2022 Rose Gold Awards [CLOSED]

💖Judging Criteria💖

💖CRITERIA💖

(300+ words total)

💖》Cover (5 points)
• well-made
• fonts and images work well together
• the inclusion of the author's name, the title, and thematic images
• mood that adds to the genre and concept of the story
• characters and visuals are accurate to the storyline
• appeals to audience

💖》Title (5 points)
• creative and unique
• not too long or drawn out; catchy enough to recall
• important and long letters are capitalized and less important and short ones are lowercased, for example, the words of, in, the (sometimes), by, my, on, so, at, for, a, with, from, for, etc. should be lowercased
• accurate to the storyline and genre
• appeals to audience

💖》Blurb/Story Description (5 points)
• briefly introduces main characters and important points about them
• introduces main conflict
• includes hooking sentences at the beginning
•uses correct grammar and appropriate language for the audience
• blurb is easy to read and understand

💖》World (10 points)
• if it's unrealistic fiction, is the world explained well but not too in-depth that it confuses readers
• is the world easy enough to understand
• if it's realistic fiction, is the world accurate
• can readers identify that it is realistic fiction

💖》Plot & Conflict (20 points)
• exposition effectively introduces characters, situations, and the world
• rising action starts at a definite event, when the main conflict is introduced
• main conflict is specific, is engaging, and lines up with how the blurb describes it
• main conflict is unique and definite

💖》Characters (10 points)
• characters are introduced and described well
• effective descriptions include appearances, ages, relationships, backstories, and actions that would suggest personalities
• personalities aren't directly stated (not including details in the blurb) unless in dialogue or thoughts about specific characters, but are hinted at through their actions
• readers are reminded about character features frequently
• dynamic and static characters are distinguished between as the story progresses based on their character development

💖》Chapters & Content (10 points)
• first line is engaging and interesting
• chapters are an appropriate length for the type of story and its audience (generally about 1000-4000 words long)
• paragraphs and sentences are organized in a manner that is comprehensible
• most chapters are important to developing the plot and characters
• content is engaging and relevant

💖》Grammar/Spelling (10 points)
• basic grammar rules are generally followed
• any reasonable violations of grammar rules, for example, using comma splices, started sentences with conjunctions, and using fragments, should be rare (a few times in each chapter)
• tense is consistent
• there shouldn't be frequent typos or spelling mistakes (this isn't affected by differences in dialect)

💖》Writing Style (10 points)
• should stay consistent throughout
• should be fitted to the audience
• phrasing that's easy for readers to understand
• in general, there should be a variety of vocabulary used (more variety with stories aimed at older audiences, and less for younger audiences)

💖》Enjoyment/Engagement (10 points)
• regardless of prior scoring or biases, the story should be enjoyable
• the story should hook you in with the main conflict and keep you hooked throughout the rising action
• basically, do you want to keep reading and do you think you'd get some entertainment out of continuing

💖》Rule Following (5 points)
• this will be determined by the hostess or a co-host and sent to the judges of each story sometime after they're assigned

💖》Overall (100 points, sum of prior categories)

• summarize the points that the author did well with and what could/should be worked on
• wish the author good luck writing/editing at the end
• let them know vaguely the amount of work and editing left to do on their story (but DON'T quote these):
- 0-39: It needs tons of work and research to be done so that the story can be decent, but right now, it's not at its highest potential, and I'd rather not read it.
- 40-59: It needs a lot of work and research to be done so that the story can be good, but as it's written now, I'm not interested in continuing it unless it's edited.
- 60-74: It needs some significant work and research to be done so that the story can be great, but it's good, so I'd consider reading.
- 75-89: It needs some small adjustments and a bit of research to be done so that the story can be excellent, but it's already great, so I'd definitely continue reading!
- 90-100: if someone told me this was a published story, I wouldn't doubt it for a second! There are practically no flaws, and any flaws that are present are so minimal that I barely managed to notice them!