UPGRADE AIDE CONTEST

Here's my review:

Emerin,

First off, this is a good contest that encourages members to step out of their shells and participate in order to win a three-month upgrade.

Rachel does have a point, it does seem a little long. Towards the end of the contest, all I could think was "When will this be over?" It seems like a long vacation and an hour into the drive, you're already asking "Are we there yet?" It's not like we don't want it to be over, we just want to be there.

I don't think I had that feeling last year, but, hey, that was a year ago and I can't remember what I did yesterday.

I would change it down to a week at least. That way, it's shorter and you can have more different themes. Which brings me to my next topic.

Most of your themes were the same. There was three days of reviewing, yes, who we had to review was different, but it's still reviewing. I would suggest have one day of reviewing. Whether it be the judges, the people in front and in back of you, or the contest. Dwindle it down to just one day of reviewing.

Another thing I had trouble with was the limerick. I've never done a limerick. I would keep the limerick, but I would also put in other forms of poetry. Villanelle, hiaku, etc. Say, "Day 5: Write Me A Poem. You only have to write me one poem, but it has to be using one of these forms: [poetry forms]" and have like five different forms for the poems. That way, it's more ranged and the participants don't have to struggle with a form they're not use to. Or, if they've never done any of the forms, they have five different ones they can try.

For the next round, you should keep day one's prompt. That one is the one I had the most fun doing.

I know you're pretty much limited with just writing and reviewing for this contest, but I would still try to expand it. Day one: Why do you deserve an upgrade? Day two: Review this! Day three: Interactive fun! Day four: Ribbon Story/Poem (write a story or a poem about an awardicon. ) Day five: Write me a poem! Day six: Merit badge fun (what merit badge do you really want? And for this one, to the winner, you could give them that merit badge.) Day seven: Letter to the judges (ending day, write to the judges. Tell them why or why you didn't like this contest)

Or something like that!

I would also say somewhere in the forum body, what the contest's themes will be about. Don't go into great detail, just say: "There will be writing prompt, you will have to write a story and a poem. You're also going to have to review. If you don't do any of those, I suggest you not sign up." I think that was why some of the people left early. They realized that they were going to have to write and review, so they ditched the contest, not emailing you. But, hey, their life could've gotten in the way, too.

It's just something to think about. Not everybody likes to review or can write poems. Or even short stories. If they can't and they sign up for this contest, they'll be disappointed when they find out they have to do one of those things.

Keep up the great work, Em!

Ashy