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All right you fans of The Office, summer hiatus does not have to mean unending days of gloom until a new episode emerges in the fall. Well, it sort of does but we’ve thought of something that may help: another summer contest. This one is being brought to you by forum members of Northern Attack so if you’re looking for an iPod, sorry, no Christmas miracles here. But one entrant’s stellar efforts will be rewarded with a prize package, assembled by fellow fans in the forum, which includes:
Shooting script from E-Mail Surveillance episode
Shooting script from The Carpet episode
2008 The Office Wall Calendar (Ships on Aug. 30)
Custom-designed Office T-shirt (sized to order) – contributed by Loaded Teapot
Batch of home-baked cookies (not brownies, though they are the same category) – contributed by KarenM
Dunder Mufflin Mailing Labels – contributed by 2’CtoC
Hand-knitted scarf - created and contributed by whatevs with yarn from Loaded Teapot
Second Place Winner will receive:
Third Place Winner will receive:
Additional contributions to the prize package are encouraged, and must include shipping to the winner. This is our contest; let’s make it really interesting.†
Contest Details
We’ll kick things off Monday, June 4. The contest will run for 8 weeks with a new round every week. It will be a writing competition with responses enjoyed, evaluated and voted on by forum members.
Each week a topic will be posed by a pre-selected forum member, based on seniority on site and current participation. This member will state the topic and what form the response should take, whether it is to be a scene with dialogue, a (very) short story, composed as a haiku, etc. Also included will be any additional criteria to be used in the responses as well as for judging purposes.
Topics will be posted in a new thread on Mondays, and at the conclusion of one week, submissions for that week's question will be cut off, and everyone then has one week to vote for their three favorite entries for that week. (wow that was a lot of weeks.)
You must be registered in the forum to vote, and vote from the registered email address.
Contest organizing committee member extraordinaire 2’CtoC has set up a calendar to help everyone keep track of deadlines. Cool, eh?
Members will email the names of the authors of their three favorite entries to dmpaperco@gmail.com. Ordering of favorites is not necessary; just send a list of three names. Include your NA screenname in the email with your votes. No-no’s: stuffing the ballot box by voting more than once, working in collusion with others and/or having friends vote who are not forum members. We will be verifying. You have been warned.
Votes will be counted and a running total of votes will be kept with a final tally at the end of the 8-week contest determining the winner. Each entrant will have their “low vote” thrown out; that is, in the 8 rounds, the week in which each entrant received their lowest amount of votes will not be counted. This way a contestant can miss a week or really screw the pooch one week and still be in the thick of things.
Voting for yourself is permitted. To make things fair for those who choose not to cast votes for their entries, eight votes will automatically go to each person as votes for themself. Any votes cast for themself will then be subtracted from the 8. For example, if you vote for yourself 1 time, seven will be added to your final vote total. If you vote for yourself 8 times, 0 will be added. That added total will be your final score when determining a winner. *
There will be a 250 word limit on entries. Over 250 words means your entry for that week is disqualified. Of course if there is a 3-line haiku challenge posted, there will be considerably less than 250 words allowed. Each week may have slightly different rules and criteria for judging suggested.
Entries may be titled but a title is not required. Titles are not included in the word count. (Added 4 Jun 07)
Only one entry per person per topic. An author who submits more than one entry is disqualified from that week's round. Is that mean?
Editing of entries will not be permitted. The entry must not have an “edited” tag or it will be disqualified. Again; is that mean? If editing was allowed people could tinker with their entries after reading others, which would be unfair. After one week the challenge thread will be locked.
Last year’s contest was very strict in its warnings about mistakes in spelling, punctuation and grammar. We are trying a more lenient approach by not including any such warnings. See; not so mean. What we’re after is creative stuff appropriate to the writing prompt. But be aware that there are spelling and grammar sticklers amongst us and they will have a voice through their voting.
So as not to offend, vulgarity must be kept at a level similar to that on the show. Well, of course, less vulgarity is permitted but not more. That includes language and content. Let's pretend that Pam's mom is reading all entries.
Weekly topic threads are for the initial writing prompt and responses only. Discussion of the contest (as well as questions that arise) can take place in this or another thread.
Announcements of any individual’s standing in the contest will not be given during the course of the competition.
International entries will be accepted, but if the winner is from somewhere outside the continental US they will be asked to pay any balance of shipping fees over $15. ‘Cause fuel ain’t free.
Disclaimer: we, the contest planning committee, reserve the right to refine rules along the way or in the event of a major unforeseen calamity, to cancel the contest outright.
We thank you in advance for your participation.
Cordially, The Contest Planning Committee
(Updated 7 Jun 07)
*Self-voting plan added 7 Jun 07
†Additional prize descriptions added 16 Jul 07
Added for your reading pleasure:
Link to Challenge #1
Link to Challenge #2
Link to Challenge #3
Link to Challenge #4
Link to Challenge #5
Link to Challenge #6
Link to Challenge #7
Link to Challenge #8
Holy crapadoo, you guys rock for putting this together. Wonder if James wouldn't mind putting a sticky on this thread for the duration of the contest. Now I have to think about what I might contribute to the prize package.
funtivities! but, none of you committee members has an ipod you could donate?
actually, what brian said. that crapadoo thing.
Now I have to think about what I might contribute to the prize package.
How about your firstborn? That's standard, in some parts of the world, as an appropriate contribution to an Internet tv forum prize package.
The Contest Planning Committee (I hesitate to call you Bi-atches) has done an awesome job with this! Thank you!
Wonder if James wouldn't mind putting a sticky on this thread for the duration of the contest.
In the works, Brian.
but, none of you committee members has an ipod you could donate?
We could find Joseph and ask nicely. He's had it for a year, after all. If reasoning with him doesn't work then we could take more drastic measures.
does anybody here work?
haha.
gt and 2c you will be competing too right?
Questions.
Is someone going to start a pool?
I have ferd, depending on the number of haiku challenges there are.
You might want to edit rules clarifications into your initial post for easy reference. Just a suggestion.
That's just straight betting. I thought pools were complicated, tiered things. I've never been in one but don't they involve point spreads?
You can get 10,000 to 1 odds on me. You can't pass that up. ferd pays like, what 2.5 to 1?
I'll answer this set, since gt wrote that essay above.
does anybody here work?
Many of us have jobs, but few work.
gt and 2c you will be competing too right?
Maybe.
1.So basically you get one free week to skip and you are still functionally in the contest (with a good chance of winning). What if you end up participating spottily just for fun? Do you discourage that?
a)Yes. b)Then you'd have fun. c)Why discourage fun?
2.Do you have to participate to vote?
I'll let gt make that call. I'm leaning towards no, but you do have to be a registered NA'er.
3.Will there be running tallies of the top three people? I know participants can't know their ranking until the end, but it would be exciting to watch the leads like in golf.
I don't think so. The overall goal is fun, and we don't want to discourage those who don't gain many votes, but still enjoy the challenges.
4.Is someone going to start a pool?
I don't know how it'd work, but I can't control what you do. I can only control what I do.
Whoa! This officially rocks. Thanks to gt and 2'CtoC for putting this together. I wasn't kidding when I mentioned a while back I'd send along some awesome post-it notes. They won't be Dunder Mifflin (I actually did look into having some personalized, but that costs way more money than I even have), but they will be cool, and of course I'll ship it to the winner.
(I actually did look into having some personalized, but that costs way more money than I even have),
Why does money matter? You're a thief.
Why does money matter? You're a thief.
You should never try to slip anything like this past 2'C2C. She remembers things. Just ask DftF.
I know! But even us thieves have to get someone else to do our personalizing. Not in the olden days of theivery, but alas, things have changed.
You can get 10,000 to 1 odds on me
yeah, right, brian. i think rule number 17 is no sandbagging. i say if you can get anything higher than 2 to 1 on any of you fanfic people take it.
so, who wasnt around for the last contest?
i was too busy giving birth last summer to be involved in the first contest. looking forward to participating this time.
THANK YOU, gt and 2CtoC for organizing all of this!
I'm slightly confused, do you sign up before hand or just start by putting in an entry when it starts?
I was not around for the first contest, either. Otherwise, I'd be listening to an iPod all day instead of spinning my non-musical wheels here.
I'm slightly confused, do you sign up before hand or just start by putting in an entry when it starts?
Just responding to the challenges when they show up. No need to sign up for anything, well, except being registered at NA, which you already have done.
2.Do you have to participate to vote?
I'll let gt make that call. I'm leaning towards no, but you do have to be a registered NA'er.
I concur, 2'CtoC, voters need not participate in the responses but need to become forum members. But come on, lurkers... it'll be fun.
does anybody here work?
Priorities, OkB. (may I call you that?) My clients maintain a very strong #2 position on my list, however.
I'd send along some awesome post-it notes
Great, Post-it Thief! That's the spirit! We'll add you to the donor list. How many are we talking here? Just exactly how many notes did you swipe?
gt and 2c you will be competing too right?
Absolutely I will. The thought of no contest was too much to bear, considering how fun last year's was. And 2'CtoC: did I forget to mention that participation is required of all committee members?
As for laying odds, we might be seeing some new faces in here so I'd hold off on putting money down just yet. But I do know that there are going to be some awesomely entertaining entries from our forum friends here.
I was not around for the first contest, either. Otherwise, I'd be listening to an iPod all day instead of spinning my non-musical wheels here.
Smack! Nice, KarenM.