Rules


The Rules For Entering The Awards

 


What fic qualifies for entry?

 

The Fic must contain an element of BDSM (Bondage, Discipline, Domination, Submission, Sadism or Masochism), Fetish, Kink or Slavery.

 

Are only specific fandoms allowed?

 

Fics from any Fandom are eligible to be nominated. If the judges are unfamiliar with the Fandom then we may have to come to some solution but essentially we want the Awards to be as inclusive as possible.

 

Are only Slash fics allowed?

 

No, Slash, Femslash, Het and poly fics are all welcome but the genre must be stated when they are nominated.

 

How many fics can I nominate?

 

You can only make a maximum of ten nominations across all the categories, with a max of two in an individual category. This could be one fic in ten different categories, or ten fics in ten different categories or anything in between; but not exceeding 10 total nominations. Nominating one fic in two categories counts as two nominations.

 

Can I nominate my own fics?

 

You can, but only one fic per category and a total of five of your own fics (or one fic in five categories). If you are nominating other's fics as well as your own then the combined total of fics you are nominating cannot exceed ten. This could be one of your own and nine of other authors, or five of your own and five of other's work.

 

When nominating yourself it will be automatically assumed that you have given permission for your work to be published on this site.

 

Do fics have to be finished to be nominated?

 

No, the fic can be a WIP (work in progress), but it has to have been updated in the last two months or the author must be intending to update before the end of the awards.

 

Can I nominate drabbles?

 

Yes. Drabbles will have their own section, but will not be eligible for entry into the Best Over All (BOA) Award. A drabble has to be under 500 words to be eligible for this category. The judges are aware that the definition of a drabble is widely accepted as 100 words, but for the purpose of this award it was decided that the category should include those fics up to 500words in order to minimise the number of categories.

 

Does the Fic have to have a plot or a minimum chapter number?

 

No. The fic can be standalone, PWP, single or multiple chapter. It must, however, be longer than 500 words.

 

What do I need to be able to nominate a fic?

 

A header for the fic must include: Author's name, fic title, genre, warnings, spoilers, fandom, pairings, and a brief summary along with the category and subcategory that the fic is being entered into. Also, a working link must be supplied to the fic being nominated or a text document be sent to the judges to be posted up. If there is more than one chapter then a link to all chapters must be provided, or one chapter must link directly to the next. A method of contacting the author must also be provided, an email address or Live Journal username.

 

Will the nominated author be informed?

 

Yes, they will. They must be contactable for their fic to be included in the awards as their permission must be given for the publishing of their work (or a link to it) on the award website.

 

What happens if you can't contact the author?

 

Then I'm afraid the nomination cannot be accepted. The person nominating the fic will be informed and they will be able to nominate a different fic in it's place.

 

How many nominations in each category?

 

There can be up to ten nominations for a award category for each fandom category and genre, but only the top three will be allocated placings.

 

What happens if only one fic is nominated in a category?

 

The Award Administrator will consider if the fic will fit in another category or possibly join two other fandom categories within an Award category. Assuming it satisfies all the other criteria, if the fic would be at a disadvantage in another category, the Award Administrator may decide that the fic will automatically be deemed the winner of that category and it will be entered into the Best Over All (BOA) Award.

 

How do I nominate a fic for the Best Over All (BOA) Award?

 

You can't. The only way for a fic to be entered into this category is if they are entered into one of the other categories and win. A fic that wins it's category automatically gains entry into the BOA Award, the only exception of this is the category for drabbles.

 

How many judges are there?

 

There are six judges. Each fic will be read by three of them. The fics that each judge is involved in reading will be decided by the Award Administrator and will be dictated by their areas of expertise as to regards fandoms and BDSM experience.

 

Can I find out who the judges are?

 

No, the judges will be kept anonymous and will only be referred to with a number, E.G. J1, J2, J3. You will be told the number of the judge that was involved with marking a fic but only the administrator will know who they are. Like wise, every endeavour will be made that the judges do not know who the authors are.

 

How will the fics be judged?

 

Firstly, the nominated fics are received by the administrator and published on this site with the author name obscured. They will then be read by three judges, who will follow a set of criteria for giving points. Each fic will be judged on it's own merits and not compared to the others at this stage. Each judge will send their points for the fic to the Administrator and the three judges totals will be added together and averaged. Where two in a category have the same winning points, another judge will read and have the deciding vote.

 

Each fic that wins a category (except the Drabbles) will go into the BOA Award category, The top five will be read by a further judge(s) and the points used with the previous points to place them. The fic with the highest mark will win.

 

Can a judge nominate and/or have a fic entered?

 

Yes. No one will know who the judges are except the Award Administrator, who is also the only person who knows the name of the fics author. Therefore, if a fic is nominated or written by one of the judges then the Adminstrator can ensure that that judge will not be involved in judging their own fic or one they have nominated.

 

So, what are the categories?

 

They can be viewed here: Award Categories.

 

Where can I view the fics that are nominated?

 

All the fics can be viewed via this site. They will be available to see as soon as they're nominated and the author has given their consent.

 

Can the Administrator change the category for the fic that I nominate?

 

Yes. If the Administrator feels that the category is not suited to the fic or if it would be better suited in another category, they are able to move it. Also, if the category is full the Administrator reserves the right to add it to another suitable category. The Administrator will not do this without informing the person who nominated the fic.

 

I've been nominated, will my fic appear exactly as it's written on the site?

 

Unfortunately, due to the volume and length of fics that we're expecting to be nominated, I'm afraid we're unable to directly ensure that all formating will be carried over (EG Italics and Bolding), this is because most fics are copy and pasted and it is a long task to go through and add the html tags. We recommend, that if you want to guarantee that these types of formating remain in place when the fics are posted to our site, that you send us a tagged copy of the fic in a word document as an attachment to your approval reply.

 

I've been nominated, but as the author's name is anonymous, does this mean I can't tell anyone or that there isn't a banner for me to put up.

 

We understand that being nominated can be an exciting thing and that you would want to share it with your friends. We don't expect you to keep it secret but we do ask that you don't pimp your fic around beyond what how you would usually post it. We do have a nominees banner and this will be sent to you once you give us your approval to be included. It is felt that anyone seeing the banner is already seeing your fic and if they're reading the nominated fics then they would recognise it anyway.

 

 

When will nominations close?

 

Nominations will close on the December 31st 2006... This has been extended to Friday January 5th 2007.

 

The Fic(s) I nominated haven't appeared on the site, Did I do something wrong?

 

No, the reason for this could be one of a few: 1. The email address that was supplied bounced; 2. The author has not yet responded; 3. The author rejected the nomination; 4. We simply haven't yet got around to posting it up yet.

 

When can we expect the results?

 

Category Winners will be announced on the 9th August 2007.

 

If the results are announced in 2007, why are they the 2006 Awards?

 

It was felt that as the fics were written in 2006 (or earlier) and since nominations close in 2006, that it was more appropriate to call them the 2006 Awards. The awards have been altered slightly to 2006/07 in recognition of how long it's taken to judge them.

 

Why has it taken so long to judge?

 

Unfortunately, as happens, real life got in the way. Ill health and judges who weren't all able to do as much as they previously thought, combined with the vast number of entries, made it a very slow process.

 

When will the result of the BOA Award be announced?

 

Not yet known.