Now that you have a general idea of how these awards work, we're going to get into the nitty gritty of the process and the rules to join. Let's do it!
⭐️⭐️⭐️
PROCESS
⭐️BEFORE AWARDS⭐️
- You will fill out the form in your genre's form chapter. PAY ATTENTION TO THE TITLE OF THAT CHAPTER! There's a different form chapter for each genre, so only fill it out in the chapter for your genre. I will respond to you in the replies if you're missing anything in your form or simply to say that I've PMed you with the next step of the process. PLEASE FILL OUT THE FORM IN ONE COMMENT! If you miss one little thing and make it a reply, that's fine. But I'm not going to hunt down every individual part of the form in five different comments. You will be asked to redo it if you're missing too much in one comment.
- After you've filled out the form correctly, I will PM you. By this point, I have already screened the first few chapters of your book; I'll read your blurb and the first chapter or two thoroughly, then skim over the next three chapters to note any errors. If your errors are too blatant or prevalent, I will politely decline your entry. All of this is done over PM out of privacy. Note: I only contact you AFTER screening your book, not before. So if I continue with the next part, it means you've passed the book screening! If you didn't pass, you are more than welcome to make the necessary changes to your book—I'm not giving you a book review, but I will note briefly why I declined your entry—and try again. You will need to fill out the form again if you want to try again.
- If you've passed the book screening, you continue onto the reviewing screening. This is fairly straightforward: you will be asked to read and comment feedback in two chapters of a writer's work (I will send a link to the book). You have as much time as you need to do this, but the sooner it's over with, the better (in general, it's best to aim for a week or less). It will need to be done before the awards close. These comments need to be constructive feedback, much like the feedback you will be giving to your fellow contestants! If your comments are detailed enough, you will pass. PLEASE REFER TO THE NEXT CHAPTER TO SEE WHAT TO COMMENT ON! I won't force you to comment on anything, the next chapter is more of a guideline for if you're stuck and you've run out of ideas. There are plenty of ways you can add detail, believe me. If you didn't pass this part, you are welcome to try again, but there will a cool down period of two weeks before you can reapply.
- So now you've passed both screenings, congrats! After you've passed, I will update the list of participants with your username and book title.
- There are ten spots per genre. If your genre closes by the time you fill out the form, you are welcome to join another genre. We will remove any genres that don't have at least five participants by the time the awards close.
⭐️AWARDS START⭐️
- The awards will last 10 weeks. Here is when you actually start doing things.
- Every two weeks, two books will be spotlighted. You are assigned one book out of those two. You are more than welcome to read the other one for pleasure if you'd like, but your feedback in that one will not count for these awards, and we will not accept any score from you on that book. You will have two weeks to read five chapters for your assigned book.
- During those two weeks, everyone should be commenting constructive feedback in those five chapters (yes, every chapter). If we feel your feedback was weak—believe me, we will be checking—you will have two weeks to redo it. Yes, that adds more work for you, because you will still be expected to read the next spotlighted book in those two weeks as well. YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED IF YOUR FEEDBACK IS STILL WEAK at the end of those two weeks. You've been accepted for a reason, so no slacking off!
- When you're done with your feedback, you will PM us with overall feedback and scores. The scores are detailed in the next chapter. DO NOT share your scores with the author or anyone else, only us. That would be why they're PMed. If you forget to do it, we will remind you at the end of the two weeks. Your overall feedback should be a paragraph in length, detailing your overall thoughts on the five chapters. There is no required length of the paragraph, but it's better if you provide thoughts on each individual chapter.
- Time off. You are allowed a break for four weeks, meaning two rounds. That's nearly half the time. We'd rather not have more than one person taking a break from a book at a time—in other words, you should have four people minimum reading your book during your round—so we'll have to work that out when that comes. The password is the name of any constellation (the more rare, the better!). Please don't use the same one as the person before you. If you need an extension on an assignment, you will have the following two weeks to read the five chapters. You MUST ask for an extension before the original two weeks are up, no exceptions!
- If you are late with your feedback, meaning you aren't done at the end of the two weeks or at the end of your extension, YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED. No exceptions. You won't see your scores, your overall feedback, or get any prizes. If you are disqualified after your spotlight, the participants who read your book are allowed to remove their feedback at their discretion.
⭐️AWARDS OVER⭐️
- At the end, all scores are averaged. The person with the highest overall average wins in each genre. We will reveal everyone's overall feedback and averaged scores in a chapter titled "[Genre] Results." If you would like to know what one person gave you, you may ask THAT PERSON. No, we will not reveal anyone's individual scores. We also won't reveal who wrote each piece of overall feedback. You will see all overall feedback, but the source will remain anonymous unless they choose to tell you. That will be their choice.
- We will distribute first place and second place prizes after the awards are done.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
RULES
Now that we've gone over how these awards will work, we have some rules everyone must follow.
1. Only 18+
- You are split up by genre, having to read both LGBTQ+ and mature material. We aren't comfortable requiring participants to read mature material if they are under the age of 18, which is why it's a requirement. If we find out at any time you've lied about your age, you will be disqualified immediately.
2. All mature and LGBTQ+ material allowed
- Your forms will ask you to specify if you have mature material so we can mark it for your readers. But we will not ask about LGBTQ+ material, and all people are expected to be okay with reading both.
3. Be kind to each other
- We want you to leave constructive criticism, and these awards are partly more for adults because adults can handle it better. However, you shouldn't be bullying anyone, and if we find out you're purposefully scoring anyone low, you will be disqualified immediately.
4. Follow this account and add this book to your library
- So you get all updates. If you miss an update, that's on you. Please follow from a main account, not a backup.
5. Shout out these awards on your message board
- It will help us with outreach.
6. Your book must have five chapters
- Should be fairly obvious if you read through the process. This does not apply to short stories, please see the note in the "Short Story Form" chapter for more info.
7. You can enter up to two books
- If you feel you have the time to read ten chapters in two weeks, be my guest. But it will be a lot more work on your part, and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it unless you're 100% sure you have the time to do it.
8. Notify us of any changes
- All we really care about are book title and username changes, since that's how we/your fellow participants will find you, but feel free to let us know of any other changes too. At the bare minimum, book title and username changes.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
That's it! Continue onto the next chapter for the rubrics and commenting help.
YOU ARE READING
The Shining Star Awards
Random[⭐️] OPEN [] JUDGING [] CLOSED Welcome to the Shining Star Awards! Do you think you have what it takes to be the best, to *beat* the best? Do you feel you never get any helpful feedback from judges? If so, apply inside, where you are your own judge...
