest is judged. ...I won? Really? That made my day. :D

Okay, Shaun, I'll PM you in a moment about the prizes and whatnot.

[Carraka]

Gratz, Dio! I've read your story, obviously, so ... I can't wait to pay to read it again!

I can't believe my story didn't win.

[appleofmyeye]

Good job Dio. I might actually pay to read it :). I do still want to read the other entries. Are they anywhere?

[Mercy]

Congrats, Dio. =)

[Ace]

Congratulations to the winner! *cheers!*

And yes, I agree, my poem was...bad...hahaa. It was one I wrote a while ago, and it was about heroes, so I just thought I'd enter it >< Besides, I suck at poetry.

But again, congrats! Your entry sounded really interesting. :D

[Zombified]

Ah, so we no longer have to wait for the results.
It's about time.

Congratulations, Dio, I look forward to seeing the winning piece in the magazine.

Tough competition this contest.

Two talented writers and a published author. I am glad to have taken part in it.

Let's hope round two brings forth more submissions next time, yes?

[Shaun]

Yes, please. It was really hard to compare a poem to three fiction pieces, and all of the fiction pieces had really strong points. A wider submission range would have made choosing easier, I think. Somehow.

There may be another contest, however I think we'll have a six month deadline and I'll hire someone on YWO to be annoying and PM people every other week as a reminder...

[jordanisonfire]

I feel like I was supposed to submit to this, somehow... ah well, you all know my memory's whacked. Anyway, congratulations, Dio. I probably won't be reading it (not because I don't want to, but because I probably won't be able to pay for an SBS copy), but due to Shaun's review, I'm sure it'll be good.

[Shaun]

Shadow, we can work something out for getting you a copy of SBS. If the first issue is published before the end of March, I could bring a copy and we could mail it to you or something. We'll figure something out, I assure you!

[Fiction]

I feel so out of my league. *throws llama out window for lack of something to do*

[Shaun]

Don't feel bad. We'll have one of these again in the future and you're welcome to enter :P.