Cloud Awards ✓

announcement: 13-06-2024

today's announcements are a little bit long and winding, but let's get to it. its slightly more important than the other announcements i had up in the past. let's look at the it, shall we?

– first, genres:

teen fic - 7/10
fantasy - 10/10 [JUDGING]
action/adventure - 6/10
historical fiction - 6/10
fanfiction - 10 [JUDGING]
mythology - 2/5
romance/chicklit - 10/10 [JUDGING]
art book/graphical showcase - 2/5
general fiction - 6/10
mystery/thriller - 10/10 [CLOSED]
vampire/werewolf - 9/10
one shot/short stories - 8/10
science fiction - 3/5
horror/paranormal - 5/5 [JUDGING]
poetry - 4/5
*miscellaneous [7]

– let's address this thing: a few of the participants have either entered their book under the wrong genre (a few were un-intentional and those reviews are definitely addressed)

so, some of the works under action/adventure (and some in mystery/thriller but those reviews are already tactfully addressed, i am not sure of any others since i didn't hear from the judges) had this issue of reading more like a fan-fic than an actual story with action/adventure plot.

now i understand very clearly that some stories are always a bit of mixed bag and you might've taken some characters of a fandom and turned it to your own spin BUT even then, you could create a wonderful story that fits the genre you're entering into, without it having to circle around the characters themselves.

but, that's also where a contest like Cloud Awards comes in! i understand that for some of you, this is the first contest and you may not be aware of where your work stands, you need the review.

the judge's kind, they're taking it on them to being helpful with the reviews, we still got 4 more entries to fill it but yes, most of the others have been judged.

i was initially skeptical on posting this but i had to address it, there could be nothing worse than participants entering a contest and coming out of it, without realizing what they are already best at and where they could absolutely take a moment to improve, not trying to be harsh on anyone, folks!

– there is another issue! a collection of one shots/short stories. i am not going to point out whose entry this is, that'd be dealt behind the curtains, no one's getting bullied or called out here.

if you have a work that has a numerous collection of one shots or just short stories for that matter, you need to specify WHICH one of those shots do you actually want it to be judged.

you could always specify it in your forms that "hey, my work is titled [title of your work] and since its a collection of a bunch of other short stories too which have different themes, i would like to submit [chapter name] for this contest."

SEE? that would make things easy for judges! 

– another thing that i want to address related to the genre but hasn't been an issue here but we could all use some wisdom nuggets:

WHAT is the difference between a ONE SHOT and a SHORT STORY?

now you might think– Sara, who might not know this? its common knowledge.

I WANT TO ADDRESS IT ANYWAY!

now a one shot is a story that starts and ends in one chapter, or at least one part, there is no continuation for it. it could be from 100 to 12,000 words total.. go anywhere above it, you're going to hoard the reader with too much information and they're going to lose interest. majority agree that 10,000 words for a one shot is maximum. though... you might have to divide up the chapter a bit for this.

a one shot is something you can finish in a single sitting. a few examples for this would be "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" and "The Lottery" they're one shot works that are widely read and they're considered one shots even if they have a few chapters because of the said word count limit [they're also my favorite works].

a short story is something that you might be able to read it in a single sitting but not necessarily short. examples of that would be– "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Gulliver's Travels" and they have the upper limit of 60,000 words.

what about a collection/mixed bag of both? NOW that is where some of these entries could come in. let's say an author posts a work that has like... a work that has a collection of one shots and some short stories or just a collection of one shots or a collection of short stories, then that entry, when it is entered into a contest, please be kind enough to say which chapter to which chapter do you want your story to be judged.

then that might arise the question of what about blurb? it can still be judged on basis of the collection's blurb and compared to the actual parts being judged.

– okay, that was quite the ramble... i am sorry, i get carried away xD ANYWHO, coming to the next point, prizes.

so far, for the winners, i have already sent the winner's interview sheet and i have started setting up cloud accounts... please don't be too surprised if you realize that the email you gave has been added as a backup for another email created around your username... that was kind of the whole point, i want you to be able to recover your accounts if it gets lost.

and i know i was initially thinking that it'd be limited to 1st, 2nd and 3rd entry winners, but... i ended up sending it for the honorable position winner, so why not all?

most things are set up, just TaeTaeGinger needs to fill out the form of information request and that'd be out of the way for tag fest winners.

AsherTheKookabura and lupe6583v got invitation from the service from me (i honestly don't know why they have such limited invites feature ;-;)

ANYWHO– for the others, avniy1312 Cool-cat2023 and Anurag_Ghosh , your new emails are created with your provided email as backup, please do not freak out at the security notification xD

in a day or two, i would be able to send the official mail with all the details and steps you might need.

– the fantasy entries were supposedly judged but they're still under judging cause i had taken two entries to judge because of judge's preference and now i will have to finish it to be able to give out the final results... sorry folks for the delay.

– interviews are posted in "Let's Get To Know You Better" and some of them might be missing, but... i have tried to include all of them. the rest, will be posted, as they come.

if you have taken part as a participant and want to get yours too, please fill out the form in the bio of this awards profile.

yeah, that's all for now, see ya all on the other side!

cheers,
thetranquilityteam!