Absolute Chaos Discussion Boards

Fic Talk => Felix Awards => Topic started by: julilly on October 04, 2008, 10:20:58 AM

Title: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: julilly on October 04, 2008, 10:20:58 AM
A little survey for you all to fill out.


What did you like about last season?

What did you dislike about last season?

What would you change if you were as powerful and successful as someone like Julilly?
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: MellzBellz on October 04, 2008, 11:15:57 AM
What did you like about last season?

There were definitely a few things I liked. I liked how first off you had to nominate other people and couldn't nominate yourself. Then I liked the fact that the nominees were very representative of all of us on AC. I think just about every active member on this forum was at least nominated for something, which was nice. Finally I liked that the runner ups got recognized and got banners too. I wasn't expecting that and it was really nice to win something even though I wasn't the first choice.

What did you dislike about last season?

 My only thing that I can think of at least was that I would've liked to see more of a variety of categories and an even spread to all genres. I know that we were trying to include more original categories, but I just felt that some categories were more directed say like an action/suspense story than a romance for example. I thought judging was fair, but the rubric that was used to evaluate the stories could have been more specific to the particular category it was up for. Obviously you can't evaluate a fantasy story in the same way as an angst one cuz they have very different elements.

What would you change if you were as powerful and successful as someone like Julilly?

 I'd keep it basically the same with a few changes. First off I'd like to see some new different categories which we may have to do anyway because a lot of people are still on the same stories they were on last year. Maybe break them down by genre like Romance (Best romance, best kiss, best  breakup, whatever...) Suspense (Best Suspense, Best cliffhanger, Scariest Moment, etc...) I think we also should probably exclude stories that were nominated last year with the exception if they are still ongoing and signifigant progress has been made on them. Same thing with series if they are still being worked on they can be nominated again, but if they are closed they can't. That way it won't be like the SAME stories. I'd also suggest altering the rubric slightly to category when appropriate. That's all I can think of at the moment though.
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: julilly on October 04, 2008, 11:43:24 AM
What did you like about last season?

There were definitely a few things I liked. I liked how first off you had to nominate other people and couldn't nominate yourself. Then I liked the fact that the nominees were very representative of all of us on AC. I think just about every active member on this forum was at least nominated for something, which was nice. Finally I liked that the runner ups got recognized and got banners too. I wasn't expecting that and it was really nice to win something even though I wasn't the first choice.

What did you dislike about last season?

 My only thing that I can think of at least was that I would've liked to see more of a variety of categories and an even spread to all genres. I know that we were trying to include more original categories, but I just felt that some categories were more directed say like an action/suspense story than a romance for example. I thought judging was fair, but the rubric that was used to evaluate the stories could have been more specific to the particular category it was up for. Obviously you can't evaluate a fantasy story in the same way as an angst one cuz they have very different elements.

What would you change if you were as powerful and successful as someone like Julilly?

 I'd keep it basically the same with a few changes. First off I'd like to see some new different categories which we may have to do anyway because a lot of people are still on the same stories they were on last year. Maybe break them down by genre like Romance (Best romance, best kiss, best  breakup, whatever...) Suspense (Best Suspense, Best cliffhanger, Scariest Moment, etc...) I think we also should probably exclude stories that were nominated last year with the exception if they are still ongoing and signifigant progress has been made on them. Same thing with series if they are still being worked on they can be nominated again, but if they are closed they can't. That way it won't be like the SAME stories. I'd also suggest altering the rubric slightly to category when appropriate. That's all I can think of at the moment though.

Hmm. Interesting points. I think the only things I could add would be that we kept the list of categories short for a reason. The more categories you have, the more repeats of stories and judges you need. By making 12 categories just for romance you're going to end up with a bunch that don't get enough entries to fill them, or the same stories in multiple categories. As it was we had three categories that got canned for having barely any nominees. There was more than one for different genres though, ie best romance, best tear-jerker, best cliffhanger, etc but if you make a bunch of categories for one genre you have to do it for all of them... how would you make as many for AU, or Fantasy, as you would for Romance?

I think too it would be hard to make the rubrics individualized . Especially if you have dozens of categories. Keep in mind it's one person that does all of that, the judges just read and rate. We were evaluating the quality of the writing, the plot, the characters, the settings. I'm not entirely sure how you would get more specific to genre without it potentially getting very biased. You can evaluate a fantasy the same way as you would a romance. They're both fic, it doesn't matter if it's AU or angst, it's the quality of the writing that matters. That would be like saying a police drama and a period drama couldn't both be nominated in the same Oscar category because they're about different things.

I wanted to try and use more fact than opinion. I didn't want to know whether you liked the dialogue in chapter seven, I wanted to know if the dialogue made sense, and flowed, and assisted the plot, which, given that the judges had to apply, they had a fairly solid grasp of english and could determine that.

That being said, how did you imagine the rubric being changed so that it's easy for the judges, as well as easy for the person tallying the votes that is NOT biased?
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: MellzBellz on October 04, 2008, 12:42:33 PM
I definitely can see why you would want to keep the judged categories short. I wasn't suggesting that you had to include everything under the sun. I just think some awards categories could be replaced. For instance last year we had most creative storyline, most unusual storyline, and best plot twist. They were almost similair. Like I think we can definitely eliminate some categories. Some of them were a little vague. We did have the best of almost every genre so that was good. I personally would also like to see more character driven awards. I'm not complaining or anything, this is just a suggestion. You can also put more of the genre specific awards to be voted on by the readers of AC.

As for the rubrics I do think that it is important to evaluate it on grammer, plot, characterizati on etc... I would keep that. I would just add one specific line having to deal with that category. For instance if we are judging Best Suspense Story I think the rubric should have just one box for something like. "Did the story keep me on the edge of the seat wanting to know what happens next?" or "Was there enough action going on to make this story exciting?" "Did the author creatively execute a well thought out idea to base this story around?" Or for Best Comedy "Was this story funny?" I mean for most overall categories they can be judged on a plain rubric. I just think for slightly more specific categories the rubric needs at least one box that reflects that.
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: julilly on October 04, 2008, 03:27:01 PM
I know you're not complaining, I was hoping to actually have a dialogue about these things.

I get what you mean about the rubric but couldn't you basically cover it by giving detailed descriptions of what a category is, i.e: action/adventure keeps you on the edge of your seat, is exciting, involves cliffhangers, etc etc... then have a generic rubric that says "does the story encompass the typical characteristic s?". The idea of everyone's grading sheets being different is kind of daunting. I think it would be easier to make kind of a cheat sheet of what they're looking for in a particular genre.

One of the things on the rubric is "ideas are creative... unique... organised" which I think is kind of the same as saying "they executed the idea well"

I'm not entirely sure character driven awards would work. Since this is open to all fandoms we have to avoid specifying one.

We did have things like best hero, villain, couple, out-of-character, etc
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: MellzBellz on October 04, 2008, 07:06:53 PM
Good! I mean the awards were a very positive experience last year and I thought they went well. I at least was pleased, but I am just trying to come up with some things that could use smoothing over maybe. I think a cheat sheet would be a nice compromise. Something that the judge can look for and kind of check off if the story has those elements.

I think character driven awards can work. Every story has characters right? We had Best Villian and Best Couple and all that. Maybe like Best Male Character/Best Female character?
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: Rose on October 04, 2008, 09:58:54 PM
I have to say I kinda like the more character driven ones. Maybe not fandom specific...

But say

Best Male
Best Female
Best Supporting Character
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: julilly on October 05, 2008, 05:47:39 AM

I think character driven awards can work. Every story has characters right? We had Best Villian and Best Couple and all that. Maybe like Best Male Character/Best Female character?

Ah yes I see what you mean, I agree. I thought you meant like having fandom specific awards, like best howie, best group, etc
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: mare on October 05, 2008, 07:42:04 AM
I am not a big fan of best female, best male, best supporting character. I think those are kind of cliche and I also think they are more work for people judging unless they are some of the unjudged categories.
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: julilly on October 05, 2008, 07:45:45 AM
I would probably only include them in the member voted categories... that's where the character driven ones were last time
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: mare on October 05, 2008, 08:09:15 AM
I do think a great extra category should be judges choice and each one should pick a story they loved and give an award because of it Or Critics pick. That Eastwater convergence award site used to do that and I thought that was a great idea because it gave the judges a chance to explain why they picked what they did.

Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: julilly on October 05, 2008, 09:06:00 AM
That could become a popularity contest though too... after all, if I picked you people would say I picked you because we share a brain and not because I thought you were worthy.
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: mare on October 05, 2008, 09:47:38 AM
We should have a Mods choice award given at random to any story we deem worthy.

Also, maybe we can use a category and say the winner of that one would be the next featured story?





Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: julilly on October 05, 2008, 09:55:04 AM
I like the featured story one, and mods choice ... would there be a mods choice for each category or just a set number because as judges that could be wonky?
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: mare on October 05, 2008, 10:19:45 AM
I think just one overall because that would be a lot of reading if we did each category. I don't think it even necessarily needs to be a nominated story.
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: julilly on October 05, 2008, 11:03:42 AM
Ooh yes I like that
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: MellzBellz on October 05, 2008, 01:05:52 PM
Ah yes I see what you mean, I agree. I thought you meant like having fandom specific awards, like best howie, best group, etc


Oh no... Definitely not because I mean look at the ratio of Nick stories we have to Howie stories... Not exactly fair, but I like the character awards.
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: RokofAges75 on October 05, 2008, 01:48:48 PM
I like Mel's point about not including stories that were nominated last year, or at least last year's winners, unless the story was not finished then and is finished or further along now (a.k.a. not exactly the same thing it was last year).

One thing I got tired of back in the day of all the awards sites was seeing the same stories nominated in the same categories year after year.  It just got so old and stale.  I think it would help to keep the awards fresh and also spotlight some newer authors or newer stories if we only allowed stories that weren't nominated or didn't win as finished stories last year.  Those stories had their moment of glory... time to let other stories try for it.
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: RokofAges75 on October 05, 2008, 01:58:02 PM
What did you like about last season?
I liked that you couldn't nominate yourself.  I liked that the categories were a little more creative than the average old-school fanfic awards.  I liked that there was both judging and voting to determine winners.  I liked that the judges had a rubric to follow to keep it as objective as possible.  I liked that we actually followed through with the awards from start to finish and announced winners!

What did you dislike about last season?
There were some people who were nominated more than 10 times for various awards.  I know there was a rule that a story could only be nominated 3 times, which I thought was fair, but maybe there should also be a cap on how many times a single author can be nominated for various stories?  That would give more authors a shot at an award, and authors who have a lot of stories could always be nominated for different stories at the next awards.  I also didn't like how some stories or authors were nominated twice in the same category.  I don't think that's fair because for a voting category, it might split the votes and give that author less of a chance of winning, and for a judging category, it might give them a better chance because, hey, they have two out of the five stories in the running.  I think an author should only be allowed one nomination per category.

What would you change if you were as powerful and successful as someone like Julilly?
See above.  Also see my previous post regarding last year's winners or nominees being retired from the competition.
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: mare on October 05, 2008, 02:03:12 PM
I also think maybe judges shouldn't be eligible to compete for awards.
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: honey on October 05, 2008, 02:05:08 PM
basically Julie just said everything I was going to write. Thanks for saving me the trouble Julie!
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: RokofAges75 on October 05, 2008, 02:06:31 PM
I also think maybe judges shouldn't be eligible to compete for awards.

You might deter some people from judging that way LOL.  It's always fun to be nominated, especially when you can't nominate yourself and know it's coming from an actual reader.

I think as long as you're not judging a category you're nominated in (obviously), it works out okay.
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: RokofAges75 on October 05, 2008, 02:07:45 PM
basically Julie just said everything I was going to write. Thanks for saving me the trouble Julie!

LOL no prob!
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: MellzBellz on October 05, 2008, 02:44:23 PM
You might deter some people from judging that way LOL.  It's always fun to be nominated, especially when you can't nominate yourself and know it's coming from an actual reader.

I think as long as you're not judging a category you're nominated in (obviously), it works out okay.

Yea I agree with Julie. I mean I wasn't a judge last year, but it seemed like you were able to split up the categories pretty fairly among the judges. No one judged a category they were nominated for. I think if you say that judges can't be nominated no one would want to judge.
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: nicksgal on October 05, 2008, 03:05:43 PM
What did you like about last season?
Basically the same as everyone else has said. I thought it was pretty fair, for the most part. And everyone actually followed through with their stuff and we did announce winners and such.

What did you dislike about last season?
Probably that the same authors were nominated over and over again... It's not a personal vendetta or anything, but there are lots of authors on AC, and I feel like ninety percent of the nominees were like board regulars or something, you know?

What would you change if you were as powerful and successful as someone like Julilly?
I think it would help to cap the number of times an author can be nominated, that way people only pick the best of their best, you know? Also it would be nice if we went through with the idea that people who won last year couldn't be nominated for the same category with the same story... Maybe even runner-ups too?
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: RokofAges75 on October 05, 2008, 03:10:14 PM
Yea I agree with Julie. I mean I wasn't a judge last year, but it seemed like you were able to split up the categories pretty fairly among the judges. No one judged a category they were nominated for. I think if you say that judges can't be nominated no one would want to judge.

Oh, I'm sure some people would still judge... and take advantage of the opportunity to say, "Look how much I don't care about winning an award!  I'm going to sacrifice the opportunity to be nominated just so I can dedicate hours of my time to reading other people's stories!"

Please.  Everyone enjoys getting a nomination, whether you really care about winning or not.  It's an honor.  It says that someone deems your story worthy, and that is always a nice feeling.  No one here would be posting their stories on AC if they didn't enjoy the recognition.  I don't see the need to encourage "martyrs" by disqualifying judges from being nominated at all.
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: mare on October 05, 2008, 05:13:07 PM
Alright, it was just a thought lol If everyone is okay with it then I am too. I just don't want to give anyone a reason to cry foul because you know they will, if not here then somewhere else.
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: RokofAges75 on October 05, 2008, 05:36:24 PM
Oh, of course LOL.  But they would have no reason for it.  Judging one category and being judged in another have nothing to do with each other.  If someone's going to be biased on their judging, they'd be biased whether their friend was another judge or not.  But hopefully the rubric cuts down on that as much as possible.

As far as the rubric goes, maybe this year there could be a place where you have to add just one line that explains why you gave the score you did for each category... either that or a place at the end for a general comment about the story.  For example, if you give a story a 3 out of 5 for grammar, you could write something like, "The story was readable, but there were a lot of incorrectly-punctuated run-on sentences that really took away from the flow, along with other typos and errors."  Then if the author requested to see the score sheet later on and was like, "What!?  My grammar is impeccable!  Why did I only get a 3?" they would know.  As someone who judged last year, I don't think it would be asking too much of the judges... it would basically just be putting into words what should already be going through your head anyway.
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: nicksgal on October 05, 2008, 05:51:23 PM
^I wrote a little note like that for every story that I judged. :)
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: mare on October 05, 2008, 05:51:44 PM
^ I agree. I think judges comments are important.
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: julilly on October 05, 2008, 08:30:46 PM
I like Mel's point about not including stories that were nominated last year, or at least last year's winners, unless the story was not finished then and is finished or further along now (a.k.a. not exactly the same thing it was last year).

One thing I got tired of back in the day of all the awards sites was seeing the same stories nominated in the same categories year after year.  It just got so old and stale.  I think it would help to keep the awards fresh and also spotlight some newer authors or newer stories if we only allowed stories that weren't nominated or didn't win as finished stories last year.  Those stories had their moment of glory... time to let other stories try for it.

I'm leaning towards saying that you can't be nominated in the same category for the same story again.
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: RokofAges75 on October 05, 2008, 09:08:05 PM
I'm leaning towards saying that you can't be nominated in the same category for the same story again.

That sounds fair.
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: Teri on October 05, 2008, 09:08:37 PM
I can totally agree with that. It would allow for newer stories a chance at recognition!
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: mare on October 05, 2008, 09:28:01 PM
Maybe we can also include a New authors and a new story category for people who have only written one story?
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: Rose on October 05, 2008, 09:29:27 PM
I'm leaning towards saying that you can't be nominated in the same category for the same story again.

Sounds fair to me.
Title: Re: Season 2 - the kinks
Post by: LenniluvsBrian on October 12, 2008, 10:36:15 PM
What did you like about last season?
That you couldn't nominate yourself & that it was fun.

What did you dislike about last season?
Um...I'm not sure. I can't remember all of it - lol.

What would you change if you were as powerful and successful as someone like Julilly?
I think everything was fine just the way it was, really.

~Lenni~

P.S. I'm not very much help, now am I? Lol.