Disagreements have been rumbling through the Library. Two opposing concepts are the focus. Which makes the better story? Research papers are written with intent of battle, treatises are fired across the trenches, and words are smelted into proverbial swords. Librarians whisper to each other about the merits of either side, their memories of repositories of millions of books aiding in their ideation, but with near-infinite stories there are near-infinite arguments to be made. A decision must be made, a consensus reached. A new door has appeared in the middle of the Main Hall, leading to an area deep within the Library. A long hallway, the end imperceptible, lies beyond the door. Grandstands line both sides of the hall, towering high up into the Rafters, but instead of seating there are podiums shaped for every size and shape of Wanderer. The time for the Debate Club to reconvene has come.
Theme: Common vs Rare
Breakfast on an overcast morning, the change in your pocket, fast food, that graffiti you pass on the way back home, a global pandemic, the air in your lungs. Proponents of Commonality believe beauty is found in what is taken for granted. A normal life can hold so many stories. What makes up one's life, the few and far between fantastic moments or the much larger majority of consistent, average days? What do we share as individuals, as groups, as people? What is completely normal for one but bizarre for the other? These are just a few of the many essences of Common.
A star-filled sky, a new sensation, a discovered species of salamander, a bloody steak, an unprecedented disaster, a soul. Proponents of Rareness believe that a great story focuses on the unbeaten path, the uncommon experience. What moments do someone hold deep in their heart, never to forget? An abnormal experience can change an entire outlook on life. What makes up one's life, the many forgettable days or the moments that define a personality? What makes something unlike any other thing? What drives a man to act like he wouldn't? These are just a few of the many essences of Rare.
The Teams
Dates
Sign-up Period: February 20th to 23:59 EST February 24th
Writing Period: February 26th to 23:59 EST March 11th
Posting Period: 00:01 EST March 12th to 23:59 EST March 23rd
Voting Period: 00:01 EST March 24th to 23:59 EST March 27th
Rules
- This is a contest that requires authors to sign-up to participate. In order to sign-up, simply comment in the discussion page expressing your intent to participate. Please do not sign-up in case you believe you will not be able to post something by the posting deadline.
- There are two themes for this contest, but each team will write for only one theme. Team 1 writes for Theme 1 and Team 2 writes for Theme 2.
- The separation of all participants into the two teams will be completed manually to ensure fairness.
- Placing will be based on the collective vote totals from all pieces posted by a team, with the most votes winning the contest.
- Any contestant who takes unusual and/or negative actions to increase their vote total, or decrease that of their competitors, will be disqualified for the involved contest and potentially banned from further contests (and possibly further disciplinary action).
- Examples of shenanigans include, but are in no way limited to:
- Downvoting all of your competitors' work within minutes of them being posted
- Spamming people with PMs about your work
- Spurring Malicious Upvoting/Downvoting, whether on your work or anyone else's
- Voting should be based on the merits of the article alone, not whether or not you believe it deserves to win the contest. Theme-related disqualification is determined by the contest marshals. Voting on a piece based on your desire to see it win or lose the contest is grounds for disqualification.
- If you're not sure if something counts as shenanigans, then it probably does, but feel free to ask one of the organizers.
- Examples of shenanigans include, but are in no way limited to:
- One entry per user
- Collaborations are allowed, but that will count as the one entry for all participants. However, collaborations count as double the votes when it comes to calculating the final point totals. Collaboration across teams is not allowed. Collaborations are capped at two people
- Pre-existing drafts are allowed, so long as they have never been posted to the wiki
- The theme shall be interpreted very broadly. So long as you can explain how your work relates to the theme as a concept, in any interpretation, it'll likely be accepted. The theme is here to inspire, not constrain. If you're not sure if it'll count, feel free to ask one of the contest marshals listed below.
- Edits to works are allowed.
- Galleries are allowed
- Contest entries will undergo normal deletion processes.
- All Contest Marshals have the ability to disqualify entries for violations of the above-listed rules, egregiously poor sportsmanship not otherwise enumerated, or failure to fit the theme. All decisions are appealable to
Snapdragon133.
- The sign-up period will last for five days, starting on February 20th and ending on 23:59 EST February 24th. Sometime on February 26th the teams will be announced and the writing period will begin. The writing period will continue until the beginning of the posting period, which will begin on 00:01 EST March 12th. The Posting period is a week long and ends on 23:59 EST March 19th, and then the Voting Period and the contest ends on 23:59 EST March 25th, when results are announced and winners crowned sometime in the next day.
- Additionally, this is not an enforceable rule, but please do your best to read entries from both teams. Yes, this is a contest, but ultimately its purpose is to inspire people to author great stories. Don't get too caught up in the competition that you miss a whole half of the entries posted, ok?
Contest Marshals
To Enter
During the Posting Period, post to the site as you regularly would, but make sure to add the debate2023 tag and the team-common tag or team-rare tag, depending on what team you're on, to your work to mark it as part of the contest and so it will be listed on this page. This page must be posted by you. If there are any collaborators, let staff know so they can update the meta attribution accordingly.
Awards
In the case of this contest, there will only be a first and second place, and we are not equipped to reward a large team of authors with any substantial rewards. However, we do offer bragging rights for being the team to win the very first Debate Club Contest.
Cream of the Crop
The authors who posted the highest rated piece from each team will get to choose a feature for the month of April
Critic's Choice Award 2: Revenge of the Role
That's right, the return of this award is nigh. After I (Snapdragon) was promoted to admin, the discord role I won back in the Scavenger Hunt has been covered up by my admin role. Now I intend to pass it on to a new owner. To earn this role, simply comment substantially on more than 50% of all entries posted for this contest, equally distributed among both teams. If multiple people qualify for this award, the person with the most comments will win it. If they are still tied, it will be decided by a competitive rock, paper, scissors match, best out of three.
Additional Awards
Staff may put together unique awards for outstanding entries. If you're looking for examples of how this works, look at the Picturepalooza contest page. These will be pure novelty awards, so don't worry about it.
