THE ACE AWARDS SUPREME || OPEN

I M P O R T A N T N O T E 2 // A L L .

Dear participants,

We are well aware that different judges incorporate different styles of judging and have different takes on certain books. We, as a community, request participants not to message their judges expressing themselves in a way in which our judges are made to feel uncomfortable, or guilty, for the scores they have given. We do not appreciate this. Our judges are respectable individuals, they establish their results with effort and hard work. All of them will not be able to change their judging styles if they have already adopted an approach that they are comfortable with, and to have them feel pressurized about the scores they have given, is not professional at all. We humbly request participants not to make our judges feel bad, as they are undeserving of this treatment.

In the same breath, I would like to stress on the fact that this is why we make our batch system available to participants; this is the point of this recurring concept of ours.

The batch system is here so that participants can have a chance of winning even if they did not win in a prior batch.

Maintaining and hosting an Awards is no easy feat, and I try my best to meet expectations, but sometimes these expectations should be more realistic, and not ignorant of the fact that our batch system is made available for participants who have not won. I run the AceSociety as diplomatically and as fairly as I can, giving equal attention to each segment and drawing out the best conclusion.

But however the case may be, I have come forth to implement some changes; not drastic, but ones that may make a difference. I have modified the marking scheme, established a new notice for the judges, and customized the rules slightly, in order to make it easier on participants who do not win.

I once again reiterate and call to attention that if participants do not win, they may submit their work again in another batch, which is the reason why we make such a system available to them. Please take cognizance of this approach.

For the non-winners looking for their reviews, you are welcome to PM your judges or the AceSociety for your reviews. ❤️

With due respect, here are some commentaries expressed by many of our judges regarding this subject:

"Just by participating, we're all winners."

"There is no way of expecting people to judge in one particular way, and it is quite unfair to the team when we are expected to because everyone has different techniques they use whilst judging — it is what makes us so diverse. We cannot change another person's way of thinking, instead we collaborate by giving each other opinions about the judging criteria through our chat on Discord. However, we should not have to explain what we do behind the scenes because a contest is meant to be fun, to give writers exposure, for writers to get feedback. It is not for winning, as that is not what Wattpad stands for, not even during the Wattys."

"We are not robots, we don't all think the same way and if we assigned one judge per genre to rule out discrepancies in scores, then that would be way too much even with a longer time frame."

"Like any contest anywhere, when you have more than one judge, it will never be the same. But we should all realize that when going into any competition. Because some participants did not win, that does not mean they need to find flaws."

"It has been forever since the Awards started. It has run smoothly so far, so we should be more understanding."

"I go in for the feedback (reviews). The prizes are a great bonus in some Awards but I am never upset that I did not win. I've never personally held a grudge because a judge scored me low."

"There is no platform that gives crystal clear judging with consensus. This is a voluntary system with volunteering judges. We definitely do not mess with the scores out of fun, and will never do that since the AceSociety is made up of good people for good participants. Worrying so much about things which should be primarily for fun and feedback, is not healthy."

"There will be people who judge purely to help others. We volunteer our time. We take no pleasure in saying your work is bad and whatnot. We are just helping our fellow writers. If our scores and reviews seem harsh, talk it out with the judge or the host in a calm manner. We are giving you our honest opinions. We are not spreading hate."

"In my opinion, the moment you enter your work into an Awards, you should be prepared for the kinds of reviews you will get. Because if you want to publish your work, readers will criticize without a care in the world, and they will not offer tips, not like us judges."