Happy Anniversary to us! TeamOfDreams burst into existence in May of 2019. To celebrate our Watt-day, we are hosting our annual Dream Awards contest. It's open to books in a wide variety of genres and judged in our traditional elimination round styl...
Our judging for this contest will be different than the norm. And, it's tough. We want only the best stories to win!
Judging:
We will be starting each category with a minimum of 10 books and a maximum of 20. We will put the books of any genre with less than 10 entries into the General category.
1st round: We will eliminate 7 books. The judge will read the 1st chapter and set aside 7 books based on mechanics.
2nd round: 13 books will enter round 2. The judge scores the hook and blurb after reading an additional chapter. We add this to the previous round's score and rank the books again. Of that ranking, we eliminate 5. Remember, the blurb tries to lure us in, and the hook works to leave us wanting more!
3rd round: The judge read an additional chapter in the remaining 8 books, and the judge will eliminate 4 based on character quality in a similar manner as before.
4th round: We rank the last 4 books with a further read of a minimum of two more chapters. The judges are encouraged to drool over as many chapters as necessary to thoroughly explore the appropriate ranking of the books based on the final, very awesome criteria (see the rubric).
Rubric:
Here are some explanations about what we mean by certain terms and how to win this contest:
Round 1: Show exemplary mechanics, such as good grammar, accurate punctuation, consistent tense, sentence readability, correct spelling, proper formatting, etc. (20 points)
Round 2: Write an amazing blurb based on these recommended guidelines: a 100-250 word hook in active voice that starts with your logline. Wattpad says this is what they like to see, so we will go with it, too. Write a great hook evident by the end of the 2nd chapter. We want to be asking, "And then what happened?" (Blurb: 10 points; Hook: 10 points)
Round 3: Focus on character quality: Are your characters well-rounded and relatable? Are their introductions smooth and well-paced? Do they exhibit engaging interaction? Password is {girl}. (20 points)
Round 4: Finally, we will rank based on plot development (10 points), world-building (10 points), interesting dialogue (10 points), and overall impression(10 points). In other words, everything else that makes, or breaks, a good story.
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