FanFiction and Manga Contest Rules

Works may be submitted online, in person, or by snail mail.

The snail mail address for submission is:
Kumoricon Fanfiction Contest
c/o Ellen Klowden
P.O. Box 5098
Eugene, Oregon, 97405, USA

If you are submitting via snail mail, please submit two copies of each work (either on discs or paper hardcopies)–one for each judge.

Novella authors who cannot afford to make two copies are allowed to make just one copy for the two judges to share.

Those submitting online may utilize any of the following options:

By Private Message on the Kumoricon forum: RemSaverem

By Email: fanfic@kumoricon.org
(and/or rem_saverem_was_right@yahoo.com)

Sending links via IMs: rem_saverem_was_right on yahoo messenger.

Those who submit hardcopies should please submit copies and keep originals; works will not be returned, though arrangements may be made with the judge for beta-reading feedback.

Opportunities for turning in works in person include: At Kumoricon General Meetings; at the Creation Station at Anime Evolution; and by private arrangement if you are going to be in Eugene.

Entries will be accepted from the moment these rules are posted. Please have everything in by the pre-con deadlines. Fics submitted after the deadline are welcome in on-site competitions, such as Fanfiction Bedtime Stories and exceptions may be made in extreme cases, but not for novela

Novellas must be submitted by August 8, 2006. All other forms of fanfic must be submitted by August 24, with the exceptions of offline manga and of best beta submissions (see below).

Web comic links/online manga links must be submitted by this same deadline of August 24. However, manga created offline–or created online, but printed out in hardcopy– may be submitted through 11:59 P.M Saturday, September 2.

To encourage recognition of the importance of and talent among Beta Readers, there will be a “Best Beta” portion of this contest. Provide a first draft and a final draft of the same fic, along with either the actual written editorial suggestions of your beta and/or a summary by you of the input from your beta. Submissions for the Best Beta portion of the Kumoricon 2006 Fanfic & Manga contest will be accepted through 12:00 Noon on September 3. Webcomics and both online and offline manga and that have been beta read may also be submitted in this category of the contest.

No pieces that would be considered to have a rating beyond PG-13 will be evaluated in this contest. However, explicit hentai, yaoi and yuri fics are welcome at after-hours Fanfiction Bedtime Stories in an adults-only atmosphere after 11pm. Shonen-ai and shoujo-ai are always very welcome, just no explicit scenes/art beyond a PG-13 rating due to the family nature of the con.

Give credit to source material(s). Not only is this ethically and legally indicated, but it also will help your judges, who might need to do some research to check how well your characters and plots would actually fit the canonic universe, if your sources are materials with which we are unfamiliar. Collaborations are welcome, but credit all collaborators.

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. No works of original fiction will be accepted. However, there will be time set aside during the con for discussion of, sharing of, and finding beta readers for, works of original fiction. Original fiction will be welcome at Bedtime Stories, as well.

Fanfic works submitted do not need to be in prose. They may be poems. Songfics and filks are welcome. For the most part, these take the form of prose fics into which song lyrics are interwoven. However, fics in the form of song lyrics themselves would also be welcome, as well as filks.

No pieces beta read by either or both of this contest’s judges (Ellen Klowden and Amy Unfred) can be entered in this contest, due to conflict of interest. However, you may still read those at Bedtime Stories, wherein the audience selects the winners.

Volunteers and staff are welcome to participate in any program at the Fanfic Creation Station, including these contests, as long as it does not interfere with staffing or volunteering duties.

Each author should select in which genres each of her or his submissions should be entered. Each author may select up to 3 genres for consideration for each piece. The status of newbie is separate from the genres selected. Each author who has never previously participated in a fanfic contest should select 3 genres and also note that they qualify for consideration as a newbie.

Authors may submit multiple pieces, but please limit to your best 3 pieces per genre. This limit will be enforced for the novella category, to ensure time to get to everyone’s work.

Works of multiple chapters, or over twelve typed pages in length, shall be evaluated as novellas. For the purposes of this contest, there will be a page limit to the novella category. Works in excess of 100 pages will be accepted, but it will be incumbent upon the author to suggest which sections are most important for the judges to read, as, depending on the number of lengthy works submitted, they may lack time to fully read each work over 100 pages. If there are multiple works of this length, they will be evaluated in a separate category from works 50 pages and under.

There is no minimum length for a submission for any category. Drabbles, including those composed for on-site contests at conventions, are acceptable. Single-page works will be accepted, as will works in progress, by popular demand. However, this year, works in progress will not be evaluated as their own, separate, cross-genre category. Rather, works in progress will be evaluated in the genres they fit.

Fics accompanied by original illustrations, be they hand-done or computer-generated will 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. Hybrids are welcome (i.e., Manga partially created online and partially created offline).

Entries in any genre(s) 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 other parts of Kumoricon programming (e.g., during Scenes From a Hat or drabbles composed in the Fan Creation Station) may be submitted. Materials read at Bedtime Stories but not previously submitted in this contest may be submitted.

Materials that have already won prizes at Kumoricon may not be submitted for this contest. However, they may be read at Bedtime Stories and win prizes therein, as the audience selects the winners.

Works submitted for this contest may be works you have already published in various online fanfic communities.

No new rules will be introduced without explicit mention on the forums.

Only those attending the convention may be awarded prizes.

Submissions may be typed/printed, hand printed, or handwritten in cursive. However, they must be legible.

Include the following with each submission: your full name, your name as it will appear on your badge, your pen name as you would want it printed/announced if you are a winner, home contact info (email and/or phone, your name on the forums (if any), age if minor (for special prize for submissions from folks 16 & under), the names of anyone else collaborating on the work, identification of source material, suggested genres for consideration in the contest, and whether or not you are a “newbie” (see below).

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.

It will not matter what you use for font, type of paper, margins, spacing, etc., so long as your judges can read your work.

Original characters, alternate universes, and crossovers are welcome, but particularly for crossovers, be sure to credit all canonic sources.

Works entered in this contest are encouraged as entries in Fanfic Bedtime Stories and Fanfic Theatre events as well.

Works entered in this contest are welcome as pieces that may be beta-read at the Beta Station table in the Fan Creation Station. Manga entered in this contest may likewise be enhanced via the networking and supplies at the Artists’ Den table in the Fan Creation Station.

Technical writing skills (e.g., spelling, punctuation, grammar, paragraphing, etc.) will be noticed, and will be rewarded via the Best Technical Writing Skills category (and as a consideration in the Best Beta category). However, in all other categories, your judges will be more invested in character continuity and storyline.

The following are the possible genres in which submissions may win awards. (Awards might not be provided in categories for which there are too few submissions.)

Tentative Award categories include:
Best Beta
Best Technical Writing Skills
Best Newbie
Best Creator–Age 16 & Under
Best Drama
Best Comedy
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 Romance
Best Authenticity (see below)
Best Backstory (see below)
Best Presentation (see below)

Best Authenticity will be awarded to the author and/or illustrator whose interpolation of Japanese and/or other non-English phrases and/or customs (a) feels most natural, (b) is most accurate, and (c) is best-documented and explained. All non-English terms used in your Fic or Manga must be explained in footnotes, endnotes, or the text. Brownie points are given for footnotes or links verifying the authenticity of customs depicted. This award is designed to encourage (a) thoroughness, (b) detail, (c) cultural awareness, (d) research.

“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 me to it prior to the start of the con, but works of this magnitude will be accepted through the beginning of Fanfic Bedtime Stories at 8:00 P.M. on September 3. Any works submitted in this category will be viewed and appraised by the Fanfic Bedtime Stories audience.

Feedback is always strongly encouraged!

Thank you and we look forward to your participation!
Fondly,
Rem/Ellen for the Creation Station at Kumoricon 2006