Kerry has given me permission to go for this, so here goes.
As the project director for a small college magazine, I get to run contests on my site sponsored by Hachette Books, in which the prizes for "winning" is a big box of books.
Here's one for us at OS.
After much discussion here are the rules, and an experiment in determining the five (5) winners. (If this contest is successful, I can promise you that there will be other contests. So, read on, McDuff.)
A Father's Day Contest.
I am inviting all members of OS to participate in a contest whose theme is simply "father's day." You are invited to submit prose (fiction and non-fiction), poetry, and artwork. The only requirement is that it be original. (No YouTube videos, please unless they're your own work.)
Father's Day this year is June 21. Entries will be accepted until 12:01 a.m. on June 22.
The winning entries will receive the following:
Dads and Grads Book Giveaway:
The Nine Lessons By Kevin Milne ISBN: 159995074X
Do-Over! By Robin Hemley ISBN: 0316020605
The Man's Book By Thomas Fink ISBN: 0316033642
BoneMan's Daughters By Ted Dekker ISBN: 1599951959
An Honorable German By Charles McCain ISBN: 0446538981
The Richest Man in Town By W. Randall Jones ISBN: 0446537837
Lincoln on Leadership By Donald Phillips ISBN: 0446394599
Outliers By Malcolm Gladwell ISBN: 0316017922
UPDATE: Great News: Hachette has just added Dave Cullen's Columbine to the prize package!!
Rules:
I do not want to set myself up as the judge of this contest. I want members of OS to vote for the winners. BUT, this is not a popularity contest. So, all entries will be anonymous, and each person who submits an entry makes an agreement as part of his or her entry that s/he will not "blogwhore" to ask friends to read a particular entry to vote for it.
Please send your entry as a PM to OS BOOK CLUB. I will post each entry with the title you give me. Each will be listed as OS BOOK CLUB as the author, and at the end of each day, I will post a separate blog post listing each new entry with a link to the post.
Entries may be thumbed as if they were regular blog entries. The top five winners will be determined by reader ratings, and that number will be calculated at 9 pm EDT on Tuesday, June 23.
Believe me, there has been a tremendous amount of discussion as to the most fair way to judge this contest. This is the best I can come up with, and yes, I know it's a ton of work. If there is someone out there who is not intending to enter the contest but who would like to help me with posting, I would be grateful. Please let me know.
If you have previously posted something that you would like to post as part of this contest, you may do so. I would ask you to a)change the title so that it might not immediately be found by a search; b)perhaps do some "tweaks" in the original text so it is not the exact same piece of work.
Again. This is not a popularity contest. Please do not tell your friends what you have entered in this contest. We want to see if it is possible for things to be juged on OS simply based on the merit of what it is written/designed/created. I do not want hurt feelings because people feel that there is favoritism involved. I am doing everything in my power to eliminate favoritism here.
Judging a work on whether it is worthy of a thumb or not will be each reader's responsibility.
Please tag your work "father's day contest" as a backup tag for those looking for entries. Obviously, the easiest way to find the entries will be to check the OS BOOK CLUB page.
FOR FUTURE REFERENCE: If this contest is successful, Hachette has already let me know there is another book contest in the works. The subject of that contest will have something to do with "summer," so look for an announcement of that contest later this month.
Dave Cullen, who is also published by Hachette, has asked me to ask my contact there to include his book in the giveaway. I will certainly alert you if that request is honored by his publisher.
Any questions? Please ask them in the comments. That way we can deal with them all at once.
Happy creations!!!!!
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Laurenjwalter
Steven Axelrod
scupper
Stim
Jeff Shelden
Sally Swift
Salon.com
Comments
PS The box of books is a wonderful prize. I hope Hachette is pleased with how this works out and this is just the first of many such contests.
I guess what's becoming clear is that the goal of anonymity may not work, but this is an experiment. If it turns out to be a dud, then I guess we can go back to posting and either having people vote, or put together a panel of judges to decide the winners.
In the past, at the magazine I edit, I've been responsible for choosing the winners, but since I'm the editor, that feels right. Here, I'm a peer, so choosing the winners doesn't quite feel right to me.
But let's try this anonymous stuff. If it is just too difficult--because of the comment stuff, well, it will have been a noble experiment.
Thanks for all your comments!
Lorraine
What do you think???
Excellent plan!
Second, I also greatly appreciate all of the thought you have put into making this fair, and how open you have been to not only soliciting feedback but incorporating it.
Regarding comments: I support the idea of turning them off, and then allowing people to re-post their entries on their own blogs after the contest is over.
You are wonderful!
I would have never been able to figure all of this out.
Some competitions have a restriction concerning prizes being sent internationally. (Does OS not have a similar position concerning "TIP"?) With this being an international membership could there be an indication as to whether the awards are available to those living out side USA?
If that is considered to be acceptable, I would suggest a free vote by members to select a small group of judges. As I said, just a thought.
Right now, I'm feeling a little insane. But thanks, and thanks to all who thanked me. Or is that "you're all welcome?" :)