Kumoricon 2008 Fanfiction Contest
Coordinated By: Judges: Jeni, Kate and Mandy; Fanfiction Coordinator: Sandi Farmer (Kitsunehi) and Creation Manager: Ellen Klowden
Layout for this set of Contest Rules:
General Rules
How To Submit
Award Categories
Fan Fiction Bedtime Stories
Deadlines
“See Below” Section
Other Information of Note to Entrants
General Rules
We want to be able to accept all entries, so please read and comply with all rules carefully!
Any questions about these rules please address to fanficcontest@kumoricon.org . Please put [Kumoricon 2008 Fanfic Contest Question] as a header in your title. This will allow for quick response from the judges and coordinators.
One entry per email please, even if you are only giving the judges and coordinator links.
All entries must be previously beta read or edited before submission; too many errors will disqualify a piece.
Materials that have already won prizes from Creation Station judges for the overall fanfiction/novella or manga/webcomic contests at Kumoricon, Chibi Chibi Con, Sakura-Con, Otafest, or Anime Evolution may not be submitted for this contest.
Materials that have been beta read by any of the Fanfic Judges and/or the Contest Coordinator may not be submitted for this contest.
Kumoricon judges will be using the Fiction Rating system on Fictionratings.com. Please check the site to see where your fic falls. Anything with a rating of MA cannot be considered for the general fanfiction contest.
Attempting to pass someone else’s work off as your own is plagiarism and will not be tolerated in this contest. If you are writing or drawing in another ficcer’s universe, please cite that.
If you worked on this with another person, please cite that. If your work is a parody of another’s work, please cite that. An example of that is here:
http://gwaddiction.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=12273.
Please remember to cite any reference materials, as it will put you into consideration for Best Authenticity, but also remember to share the credit if you worked with another person.
Acceptable source materials include but are not limited to: Anime series, movies, or OVA; manga; doujinshi; Web comics; dating sims/visual novels/ren’ai gaming; anime-inspired video, computer, console, and table-top, board, RPG, LARP, or other games; and for the one non-anime category, anything with a fan base.
While we encourage entries of original content webcomics and original content manga, no works of original text-only fiction will be accepted for this particular contest. Original text-only works will be permitted for in-room events such as: Fanfic Bedtime Stories, Scenes from a Hat, and Fic-Into-Art & Art-Into-Fic contests.
Fanfic works submitted do not need to be in prose; they may be poems. Songfics and filks are welcome.
Volunteers and staff are welcome to participate in any program at the Creation Station, including these contests, as long as it does not interfere with staffing or volunteering duties.
Authors may submit multiple pieces, but please limit to your best 3 pieces per genre. This limit will be enforced for the novella (12 pages typed or multiple part fics) category, to ensure time to get to everyone’s work.
Works of novel length (100+ pages) will be limited to one per author.
Fics accompanied by original illustrations, be they hand-done or computer-generated, may additionally be evaluated in the Manga category. Illustrators must also be credited.
Entries in the Manga category may be sole-person productions or team productions, but all contributors must be credited (e.g., storyboard, outlining, coloring). Art may be black and white or color, handmade or computer-generated. Format may be left to right or right to left.
Manga and webcomics which were previously entered in the overarching Kumoricon Fanfic contest may be re-entered only if they did not win when first submitted and have been substantively rewritten/redrawn since previously submitted.
Materials generated during previous other parts of Kumoricon 2007 (or other convention 2008) programming (e.g., during Scenes From a Hat or drabbles composed in the Creation Station) may be submitted. Materials read at Bedtime Stories or presented as part of Fanfic Theatre, but not previously submitted in this contest, may be submitted. Also welcome are extensions from prior On-Site Mini-Manga contests.
Any manga entries submitted during Con must be hand-delivered to the Fanfiction Coordinator within the Creation Station and must be submitted in hard copy, i.e., printed on paper, or possibly on disc.
Multimedia parody entries, if you wish, may be pre-screened by the Judges and Coordinator prior to FFBS, by arrangement, up to the beginning of Fan Fiction Bedtime Stories. We regret that we do not yet know if we will have online access at the convention.
While we do not permit original fiction for this particular contest, original fiction is welcome to be turned in at con are encouraged to be entered into our Fic-Into-Art Contest.
No new rules will be introduced without explicit mention on the forums.
Contestants must attend the con to enter the contest or receive any prizes.
How To Submit
Submissions may be typed/printed, hand printed, or handwritten in cursive. However, they must be legible.
Include the following at the beginning of each submission:
Title of Entry:
Your full name: (your name as it will appear on your badge)
Pen name: (as you would want it printed/announced if you are a winner)
Names of anyone else collaborating on the work:
Your name on the forums (if any):
Fandom:
Genres to which you are submitting each piece (limit 3 per piece):
Any spoilers:
Rating:
Home contact info: (email and/or phone)
Age if minor (for special prize for submissions from folks 16 & under)
Is this your first contest?:
Notes:
You may submit your entries online, in person, or by snail mail.
To submit online, email to fanficcontest@kumoricon.org.
To submit in person, come to a Kumoricon General Meeting prior to deadline or submit at the Creation Station at Anime Evolution (making clear whether your submission is for AE, KC, or both). See also deadline section, above. (Email fanficcontest@kumoricon.org to make arrangements; other possibilities may emerge.)
To submit by snail mail, mail to Creation Station c/o Ellen Klowden, P.O. Box 5098, Eugene, OR 97405.
Award Categories
Best Newbie (see below)
Best Creator—Age 16 & Under
Best Drama
Best Comedy
Best Romance
Best Songfic/Filk
Best Crossover/Fusion
Best Canon
Best Fanon
Best Parody—Written
Best Parody—Multimedia (see below)
Best Novella—Humorous
Best Novella—Serious
Best Manga—Black & White, Hand-Drawn
Best Manga—Color, Hand-Drawn
Best Manga—Black & White, Computer-Generated
Best Manga—Color, Computer-Generated
Best Web-comic/Online Manga
Best Authenticity (see below)
Best Backstory (see below)
Best Presentation (see below)
Best Entry by Convention Staff
Fan Fiction Bedtime Stories
Stories may be read or cosplayed at Fanfiction Bedtime Stories and win prizes therein, as audience response selects the winners, but M-rated material may be eligible to be read at the after-hours bedtime stories and considered for an on-site contest. These are the rating rules on Fanfiction.net and are for the safety and equal participation of all contestants (not just the adults).
If you are a minor submitting a fic with an M rating, please have a signed parental permission form saying that your parent knows you’ve written this and gives you permission to submit it.
Original fiction will be welcome at Bedtime Stories.
Multimedia parody entries, if you wish, may be pre-screened by the Judges and Coordinator prior to FFBS, by arrangement, up to the beginning of Fan Fiction Bedtime Stories. We regret that we do not yet know if we will have online access at the convention.
Deadlines
Entries will be accepted from the moment these rules are posted.
Novellas and novel-length fics must be submitted by one month pre-con (July 30th).
All other forms of text-only fanfic must be submitted by August 15. This includes electronic submittals (e-mail, links, etc.), as we will no longer be taking submissions at con.
Web-comic links/online manga links must be submitted by this same deadline of August 15.
Manga created offline may be submitted through 11:59 pm Saturday, August 30, and multimedia forms of parody are to be submitted at the beginning of the Fanfiction Bedtime Stories event (see pocket guide for schedule). Some fiction will be allowed for specific on-site contests, as mentioned in the earlier General Rules guidelines.
For this year, please do everything in your power to have your submissions in by the pre-con deadlines for the sanity of our judges. Fics are welcome after that time, but may not be eligible for entry other than when read or performed for our Fanfiction Bedtime Stories event. Exceptions can be made, but only in extraordinary circumstances, and not for novella nor for novel-length fics.
“See Below” Section
Best Newbie. For the purposes of this contest, a “newbie” is one who has not previously entered any work in any contest (online, at school, at a con, etc.). One need not be a first-time author, just a first-time competitor.
Best Authenticity will be awarded to the author and/or illustrator who uses their work to explain or show something about another culture. Culture can be anything from a subculture (such as the Shinjuku kids or American-style punk) to a completely different country (the most common here would be Japan, but in an AU you can put these characters anywhere). Authenticity is an essential tool for a writer’s believability, and seamless incorporation of all of your research is important.
“Best Backstory” will be awarded to the author and/or illustrator who takes the time to best explicate (a) what inspired the work; (b) how it relates to his/her personal life and/or what it meant to her/him to write; (c) how it relates to the canonic material; and (d) what the judge needs to know to comprehend the choices characters make, their interactions, their actions, and their universe. Links to canonic illustrations will be given brownie points, but will not suffice to constitute back-story.
Best Presentation will be awarded to an author and/or artist who takes the time to provide extras alongside her/his submission that explicate and showcase the submission in a captivating and professional light. Examples include full glossary, bibliography, etc.
“Parody—Multimedia”. Anyone who intends to work on such an ambitious project must alert the Contest Coordinator and/or Judges to it prior to the start of the con, but works of this magnitude will be accepted through the beginning of Fanfic Bedtime Stories (see Pocket Guide for Schedule). Any works submitted in this category will be viewed and appraised by the Fanfic Bedtime Stories audience.
Other Information of Note to Entrants
Make certain your sources are either put in the notes section of the header or in endnotes. If they are in endnotes, please mention such in the Notes. If there are footnotes, please put that in your Notes.
It will not matter what you use for font, type of paper, margins, spacing, etc., so long as the judges can read your work. Please remember that, just like any form of art, presentation is an important part of writing, and visual presentation can affect how a judge feels.
Original characters, alternate universes, crossovers and fusion are welcome, but particularly for crossovers, be sure to credit all canonic sources.
Works entered in this contest are welcome as pieces that may be beta-read at the Beta Station table in the Creation Station. Manga entered in this contest may likewise be enhanced via the networking and supplies at the Artists’ Den table in the Creation Station.
