I've been pimping you today on Faith and Zeppo.

The awards, not you personally.

Didn't want to die in the stampede.

So that'll be another 300+ by tonight then...

ah well, all I can say is the time I was going to spend on the winners' buttons is being shaved down more and more. So they'll be crappy. *g*

Only joking!

Doesn't bother me, I really hope Liz or Nwechapt win the awards I'm nominated in (the other strong prospect winning is just too horrible to contemplate).

*grin* I couldn't possibly comment.

The categories you're nominated in have a lot of really strong contenders and are among the tightest fought at the moment.

Some of the categories are pretty much a cakewalk for one nomination, but others change the lead every time a vote is cast. I'd be on the edge of my seat if my eyes were swimming with all the IP addresses...

Like I say, I don't care if I don't win, there's three people I think are better than me in most categories I'm nominated in, just as long as a certain Mary-Stuer with an over-inflated ego doesn't.

Funny how I think I know exactly who you're referring to isn't it?

Most people in the categories really deserve to be there, but others? Like I said, I still say "Why?!" every time they get a vote. I'm thinking of restructuring the way nominations are made for the next round so it's more about quality rather than quantity.

Naming no names, but yeah I scratched my head a few times, especially over the person who abused you for having slash categories but accepted his nominations anyway (we both know who I mean).

And one writer who's nominated for FX author but as far as I'm aware as never written a FX one.

Yup, that second one confused the heck out of me for a while, but since there was more than one nomination for them in that category I assumed there were fics I was unaware of. Ah well, we'll see when the final votes are cast!

Awwww. Keith. You're sweet!

Actually, I popped in to tell Mara that I did pimp in my journal (like I said, I've totally been out of the online loop, I was barely aware they were still on...hangs head), but I've only got about 110 friends or so (I don't know how many lurkers), so there's no way all those people are from me, especially since I think most of the people on my FList were already aware of both the WWHA and WKA.

^^^^^Wow! What a badly constructed sentence! ^^^^^^

Anyway, in my little secret head, I agree that some of the nominees do have me scratching my head. I was especially surprised to see a certain author listed in the F/X category since I don't consider that story to be F/X at all (Buffy-bashing? Yes. F/X? Not so much.)

Overall, though, the categories I'm nominated in tend to be high quality anyway.

Trust me, you're not the only one scratching your head at some of the nominations... *grin*

I meant to say on your LJ, congratulations on the nominations for WWHA. If WKA can even garner an iota of the respect I have for that site I will be over the moon!

I know the story you mean. Grins.

ALthough as one facing you in most of the categories, also grinds and growls.

I voted! I feel better about myself now!


Gabrielle

Thanks Gabrielle!

You're welcome! I just hope I didn't vote for any of the stories you think are awful!


Gabrielle

Oh I'm sure you didn't - your taste is impeccable and I know you'd have thought the same of the not-so-good ones!

:::blushes:::


Thank you! That is such a fine compliment!


Gabrielle

Mara: If you're open to suggestions for next year...

1) If you're interested in some quality control over who gets nominated and in what category, you might want to consider a screening fics during the nomination process

2) I'd maybe organize some judges who would go through all the nominated stories, make sure they were nominated in the right category, and then decide whether the story was good enough to be put up for popular vote.

3) I'd limit the number of nominations to maybe five stories per category (you might want to expand it to 10 stories in the overall categories like "new author," "overall author," and "overall story.")

4) I'd also limit the number of times a person can be nominated in a single category. Once is really enough...really, two in a single category is waaaaay too much.

5) Limiting the number of nominations per category would make it a hella lot easier for someone time-crunched like me to actually vote. Why yes, I do review all the stories before making my vote. There have been instances in some fanfic awards where I've voted for someone else and against me.

6) You're also going to have to set some conflict-of-interest rules in place. If you're using Xander authors, there will probably be a conflict of interest. So, either they won't be able to vote to allow themselves beyond the screening process OR they won't be a allowed to screen categories in which they are nominated.

7) While I'd use a panel to screen the nominees, don't let them decide the winner. Leave it open to popular vote, less possibility of wank happening that way or accusations that you're biased

Have I mentioned how sad I was last year that the WKA got nailed? I had some WtF over some of the winners [*coughcough*Repossession*coughcough*], but that had nothing to do with the organizers at all. That was decided by popular vote.

Ummmm, hope I wasn't out of line by the above suggestions. :-)

Just that I saw your wail and thought you might want to consider the above options for next year.

Thanks Liz - that's actually very much along the lines I was thinking of taking but so much more thought out than I could ever hope to do!

The judging panel is definitely something I want to do for next time, there were certain people nominated in categories like New Author when I knew full well they'd been posting stories for years. However, I didn't remove them because I couldn't say hand-on-heart that the same wasn't true for other authors whose work I personally haven't seen.

Hopefully a panel next time will catch nominations like that and remove them before they go to the vote. And I absolutely agree - no matter how I structure it next time, the final decision will be a popular vote.

The sheer number of categories (49 I believe - even I can't keep track!) will be cut down dramatically next time round, those categories which only received two or three nominations this time will probably be incorporated into a wider category (for example - Xander/Dawn author and Xander/Andrew fic and author).

Limiting the number of nominations per category would work well with a panel in place, it would mean the gaps between nominations closing and voting starting would be a little longer. However, that's a good thing, considering I coded all the voting pages in one morning whilst incredibly 'tired and emotional' (for that, read 'hungover'). I cringe at the spelling mistakes on the forms right now - Nice instead of Nick? *grin*

I'm of the same opinion as you. No matter how much I like a fic, if it's nominated in an awards site I will read all the competition before voting. It's pretty clear from some of the votes I've received so far that certain people are just scanning for names they know. I should probably say, I haven't nominated, nor am I voting in these awards. It seems a little... unfair? if I do.

The point of the awards site is really to open up the scope, to introduce people to new writing. If a fic they really like is nominated in a certain category then maybe they'll like the other nominations as much, if not more.

That's the way I look at it anyway.

Once again - thank you for your input, it's much appreciated.

So, I'm thinking of organinsing a panel for next time and looking for volunteers.... *grin*

Sure, I'd volunteer, but only for those categories that I know I have no chance of ever being nominated in, i.e. New Author, Slash Categories (all of them), Xander ship I don't write, etc.

I mean, I'm not saying that I'd definitely be nominated in other categories like Overall Author or Overall Story again, but there's a chance I would so I'd rather not be involved with those categories, mostly because I want to avoid the "appearance of conflict."

So, yup, I'd be willing to volunteer on screening committees next year for categories where I don't have a dog in the fight...so to speak.

That's fantastic - thank you so much! I have no clue right now when it'll be, but trust me, I'll be in touch!

Limiting the number of stories by an author in a category and the number of stories in a category are both very sound ideas. Limiting the categories might be a good idea too, and if you don't have enough nominations in a category (say 3), just scrap it.

But judges.... A good idea but actually selecting and recruiting them and co-ordinating their respones, that sounds like more work than actually doing through a straight collation of votes.

If any of the above makes sense. Well, I'm amazed.

Recruiting might not be as big a problem as you might think. There's a whole lot of people I know (both on and off line) who might be interested - fic fans who aren't neccesarily writers who I think I could count on.

Speaking of...

*grin*

(yes, it is Sho, I'm EODing right now so say hi to another of my characters!)

Yes, not to insult you or anything, but how do you know the judges you're accepting are any good?

Do you judge them by the quality of the feedback they leave for example? How do you know if they have biases towards certain writers or in overall categories - ships etc.

I'll volunteer.

I can't write, so I won't have to worry about having a nominated story. I also have fairly eclectic taste in Xander-fic, so I'll read most genres and pairings, including slash.

That would be fantastic - thank you so much! As I said to Liz, I don't know yet what the timing will be but I'll definitely get in touch!

Sho xx