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The Contests Section; To Be Revised.
Topic Started: Apr 9 2010, 12:00 PM (40 Views)
Capt
Administrator
What we need:
-- A rewrite.

Contests
 
Contests are something to be remembered. It brings the stories forum together in a competition against each other. There can be many different kinds of contests, but they usually all revolve around writing. You can create a contest of your own, but most of the big contests are contests created by members of the Jagex team.

Creating a contest of your own is very hard, especially since, due to the Jagex rules, you can’t really give a great prize. For contests, you’re usually a judge, along with maybe one or two other people of your choice. You pick a theme for the contest. It could be anything: romance, horror. Oh and make sure to put a word limit. You don’* want to be reading very long stories.

A strong contest usually would have a judge that can review pretty well, so if you’re going to be the judge, take some reviewing lessons unless you know you’re good. Or have a good reviewer be your judge. It really doesn’t matter.

Usually a prize for a contest created by a normal player will be just a fancy signature that you can put on the first post of your story, along with an in-game party. There’s not much else you can do. Giving cash in-game as a reward is against the rules, since you might not get what you deserve, so if you create a contest, do not give coins as a reward!

Now the contests that bring up a huge hype in the stories forum are the contest created by Jagex. The reason is because usually the prize for the winner of a contest created by the Jagex Mods is a temporary sticky in the stories forum. Over the past year and a half, there have been quite a few contests by these guys.

The first one was by Mod Mark H back in February, 2007. The entry had to be about Sir Prysin. There was a word limit, as with all contests, but since it was back in early 2007, it*s now a mystery.

The second contest held on the forums was also by Mod Mark H. This was held at the end of the year, and the entry had to be about Christmas. The word limit was 1,500 words and it had a huge attendance. It was supposed to be a December 2007 contest, but since Mod Mark H. was delayed, the winner was announced in January.

Since the split between the first two contests were so far, the stories forum wasn’t expecting another contest for a while. Then, come February here comes Mod Tron with a unique contest. We could write our entries about anything we wanted, but there was a twist. It couldn’t be any longer than 100 words. Sounds easy, but writing something with that much of a restriction is hard.

He also comes back with two more contests over the following four months, with themes being Valour and Betrayal. Since there were themes, the word limit was boosted. Then he created another 100 word contest.

Now, recently, Mod Craddock created a contest that has been different from all the others. Each round would have a theme and a word limit. Sometimes you’d get to pick. One round, you could write anything you want, but you only had 50 words. To get 300 words, you had to write a romantic comedy, or a romantic tragedy.

Remember that contests bring us all together. Whether we host it, or enter it, it's a fun thing that everyone should be proud of, whether you win or not.


F...A...Q.
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Capt
Administrator
Extracurricular Activities: Contests

Before we begin, a brief history of contests:
-- February 2007: Mod Mark H, the “official” Jagex Moderator of the Stories Forum at the time, held a contest with theme of Sir Prysin. You could only use up to a certain number of words and it had to be related to the given prompt. The winner received a stickied thread (one that stays at the top of the forum), and years later a scroll in the Hall of Fame sticky.

-- December 2007: Mod Mark H, once again, held a contest. It was announced in a sticky at the top of the forum and its theme was about Christmas; in this one, you could only use up to 1,500 words for your story. It lasted until about January when Mod Mark H, to everyone’s surprise, revealed more than one winner. Some were given “consolation” wins for being especially cheery, and all of them got their own sticky at the top of the forum for a given time. Later on in 2009 these winners received scrolls in the Hall of Fame sticky.

-- Mod Tron’s Contests: These contests were spread out over several months, but each of them had a different feel to them. One, for example, was a “100-Word Story Contest,” where you could only use 100 words in your entry. The winner received a sticky and a scroll later on. Like that winner, winners of the following contests also received stickies with their winning entry and a story of their choice (oh, and the scroll in the Hall of Fame, too). Contests has themes like Valour, or Betrayal, and you had to write the best story revolving around that specific theme.

-- Mod Craddock’s Contests: After Mod Tron left Jagex to return to college, Mod Craddock stepped up with a new way of challenging writers completely. Mod Craddock would offer two or more prompts, and then you’d get to choose, but each prompt had its pros and cons. Like, in one contest, you could write about anything you wanted, but you only got fifty words to use, or you could write about a specific prompt and have 400 words. There was more than one round, too: Craddock sure was dedicated as he gave the Stories Forum a number of contests, as well as the first ingame story contest!

-- Mod Kathy’s Contest: “Small is beautiful” is what they say, and they were right as Mod Kathy brought the Stories Forum the Christmas contest of 2009. This contest received a huge amount of attention, mainly because it was the first one that had been held for a while. When Mod Craddock left for FunOrb, no one knew who would take his place, but Mod Kathy stepped up and took the reigns as she delivered a great contest that showed a girl come out on top with a great score of 94%. She received a sticky with her story along with a scroll in the Hall of Fame.

-- Mod Craddock’s Return: In 2010, Mod Craddock pulled together a massive contest for all to enjoy under the premise of “Armies of Gielinor.” The prompt was to write from the perspective of either Saradomin or Zamorak, and it ended up being the largest contest ever held with over 1,600 entries! Writers could enter their stories in any language by mailing it to Jagex, but you had to keep it under 400 words. After the contest was finished, Mod Craddock promised more to come in the future, and more shall come, too.

As you can see, contests make up a big part of the Stories Forum’s history, from Mod Mark H’s time all the way to Mod Craddock. But how can you enter a contest? And, better yet, should you? The answer is, really, yes! Most contests are held by Jagex Moderators, or at least the bigger ones, and can be found in stickied threads at the top of the forum. Sometimes, though, players will make contests, too, so watch out for threads with contest-like titles, because those are open to you, as well.

When entering a contest, you should always think about and remember the rules. How long your story can be, what it needs to be about, and when it needs to be done by are all very important to your success in the contest. Whether it is a Jagex-sponsored contest, or a player-made one, you’re expected to follow directions given by the organizer. If you want to make a contest yourself, though, you should ask yourself the same questions! How long do you want the stories to be? What do they have to be about? When are they due by? All these questions help to make your contest just that -- your contest. If you think about it, you could make a contest that is one to remember. Oh, and just one more thing about making your contest: when you’re dealing with prizes, make sure you offer something you can actually give. In-game prizes can’t be done on the forums, so think carefully!

Now, a contest takes time and dedication. If it’s a contest with more than one round, stay through the entire thing; if you’re running a contest, make sure you grade the entries. It’s not hard when you think about what you were looking for, and it’ll impress the entrants if you follow through. The most important thing though -- and it doesn’t matter if you’re judging or entering -- is not to flame the other person because of the story they’ve entered, or the grade you’ve gotten. It’s just a contest! Don’t take it *too* seriously, and you should be good to go. Have any more questions? Browse through the FAQ, or ask! But, really…the best way to learn is by practice, so get out there and find some contests.
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Level

Perhaps in the history you should put the winners of each contest?
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Capt
Administrator
They already have the HOF sticky with all the winners; the history is just to show the layout, really.

I feel like I'm not going over everything in this, though.
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