Coming soon to a writing site near you...
The Big Review
Where?
YWS
When?
01/07/2015 (1st July)
What?
The Big Review is a contest where reviewers are pitted against each other in a contest to find out who writes the most helpful, best quality reviews. And who better to judge this than the authors themselves?
Every entrant is guaranteed at least two reviews because the contestants will be reviewing each other's writing. Even after being knocked out of the contest, as long as the contestant followed the rules, they will still be on the books to receive reviews from the remaining participants.
Why?
A lot of the review contests we do on YWS focus on how many reviews a person can write or how long they can make them. This isn't about that. This is about you as writers saying which reviewer helped you the most with your work, whether it was the shortest review or the cheeriest review or the one which cut you to shreds and made you want to cry in the corner. It's up to you to decide which one was the most helpful to you.
How?
Contestants will be given the names of three YWS'ers every Sunday night. They will then have Monday through Friday to write a review for each of those YWSers. They may review the same piece as another contestant or a different piece.
Then by Sunday at 8:00pm GMT, the contestants must award 1, 2 or 3 points to each reviewer so they will give 3 points to the best review, 2 points to the next best and 1 point to the review they found least helpful.
At the end of round 1, the contestants will be divided into two groups. The half with the highest points will become group 1 and those with the lowest points will be group 2. Nobody is knocked out in the first round.
For the second round, each reviewer will be going head to head with another reviewer. They will not necessarily review the same contestants (though group one will review group one and group two will review group two) but their points will be compared at the end of the round. Where there is an odd number of contestants, a group of three will be formed and only the contestant with the highest points will remain in.
At the end of every week, the contestant in group 2 with the most points will move up to group 1.
Where there is a tie or a contestant fails to rank their reviewers, I will decide, unless it is my own points which need adding up. I will then ask someone neutral to decide.
The ways of being disqualified are as follows:
1. Failing to complete three reviews. This will result in you being dropped from the contest and you will not be included in the review roster.
2. Failing to rank the reviews you received. You will be able to remain in the contest, but you will no longer receive any reviews yourself.
If you know you will be away then please let me know at least one week in advance. This will enable me to not include you in the review roster for that week and you will get a pass through to the next round. Everyone can use this privilege once only but not to pass through the semi finals or finals.
This contest is expected to last for six weeks, depending on how many join. At round four it is likely that contestants will be placed in groups of three or four with only one survivor in order to prepare for a small number of semi finalists.
Can I join?
If you've got at least three published works then sign up below to participate. The contestants are currently:
1. @Rydia
2. @Arkhaion
3. @AdjiFlex
4. @Tuesday
5. @Megrim
6. @Wolfie36
7. @Wolfare1
8. @Pompadour
9. @IronSpark
10. @Meandbooks
11. @Pretzelsing
12. @hermione315
13. @megsug
14. @Carlito
Prizes
If you make it to the end of the contest, you will have written approximately 18 reviews. You will have received in return approximately 18 reviews.
You will also receive a participant's badge and the winner will receive a winner's badge.
As if that wasn't enough, you will also win one favour from me and can cash this in however you please. Whether you want me to make your story a Staff Pick, or join a storybook or make your name pink for a day, so long as it's a reasonable request and not harmful to YWS or her members then I am at your disposal.
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