ANNOUNCEMENT BOOK | Pokémon Watty Awards

8/26/15- Timeline, Word Count, Voting Q/A, etc.

Hello guys, Scarlet here again with just some updates and such. Because of my busy schedule this year with colleges and me writing a murder mystery for school, I'm going to be very busy come September, so I want to plan everything out ahead of time. 

First order of business is what the timeline is going to look like this year. Every year we want to try something new to try and improve on the contest, and so this year the major changes have been the Word Count and Special Awards Voting. 

Of course, for about 60% of you guys, entry closes on October 31st. I for one will not be staying up until midnight, so here's a list of the time by which you need to get your book entered and marked complete. This list is based on what countries most often visit this page, but do not despair if your time zone isn't listed;  go to www.timeanddate.com/time/map to figure out what time zone you are in and plan accordingly.

-Pacific US Daylight Time (UTC-7) 7pm on October 31st   

-Mountain US Daylight Time (UTC-6) 8pm on October 31st

-Central US Daylight Time (UTC-5) 9pm on October 31st 

-Eastern US Daylight Time [My timezone] (UTC-4) 10pm on October 31st 

-West European/Irish/British Standard Time (UTC+1) 3am on November 1st 

-Central European Standard Time (UTC+2) 4am on November 1st

-Indian Standard Time (UTC+5:30) 7:30am on November 1st 

-Western Indonesian/Indochine Standard Time (UTC+7) 9am on November 1st 

-Brunei/Philippine/Australian Western Standard Time (UTC+8) 10am on November 1st 

-Eastern Indonesian /Australian Central Standard Time (UTC+9:30) 11:30am on November 1st 

-Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10) 12pm on November 1st

To be considered eligible for the contest you need to have your fic entered in the Entry Book AND marked complete. Additionally, those who have entries in the Short Story, Miscellaneous, Adventure or Romance categories and have not yet done so, you need to post the word counts in the Word Count Chapter of the Entry Book.

Any fic that does not meet these criteria will not be eligible. If you don't make the deadline or lack the criteria, feel free to enter the fic next year in the 2016 Pokemon Watties. 

Once the deadline passes, on November 1st  we will post a list of the eligible fics and you guys will have a chance to read the eligible fics and then nominate as many as you want for the Special Awards. The Staff will have the Special Awards finalized by then and, along with the judges, will also be able to nominate fics for the Special Awards. Only nominated fics will be eligible for the Special ?Awards. 

Judges will have a final reading period from November 1st-14th, and can start their questionnaires on the 15th, one for the Special Awards and one for the Category Awards. Judges must have their Questionnaires in by the 25th, but the earlier, the better. 

Once the results have been tabulated and tie-breakers settled, judges then can, if they want, write one Judge's Choice Review. These are for fics that do not place 1st-3rd in the Category Awards but a judge feels that they deserve an honorable mention. Judges should stay positive, spoiler free, and if applicable, offer gentle constructive criticism. Judges must tell the Staff ahead of time which Fic they're doing in order to avoid overlap. 

Results will be posted on December 1st. 

Right now, we plan on opening registration for the 2016 Pokemon Watty Awards in the Spring of 2016 for a few reasons. First, we need a break. Secondly, if we make any changes, we want to make sure they're well thought-out. Thirdly, many of us have Spring Exams to study for.

So, this is all subject to change, but this is our plan for now. Happy writing!

-PWA Staff (Charowak, Potato, Scarlet)