WWC Rules

Triathlon Round Rules ▼

Triathlon Rules
Round 9 begins on 1st December 2017 and will close on 28th February 2018.

On 1st December at 5pm WDC time I will announce 3 prompts.
You have 90 days to write a short story of 1000 to 4000 words based for each prompt.
The deadline for all 3 stories is 5pm WDC time 28th February 2018.
Each entry must be linked in a post in this forum and presented in the b-item or f-entry format.
Your three stories do not need to have narrative links to each other.
You may submit each of the stories at any time before the closing date and continue to edit up to the deadline, even if you have already submitted the link in the forum.
All ratings and genres are accepted.
Prizes will be awarded to the best entry for each prompt and the best of those three finalists. That means 4 prizes.

Prizes
Each of the 3 prompts has a prize pool of
First place 25k awardicon and an Attention to Detail merit badge (or GPs)
Second place 25k awardicon (or GPs)
Third place 10k awardicon (or GPs)
The grand prize is a 75k awardicon (or GPs)

conditional awards
If there are 6 or less contestants, only first and second place will be awarded in each category (and the grand prize).
If there are 4 or less contestants, only first place will be awarded and there will be no grand prize)

FAQ
Do I need to express interest or register in advance?
No. Any one can enter this contest at any time before the deadline.

Do I need a certain level of W.Com membership?
You need to be member of writing.com, but otherwise this contest is not restricted by membership level.
If you restrict access to your entries, set it to 'registered users only'. I cannot judge your entries if I can't read them!

Do I need to be a member of World Weavers?
No. Any one can enter this contest at any time before the deadline.
When you submit your entries, you'll be added to the group as a Contestant. After the contest is over, you can choose remain in the group as a member or leave.

Can I submit stories I have already written?
Yes, if it matches the prompt you're submitting it under. This also includes items which have already won awards in other contests. However, you should read the story through again and consider editing it to make sure that it matches the prompt that you are happy with the world-building in it.

Do the 3 stories need to be linked?
The stories do not need any narrative links to each other. However I recommend that all 3 stories take place in the same 'world' to help you focus on the core purpose of this contest: world building skills.

What if I'm late? What if I can't submit 3 stories?
In order for any of your stories to qualify for a prize, you must submit one for each of the 3 prompts.
I will accept entries up to the 12th March, but stories submitted late will not qualify for a prize. So if you submit 2/3 on time, 2/3 of your stories will be eligible for prizes. If you only submit 2 stories by 12th March, you will be disqualified.

What do you mean by 'world' and 'world-building'?
World-building in the context of this contest is not about inventing a fictional planet. What it is about is grounding a story in a time and place and conveying the setting of the story. Your 'world' can be as small as a high school or as large as an empire. It can be a single religious sect in a larger community or a crew of space pirates. What you need to think is about is where your characters come from and where they are, how the world shapes them and how they shape the world around them.

You accept entries up to XGC, but are there any restrictions on themes or genres?
No. You can submit under any genre so long as you satisfy the prompts and your item is a short story.

How are the entries judged?
This depends on the judge. It's important to ensure your entries are submitted promptly, have been checked for spelling and grammar, and follow the rules laid out above. Beyond that, this is a world-building contest, so your stories will be judged on how well you convey your setting and how much a part of your world the story is. Remember the golden rule "no-one lives in a vacuum".
You can refer to [item] for guidance on how I will judge entries.

When will winners be announced?
Honestly this will depend on the number of entries which need to be judged. I aim to announce the results by 31st March.

Will I get reviews?
Every story will (eventually) get a review from me. You might not get it before the results are announced. Guest judges are not obliged to provide reviews, only their nominations.

Can I be a judge?
If you can read items up to rating 18+, yes you can. You'll need to tell me as soon as possible if you're not comfortable reading items with GC & XGC ratings, so that the rules for the round can be updated to prohibit them.

Write and Review Round Rules ▼

Round X begins on DATE and will close on DATE3.
Unlike previous rounds, this round is not a daily prompt contest.

On DATE at 5pm WDC time I will announce the prompt for round X.
You have 49 days (until 5pm DATE2) to write a story of 2-5000 words based on this prompt. You may edit your item up to the deadline, even if you have already submitted the link in the forum.
All ratings and genres are accepted.
Before 5pm WDC time on DATE3, you must submit a public review of another contestant’s entry and post a link in the forum. You can do several and submit only your best, if you wish.
Both your story and your review should be linked in the same post.
Prizes will be issued to the best story and to the best review. If there are enough entrants, a second prize in both categories will be handed out.


FAQ
Do I need to express interest in advance?
No. Although the prompt will be emailed out to the World Weavers  group, it will also be posted in the forum. Anyone can join before the first deadline simply by submitting their piece through a post in the forum.

Can I submit a story I have already written?
You may submit an item which you have already written, if it matches the prompt. This includes items which have already won awards in other contests, but I recommend you review and edit your item before submission to ensure it satisfies the prompt.
Remember: this is a world building contest as well, so make sure you are happy with that particular aspect of the piece.

You accept entries up to XGC, but are there any restrictions on themes or genres?
No. You must meet the prompt and the contest judges world building. Your item must also be a complete short story of course. Otherwise all material is welcome.

What if I'm late? Why does story submission only have 49 of the 61 days?
In order for anyone to have time to review the other entries, the deadline for story submission is about 2 weeks before the full contest ends.
Depending on the number of contestants, late entries up to 7 days after the first deadline might be accepted. Any story submitted in the last 7 days of the contest or after the final deadline is automatically disqualified.

What if no-one reviews my story?
Your story does not have to be reviewed by another contestant to qualify. You must submit on time to allow other contestants the opportunity to review it, but you do not need to be reviewed. All stories will receive a review from me, though this might be done after the winners are announced.

I don't like reviewing, I'm really bad at it.
If you want to submit a story, please also submit a review. Analysing the work of others is important for honing your own skills, which is why the Write & Review round was conceived. The prize pools are separate. You can win a ribbon for your story even if you submit the worst review ever.

I want to be a judge. What do I need to do?
First you need to email me so you can be added to the World Weavers . After the end of the round, you need to read all the entries and provide your top 5 contestants for both prize pools to the other judges (in private! Not in the forum :P). How you select these favourites is your choice, but this is a world building contest so that should be the weightiest part of your consideration. If you prefer, you can restrict your judging to one list or the other (stories or reviews).

The only prerequisites to becoming a judge are that you must be a member of WDC and able to review items up to 18+ in content. If you are not comfortable reading GC and XGC content, please let me know ahead of time so that I can amend the rule about ratings.

WWC Rules ▼

Rules
Each day of the Championship a new prompt will be issued at 5pm (17:00) WDC time. Contestants then have 24 hours in which to compose and upload their entry. Late entries will be marked down and three late entries disqualifies the contestant.
You must complete every prompt of the round to qualify for the winners’ podium. It’s recommended you register your interest before the first prompt is issued.
Each entry must be linked in a post in this forum and be presented in the B-Item or F-Entry format.
All entries must be newly written for the contest.
There is no minimum or maximum word count, but you must provide a word count for each entry within the item.
All ratings and genres are accepted.
Editing an entry after submission is not allowed.

Prizes
First place is a 25k awardicon and
an Attention to Detail merit badge or equivalent GPs
Second place is a 25k awardicon or 25k GPs
Third place is a 10k awardicon or 10k GPs

"conditional awards"
Reviews will be given out at the discretion of individual judges
If only 6 or less contestants complete the round, only the "second" place prize will be awarded
Merit badges may be awarded between contest rounds

"FAQ"
Do I need a certain level of W.com membership?
So long as you are a W.com member of any level and can create items, you can participate. Unfortunately we cannot accept participants who are not members of the site.

But I only have a free membership and limited portfolio space.
You can create a single static item and update its contents daily, provided you do not edit previous entries. However you must re-post the link in the forum every day to signal that you have completed the prompt. If you need to spread your entries across two or more items and you win a ribbon, it will only be pinned to one item (you will not receive a ribbon per item). If you can create folders, the ribbon would go on the folder containing your entries.

Do I need to be a member of World Weavers ?
No. When you register your intent to participate in the Championship, you will be added to the group as a Contestant by one of the judges. If you then wish to remain in the group as a Member after the winners are announced, please say so. Otherwise Contestants will be removed when the round is over.
Existing Members of the group should also make sure they are changed to "Contestant" rank when participating in a Championship round. Both ranks have equal privileges.

What do you mean by “written new for the contest”? Can I work on a world I already created?
All entries should be written in the 24 hours after a prompt is issued. You can use ideas and notes which already exist for a setting you have already prepared, but your entries must be new pieces of text written specifically in response to the prompts given.

How are the entries judged?
This depends on the priorities of individual judges. It is important to ensure your entries are submitted promptly, have been checked for spelling and grammar, and follow the rules laid out above. Beyond that you need to answer the prompt as fully as possible, watch the details and just give us something you enjoyed writing.

It is imperative that your item has no Membership Restrictions! If the judges cannot get your item open, it cannot be judged and you cannot win! If you want to hide the item, use Access Restrictions to make it a World Weavers group item.

How late is too late? What if I miss a day?
The latest possible day to join the contest and still compete is day 4. No contestant may submit more than 3 late entries and still qualify for the winners podium.

All ten prompts must be answered no later than 48 hours after the final prompt is issued. It does not matter how late your late entries are so long as they are completed before the "day 11" deadline and you post the links in the forum with confirmation you have completed all ten days.

Bear in mind though that punctuality is a factor in the judges' scoring.

How is this even going to work? How do I write about a world?
This is where it gets interesting.
Don’t let the word ‘world’ mislead you. This is less about the geography and climate of a planet and more about social constructs. Certainly the physical shape of your world is significant, but it is significant because of the way it affects people; characters. Your ‘world’ can be as small as a high school, as large as an empire, a single religious sect living within a larger whole, or a rebel colony of sentient reptiles on a star ship.

So a standard prompt should be answered with a piece of fiction as though it came out of your story. It will need characters, it will need a thing happening, and it will need mood and tone. You do not have to use the same characters in every prompt. Unlike CG where you use your world to highlight aspects of your character, you will be using your characters to show us your world.
Some prompts might require a specific approach (if you recall the no dialogue/dialogue only prompts from GC or the agony of the song prompts). Otherwise how you go about answering a prompt is up to you.

Will I get reviews?
This depends on the individual judge and the depth of the reviews will depend on an individual judge's time constraints. I will send a review, even if I have to do it after the winners are announced. We will also keep a list of winning entries in the forum.

I missed the contest, can still get feedback?
Yes. Outside of contest season (please do not do this while a contest is in progress) you can link an item in the forum to request feedback on your world building. You can also highlight WDC items which you think are useful articles or are great examples of world building, or submit an article of your own.
If you drop out of the contest and go back later to complete all the prompts, I will be happy to review the item.

I want to be a judge. What do I need to do?
First you need to email me so you can be added to the World Weavers . During the Championship or at the end of the round you need to read all entries from all contestants and provide your top 5 contestants to the other judges (in private! Not in the forum :P). How you select these favourites is your choice, but this is a world building contest so that should be the weightiest part of your consideration.

The only prerequisites to becoming a judge are that you must be a member of WDC and able to review items up to 18+ in content. If you are not comfortable reading GC and XGC content, please let me know ahead of time.
After the winners have been announced you will need to confirm whether you want to stay in the group as Judge or Member. If you don't mention otherwise, you'll be removed when the Contestant list is cleared.

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