Contest Questions

[bashfullyshameless]

So I'm stumped on some of the info about Literotica's monthly & annual contests. Some of the info seems contradictory. Can anyone help me with these?

*The rules say that a given author can only win a monthly contest once every six months. Does that mean if an author gets 2nd or 3rd place in September, he/she can't win 1st place at all until March or April?

*Do those limits apply to the "of the year" contests? How many of those categories have actual prizes? (In effect, if I win 2nd place in one category and 3rd in another, do I effectively only "win" one of them?)

*The special contests like "genre-transcending" and "sexiest male character" and such are based on ACTIVE voting after the contestants are announced (based on nominations), correct? What about the "of the year" stuff by story category -- is that also active voting, or is that based on raw voting scores that have already been put out?

*I'm looking at getting a story published (talking to a publisher, considering self-pub if that doesn't work out), so it's probably in my best interests to take the story down...but what happens if I win a contest before I make the decision?


Honestly, I feel like an arrogant ass for even asking all this, given that I really don't know how much of a shot I've got at these contests or not. I started writing here for fun, and I certainly don't plan on going away, but it's getting very close to time for me to make some serious decisions about what to do with my work.

 

[PennLady]

So I'm stumped on some of the info about Literotica's monthly & annual contests. Some of the info seems contradictory. Can anyone help me with these?

*The rules say that a given author can only win a monthly contest once every six months. Does that mean if an author gets 2nd or 3rd place in September, he/she can't win 1st place at all until March or April?

*Do those limits apply to the "of the year" contests? How many of those categories have actual prizes? (In effect, if I win 2nd place in one category and 3rd in another, do I effectively only "win" one of them?)

*The special contests like "genre-transcending" and "sexiest male character" and such are based on ACTIVE voting after the contestants are announced (based on nominations), correct? What about the "of the year" stuff by story category -- is that also active voting, or is that based on raw voting scores that have already been put out?

*I'm looking at getting a story published (talking to a publisher, considering self-pub if that doesn't work out), so it's probably in my best interests to take the story down...but what happens if I win a contest before I make the decision?

Honestly, I feel like an arrogant ass for even asking all this, given that I really don't know how much of a shot I've got at these contests or not. I started writing here for fun, and I certainly don't plan on going away, but it's getting very close to time for me to make some serious decisions about what to do with my work.

Don't worry about asking. I had similar questions way back when.

I believe the themed contests and monthly contests are separate in terms of how much time elapses between wins. I actually won 3d in the 2009 Halloween contest, but also first for the October 2009 Readers' choice award.

So for the themed contests, I would have had to wait six months before I could win again (although you can enter, you just can't win).
[Edit: I originally said I thought you could win the monthly contests after a lag of three months. I checked the FAQ and it says six months. Sorry.]

Lit takes nominations for a few categories, like genre transcending, etc., and then sorts through them to make sure the nominees qualify and then they'll put them up for the annual awards. Then the "best of" stories I think are selected from the monthly winners, although I'm not sure of the exact criteria.

If you left a story up and won, I don't see the problem. You can always take it down later. I did that with Ghosts of the Forum. No big deal. Now, if you're in the running and you take the story down before the winners are announced, I'm not sure.

 

[Darkniciad]

Category nominations aren't "wins", and thus don't matter in the scheme of timing. Only the top 3 places ( in a separate post from the category nominations ) are on the can't win for 6 months schedule.

The 12 nominations from each category are whittled down at the end of the year as the choices for voting in the year-end award. The top vote-earner in that poll is a winner, and I don't believe that year-end wins impose any restrictions on future wins to themed contests or monthly contests. Ditto for the special categories ( sexiest male, etc ) The top vote-earner in that poll becomes a winner, while what closed not so long ago was simply nominations.

Themed contests are also separate from the monthly contests, so if you haven't won either of them in the last six months, it's entirely possible to place in both the Halloween contests and the October reader's choice, for example.

 

[bashfullyshameless]

If you left a story up and won, I don't see the problem. You can always take it down later. I did that with Ghosts of the Forum. No big deal. Now, if you're in the running and you take the story down before the winners are announced, I'm not sure.

I thought that if you win a contest, the winning entry is kept on the site for 24 months? That's what it says on one of the contest rules pages. If I don't really have to keep a winning entry up on the site, then I really don't have any worries about all the rest.

 

[sr71plt]

I thought that if you win a contest, the winning entry is kept on the site for 24 months? That's what it says on one of the contest rules pages. If I don't really have to keep a winning entry up on the site, then I really don't have any worries about all the rest.

Yep for at least twenty-four months from the date of the contest closing. Which makes sense. Lit. isn't a charity. They don't want someone to win money from them and then run right off with the story.

 

[PennLady]

Darkniciad wrote:

Themed contests are also separate from the monthly contests, so if you haven't won either of them in the last six months, it's entirely possible to place in both the Halloween contests and the October reader's choice, for example.

Yes, I did this in Oct 2009 (with two different stories). *whew* They can't take it away.

I thought that if you win a contest, the winning entry is kept on the site for 24 months? That's what it says on one of the contest rules pages. If I don't really have to keep a winning entry up on the site, then I really don't have any worries about all the rest.

Don't know about that. Again, I just took Ghosts of the Forum down, which won 3d in the Halloween contest Oct 2009 and so hasn't been up for 24 months. I had no problems with that.

 

[PennLady]

Yep for at least twenty-four months from the date of the contest closing. Which makes sense. Lit. isn't a charity. They don't want someone to win money from them and then run right off with the story.

They must not be enforcing that, as I just took one down. But then I get the feeling various rules are enforced inconsistently.

 

[sr71plt]

They must not be enforcing that, as I just took one down. But then I get the feeling various rules are enforced inconsistently.

Yep, they're pretty carefree and lax about rules around here.

 

[oggbashan]

You can put a story into a themed contest within six months of winning 1st, 2nd or 3rd place, but it is ineligible to win.

If I do that, I put a note on the story that it IS ineligible.

Og