Voice Competition Approval Guidelines

This page lists the requirements for sanctioning a fiction-based competition for the awarding of Clusters of Ice. All fiction competitions, including ACC and Run-Ons, must go through the Voice Staff before final approval by the MAA Staff.

Approval Process

For non-Rogue or non-Dark Councilor members, all Fiction Competitions will go through the following approval process: Clan/House Leadership -> Voice Staff -> Master at Arms Staff. This is why it is important for members to work with their Clan/House leadership when running or organizing a fiction competition.

Standard Approval Process:

Clan/House Leadership -> Voice Staff -> Master At Arms Staff

Rogue or Dark Councilor members will go directly to the Voice Staff, followed by the Master at Arms.

Required Elements

• Clear Grading Criteria - This is perhaps the most important aspect to any competition, fiction competitions included. While we encourage folks to use the official Voice Fiction Grading Rubric, it is not a requirement. As long as the criteria are clearly stated, it will be sufficient for this requirement. These grading criteria must be stated in the public details portion of the competition.

• Separation Between Prompt and Instructions - When submitting a fiction competition, there needs to be a clear separation between the prompt and grading criteria and other instructions. This can be through the use of headings, bold/italic text, or other methods to create a clear delineation in the final product. It is suggested, though not required, that all prompt information should be in the Details for Participants section.

• Word Count Minimums and Maximums - When submitting a competition, clearly define minimum/maximum word counts for fictions as well as minimum post counts for run-ons, if any will be enforced. Word maximums are not mandatory. This ties into the awarding of Cluster of Ice.
  • Fiction - Fiction competitions have a requirement of a five hundred (500) word minimum. This allows participants to earn at least one Cluster of Ice. Fiction competitions that have a less than five hundred (500) word minimum should be run under the Other competition type and are ineligible for any Clusters of Ice.
  • Run-On - Run-on based events must have a minimum of two (2) posts of two hundred and fifty (250) words. This allows participants to earn at least one Cluster of Ice. Run-ons must have a maximum word count per post.
    • The recommended length is no longer than one thousand (1,000) words per post, but the amount can be determined by the competition organizers.
    • Individuals who fail to meet the minimum requirements may still earn credit towards Cluster of Ice, but cannot earn participation or placement in the competition.
    • Individuals who exceed the maximum word count for posts may still earn participation or placement within the competition, however, they must lose points within whatever grading criteria is used for the competition.
  • Poetry - Poetry completions, based on the disparity of formats available, do not have a minimum requirement for Cluster of Ice.
  • Co-Op - Co-op fiction events have a minimum requirement of five hundred (500) words per participant and include some method for the word count of each participant to be measured. Maximum word counts can only be for the total overall fiction, not per participant.

• Author Verification - Co-op fiction competitions must require a method of identifying each writer's individual contributions. Suggested methods for this are:
  • Google Document Submissions, with document editing permissions shared with the judges.
  • Discourse Thread (Forums).

Prohibited Elements

• Page Minimums/Maximums - All submission minimums and maximums should be stated in a number of words as opposed to a number of pages.

• Font/Size Limitations - Because page based limitations are not allowed, regulating font and size is also prohibited. All submissions should be in a legible font and size, but specifying allowed fonts is neither necessary nor permitted.

• Open Prompts: Fiction grading is done by the official Fiction Rubric. While it is possible to grade different writers writing different stories without a prompt in certain venues - such as the ACC, where the rubric does not define adherence to a prompt - in Fiction, prompt adherence is required in the rubric from which the grading is done. To this end, a lack of prompt, such as with "Open Prompt" competitions, cannot be fairly graded by Brotherhood Fiction competition standards, and will not be allowed going forward.

Manual Administration

A specific Competition Archetype is set aside for approved competitions in the form of Fiction Competitions. Using these archetypes will allow the site to automatically calculate word counts for approval upon completion of the competition. Before submitting the word counts for approval, the competition organizer should verify the word counts and adjust the count as necessary.

The Voice staff reviews all Fiction Archetype word counts prior to the event being closed. In the event there is a discrepancy, competitions will be remanded to the competition organizer for word account adjustment.

Reasons to adjust count:

• Remove Dossier ID lines
• Remove prompt repetition
• Remove explanatory information not relevant to the fiction (such as bibliography, copy/pasted prompt, etc.)
• Site errors in automatic word counts

The above method is the only approved process for awarding Cluster of Ice for word counts in competitions.

Run-On Competitions

• When organizing Run-ons, members who do not meet a competition's minimum post limit for placement should still be eligible for participation. This is to ensure that Clusters of Ice are granted according to the Cluster of Ice wiki.

Official Clan Fictions or Event Fictions

Members and Leaders of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood are eligible to earn Cluster of Ice from fiction written for the sake of a Clan or Event fiction. This can be anything from writing the story-prompt for a Clan Run-on, official Clan Fiction, a Brotherhood wide event, or inter-unit event story-lines. All Brotherhood-wide event fiction must be approved by the Voice of the Brotherhood, and all Clusters of Ice will be processed manually. All Clan-level fiction must first be approved and then submitted to the Voice by the Consul of the respective unit.

Consul's should submit the following when requesting Clusters of Ice for Clan Fiction Events:

• A quick description of what is being submitted.
• A link to the Discourse thread, google document, pdf, or hosted link that contains the fiction in question
• PIN#WordCount (e.g. 1294#900,8#1000,50#850,1400#600)
• Submitted for approval to: djb-voice-staff@googlegroups.com

For inter-unit events, all Consul's of all the participating units should be CC (carbon/courtesy copy) in the submission.

Bonus CI's

When running fiction competitions, Dark Council members and their designated representatives have the option to award Bonus Clusters to participants. The Bonus is calculated as follows: 1 additional Cluster for every 500 words of fiction, up to a maximum of 2000 words. These Clusters of Ice exist outside of the automated process and must be provided directly to the Master At Arms staff with the following format:

• PIN#ClusterCount (e.g. 14729#4, 12004#2, 14185#1)

For tracking purposes, the Voice of the Brotherhood should be CC in the submission.

DJB Wide Competitions

As DJB wide events tend to have an increased award level and much wider exposure, the Voice office will look at such events with enhanced scrutiny. As such, there will be added requirements for approval of a DJB wide event as detailed below:

• Duration and Timing - The minimum required run time for DJB wide fiction competitions is two weeks (14 days), with the recommended timeframe being two to three weeks (14-21 days). Competitions that try to run during a major Vendetta or Great Jedi War will also be remanded based on the overlapping of competition run time.
• Prompts - For DJB wide events, prompts must be applicable and of interest to the entire Brotherhood. Further, they can not offer different options for individual clans as this might give members of one clan and advantage over another.
• Grading Criteria - It is greatly preferred that DJB wide competitions use the official Voice Fiction Grading Rubric. Any changes to this formula must be explicitly spelled out in the event description.
• Documentation and Feedback - When DJB wide events are being judged, the grading rubric must be filled out for each entry. These will be subject to verification by the Voice Office staff as needed. They should also be made available to those seeking feedback on their work