Middle-Earth Awards Frequently Asked Questions
Q: I am slightly puzzled by the statements in your FAQ about allotting points based on the length of voters' comments - does that mean, as it seemed, that more fulsome comments have a more positive effect on placement?
A: That's exactly what it means! The more you write, the more points your vote is worth (to a maximum of 10). So if you like a story a little, maybe you only write a line. If you like a story a whole lot, you write a page! The one line is probably worth 1 point (it's done by characters) while the page is probably worth 10.
And that includes negative comments. You may really hate a story and want to really bag in the vote. But even if you write a whole page that's all negative, the vote is still worth 10 points. So it's not in your interest to write a negative comment (and it would be hurtful, too, most likely). So the old adage of "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" comes into play. You don't have to read or comment on every story. If you really can't vote positively for a story, don't. If you really feel the author could benefit from your constructive criticism, save it to your hard drive, hold onto it for a while, and then send it to the author privately, after the awards have concluded.
Q: Can we nominate our own stories?
A: Absolutely! You can nominate your own stories, but you may not vote for your own stories.
Q: Can I nominate poetry?
A: Absolutely, and I'll that to the FAQ as I think it got left out. It won't be a main category, just like "story" isn't. but it can certainly be a subcategory.
Q: Can I submit my German translation of my story?
A: You can nominate it, or any other language story, but whether or not it will be voted on depends on whether or not there are any voters who can read those stories.
Q: Are those names (ex. The Eye of Sauron Award) just the names of the awards you are giving out?
A: Yes. In light of not having a nifty overall name for the awards themselves, I, with a friend's help, came up with all those names for the individual awards. Note that if a category gets subdivided, all the subcategories will have the same awards titles as the main category. Because it could get very, very complicated to make up three names (not to mention banner graphics) for each sub category.
Q: What about incomplete stories?
A: They are eligible a maximum of two times. Once as unfinished and once again as finished.
Also, incomplete stories that are then completed before the end of Voting Season will be moved from the incomplete subcategory they are into a completed-story subcategory. To do so, someone must make an announcement posted to the group.
Q: Can the same author have two or more stories in the same category if nominated?
A: Yes. Remember the rule for a viable category is 5 stories by at least 2 authors. Which would have to mean one author wrote more than one story in the category if there were only 2 authors and 5 stories.
Some non-English-native speakers may have not be familiar with some words or phrases used in the FAQ:
Q: What is a sub-category? Is it, for example, "Men" in the Races & Places" category?
A: "Races and Places" is more just a topic, not an official category. Just as Genres is. Subcategories will most likely be made by Staff while categorizing, though the nomintor can suggest this. Basically they divide a category down further. Some examples:
Category Romance, subcategory Slash.
Category Men, subcategory Gondor.
Category Silm, subcategory 2nd Age.
Category Horror, subcategory Orcs.
Q: If a category has awards with names like The Faithful of Numenor Award, The Kings of Gondor and Arnor Award, and The Ruling Stewards Award, do the stories have to be about Numenorians, Gondorians, or Elindil and his sons?
A: That example uses the Men category. And no, those are just the award titles. You can nominate a story about Harad under the Men story.
Q: Can the Staff put a story in a different category if they find that it has been nominated for the wrong one?
A: Yes, and an author can override as well. Or say an author corrects a category from Romance to Men (Category)/Gondor (subcategory), but there aren't 5 stories by 2 authors for Men/Gondor, so the Gondor subcategory isn't viable. The Staff would have to make a decision on a different category or subcategory with or without the author's opinion. Preferrably with.
Q: What is a tie, to begin with? (Aside from being a piece of clothing for men, of course...) ;-)
A: If two stories end up with, for example 20 points. Neither one is an obvious winner. They have tied.
Q: What does point this mean?: A tie in one placing will not negate the next placing.
A: An example: Two stories tie for 1st place. There will still be a 2nd place and a 3rd place. Some awards/contests will skip a placing if there is a tie: 2 1sts, no 2nds, 1 3rd.
Q: What is a check ballot?
A: We'll send check ballots before the voting ballots to make sure the ballots are correct. It's a last check for authors to see that their story is in there correctly, to see if any one or anything is missing.