  Contests & Activities
This week: Edited by: terryjroo
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The abundance of contests and activities offered at Writing.com, help to create the most exciting and fun website for writers. The Contest and Activities Newsletter is provided each week to, not only assist you in keeping up with the latest and greatest items, but to help assure that, if interested, you have the tools necessary to run a successful contest or activity. Enjoy this issue and please feel free to comment at the bottom!
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Hosting an Ongoing Contest
As you poke through the contest listings, you'll notice quite a few ongoing contests, that is, contests that repeat themselves on a regular basis (i.e. daily, weekly, monthly). It takes a tremendous amount of work and dedication to run this type of contest, so my hat’s off to the wonderful people who host them!
To run an ongoing contest you must first create the contest. Before doing so you want to consider the following:
 What sort of contest do I want to host? (poetry, short story, flash fiction, etc.)
What amount of time can I dedicate to the contest? (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.)
What prizes should I offer? (gift points, awardicons, merit badges, etc.)
Who will judge? (besides myself, will I enlist others to help?)
Once you have answered these questions you can create your contest. The majority of contests are set up as forums since they allow for the most posts. You will want to list your contest under the contest genre so ensure it can be found by the WDC search feature. In the body of the forum you want to state how often you will be running the contest and list the start and end dates (include a time for the end) for the current round. Make sure that you spell out the rules of the contest clearly and logically. Use WritingML to highlight important aspects of the contest. Last, create a welcome or prompt post to let contest entrants know that the contest is open and accepting entries.
A couple of notes on running your ongoing contest:
 Make sure that you have adequate gift points to cover your prizes for and extended period of time. While many contests will receive donations, you cannot count on them to fund your project. Also, keep gift points for your contest in a group item that you create just for the contest so you don't commingle them with your own personal gift points.
Speaking of donations - if you offer a merit badge for donations over a specific amount, proper etiquette is to give the merit badge from your own gift points, not take them out of the donation gift points, thus reducing the donation by 10,000 gift points.
Most ongoing contests seem to have the owner as the sole judge. While this makes things easy on the owner, it’s nice to bring in guest judges as well from time to time. Make sure you list any judges other than yourself should you decide to use them.
While not necessary, it’s always nice to create a winners list (a simple static item listing links to the winner’s items) so that others can see who you’ve awarded in the past.
Don’t forget to periodically list your contest on "Writing Contests @ Writing.Com"
Should you need to temporarily close your contest or go on hiatus, be sure to state that in the description and the body of the contest. Also, you should post a message stating that the contest is closed and when it will be open again, if it will.
I hope you’ve found this issue helpful!
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Daily Contests
Weekly Contests
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Every Two Weeks Contests
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Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
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Comments from my newsletter on blogging:
likenion says: “Cool newsletter! Interesting insight about blogs and all with them. Loved it!”
Mariposa   says: “Great newsletter, Terry!!”
Celticeagle/km2007 says: “I figure any format that allows you to write is okay by me.”
ryanpie says: “Wow - I've never thought of blogging as an activity. But when I saw this, I thought of it differently.  Some cool responses you have from bloggers.
I've always tried to blog, and have never been successful. 
I think a good idea to have as a future topic is groups. I don't think I've seen an edition on that topic.”
windac says: “It's high time someone finally brought the genre of blogs into the NL limelight. Well done, and thanks!”
StephBee  says: “Two thumbs up on a great newsletter about blogging! I loved how you gave us a great recap of blogging's history and highlighted some really wonderful WDC blogs.”
Lexi  says: “Ter, Blogging seems to be a big part of many peoples' lives. You did good with this topic. ”
PastVoices says: “My favorite contest I have entered, on the site, is billwilcox’s 500 word weekly dialogue contest. I only entered once when the prompt struck a nerve.
I missed the last issue and quiz, but I have to say, I never notice the prizes when I enter. Badges, trophies, giftpoints, and ribbons are nice, but making myself write something more acceptable than rambling in my blog is what I look for.”
Thanks for all of your great feedback! I’m so glad that y’all enjoyed my last newsletter! I enjoy putting them together for you!!
Question - What is your favorite contest or activity on Writing.com? |
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Contests & Activities: June 27, 2007 Issue [#1799]
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