Seasonal Writing Contest 2011: Poll #1

Alright, there are 45 final entries which makes things rather easy. I could have set it up to do 3 polls of 15 plus one final, but it was decided that groups of more than 10 users proved to be excessive, so we will have 5 polls of 9 authors plus the final. Yes, that means this entire voting process will take 18 days to complete, but I think it's only fair for the participants and it creates a nice three entry per day average.

The other judges and I are going about our process of selection which I assure we will spend a lot of time discussing for each individual submission we will be looking over. Additionally, we will develop our selection very soon so that the outcome of the Reader's Choice polls will have the least effect on our outcome unless you people coincidentally elect what we decide upon, in which case it will be the runner-up. The results of the judges selection will be revealed as soon as the finals poll is completed. It is still the case that the top 2 entries in each poll will go on to the final poll. These groups were randomized on random.org.

When you read each submission, please take a moment to stop when you finish and write the author a little note how and if you liked it or some constructive criticism they could benefit from. I know that if you are an author, you may want the same done for you. As a judge, I will withhold my comments until after the contest is over. Happy reading and may the most astounding piece of literature be the victor.

Entries in this poll:

Lonely Hearts

Joy to the World

Of Hot Chocolate and SecretSanta's

Another Christmas in New York City

Its been A Year

The Annual Day of Christmas

Christmas Behind Bars

A Crimson Christmas

The Happy Man

Good Luck Everyone!

Great idea of listing the entries. I'll do it from now on if Xenon doesn't on the future polls.

Please do the honors.

Goodluck to all! ^^

Yeah, can't believe that didn't come to mind. That would be a convenient thing to do, wouldn't it? Thanks for all the help, Chronus!

And it might be beneficial to do what Chronus did, and link the poll in the Entry thread.

Hasn't that already been done by High? Or do you mean each and every participants thread?

In each and every participants thread. If you look, Chronus linked to this polling thread within each entry.

Edit: That's a part of this current poll.

Im bored. so, i did that ;p

I certainly appreciate your effort Chronus ^_^, also since I forgot in my last post Good luck everyone!

I... wouldn't want to go that far.

=) i only did that coz i am bored.
but if you want, i can manage to do the same to other entries.

Those who wishes to advertise the polls may use their sigs do to so.

But please don't ask people to vote for your entry.

It would be great if the winner is someone who actually worked their best to bring the story which gives the most impact. brimming with ideas you've never seen before, some story which could be deeply etched to the memories of the readers. Rather than those blindly voted because its really popular, regardless of your personal opinions about it~

Your choice will determine the future of our very promising writers here, so judge carefully, the fate of this section lies in your hands~

Ouch, looks like TheWaywardMoogle's wiped the floor with me so far :(
But I have to admit, he picked a pretty unique style of storytelling.

I don't want to contest with the judging ideas, though, I wonder Xenon, what if almost all of the best works are grouped in the same poll, and only the top 2 will get to the finals, what about the remaining good entries? and what if they had a tie?

That was a detail we had to give a lot of thought before deciding on how to go about organizing the polls. The thought had occurred to me because I don't particularly like randomization for there is always the chance that it will randomly turn out one-sided. However, there are many many great submissions in this contest and unfortunately, random is the only fair way to play. Who would I be if I were to forge what was within my opinion to be a more even poll? I have a different perspective and opinion than others, so how can I ever hope to know what will appear more even? It's near impossible and so is the idea of having an "easy" choice in any one of these polls. There will be even more difficult decisions to make for all of you voters and authors because I have the randomized list and I've seen the future polls. For those of you who vote honestly and with care, you will have the hardest choices placed in front of you and not one poll deviates from that trend, from the looks of things. So, you can only imagine the other judges' and my difficulty of having to choose 1 of a metaphorical 45 question poll, especially when there are so many who I already see worthy of winning. Don't forget that after all of these polls, there will be a finals poll and there will eventually only be one person who comes out on top. Thus is the inevitability of a contest and thus is the property of a reader's choice poll. I can only hope that we selected the most seemingly logical and timely way to go about this process.

In the event of a tie, either the judges will have to decide, or we might bring in a guest reader of notable reputation, so perhaps a mod like Waar or one of the past judges, but I'm hoping that doesn't happen.

Good luck everyone.

Ahh this brings back memories.