How Does the Main Contest Run?
The main contest is a month-long (4 week) contest. In December, it runs for 3 weeks instead, to accommodate for the large number of members here who spend that month celebration a variety of holidays.
Signing up for the Main Contest
A few days before the beginning of the month, a moderator— usually
Be sure to sign up for the main contest by the date and time specified in the post- we can't promise that you'll be included in the contest unless you do. At the deadline, we count up the number of entrants (usually 80-100 people) and announce the number to the community.
Each week, a topic will be posted to the community- usually on Friday afternoon, but sometimes lacombe is as late as Monday. This is an example of a topic post. Entries must be submitted inside of the poll by the deadline stated to be counted. When a member does not submit an entry, he has "dropped out" and is eliminated for the week. All valid entries must be submitted for everyone to view, but members are welcome to filter them after the voting ends.
Your entry should be inspired by the topic, but it can be in any written format you want. It must be new content- if you link to an old entry, your submission will be disqualified. Personal essays, poetry, fiction, blogs, historical fiction, nonfiction…. anything you wish to write is fair game of the readers see it as worth voting for. Entries are also allowed to incorporate artwork into the piece, as well as other forms of media, as long as there is a written element as well. If there is anything pornographic, violent, or offensive in your piece, please warn us when you submit your entry.
If you've been eliminated from the contest or are not competing this month, you can still submit an entry "just for fun". This entry will appear in the poll but will be considered extra and not part of the main contest.
Weekly Eliminations
Members who move on in the community are decided with a weekly poll. This poll contains links to the competing entries for that week's topics. All members of the community are given several days to read through the submissions and vote on their favorites. Each member may only vote under one username, but they may select as many of the entries as they would like.
For each week of the first 3 weeks of the contest, the number of contestants that can move on is halved. On week 4, a winner is picked from the remaining contestants. If there were 80 contestants signed up for a month, the eliminations would go as follows:
Week 1: 80 contestants eligible to compete, 40 will be eliminated.
Week 2: 40 contestants eligible to compete, 20 will be eliminated.
Week 3: 20 contestants eligible to compete, 10 will be eliminated
Week 4: 10 contestants eligible to compete, 1 will be chosen as this month's winner.
Note- We always round up to allow an extra person into the next week if there is an odd number. So if 25 people were competing in week 3, only 12 would be eliminated.
Runoffs
Very often, a poll will end with one or more entries tied. If this is the case, a runoff poll- usually lasting 24 hours, will be posted after the main poll is closed to decide who is eliminated. If there is a second tie, then a second 24-hour poll will be posted the next day. Any further ties after that will result in everyone who tied moving forward. The only exception to this is week 4, when there can always only be one winner.
What do you win?
The winner of the main contest has their name permanently included in two locations on the community- in the community profile and on the sidebar of the main page. Their victory is announced to the entire community by a moderator, with congratulations from the moderators and members alike.
Winning this contest is very difficult, and it takes someone with the discipline to write on a regiment who possesses exceptional skill to win an entire month. More importantly than winning the name on the community is how you'll feel about yourself- you've really accomplished something great to be picked from such a broad base of exceptional people.
If you're not competing this month or have already been eliminated, you're still very welcome to play "Just for fun". Simply submit your entries in the "Just for Fun" section of the polls, and your entry will appear in a special section of the weekly poll. People will be able to click to your entries, read them, and show their support, but they will not be eligible to compete in any part of the main contest.