The
CATEGORIES for which we will be awarding The Indies are (covers both completed and work in progress):
- Canon
- Alternate Universe
- Alternate Universe Human
- Crackfic
- Other
- Best Collaboration
- Best undiscovered erotica
- Best use of music as inspiration
- Best characterizations (non Edward/Bella)
- Best use of comedy
- Most original story line
- Most romantic moment
- Best original character
- Best secondary story line
- Best non ExB story
- Best Indie story by Established Author we Know and Love
In addition to the above categories Special Judges awards will be given to Fics of Exemplary Note: Judges will award three awards for pieces of work that are truly unique and innovative, representing what they feel are the best in Twilight Fan Fiction.
Process to nominate:
- Open nominations via this website for ten (10) days.
- Upon close of nominations, top 10 fics in each category will be validated for criteria and content.
Validation Criteria:
At the time of submission review count for all nominations will be verified against the guidelines and locked in our records.
For stories that appear on multiple sites the highest review count will be the used for eligibility purposes. For example, a Completed story with 200 reviews in Twilighted but 1500 on fanfiction.net will not be eligible, the 1500 will be the count used for validation purposes.
For Collaboration stories, the highest review count will be the used for eligibility purposes. If both authors have posted the story, we will use the highest of the counts.
The Top 10 stories for each category will be validated according to the following criteria:
- Spelling/Grammar/Punctuation: A story will be ineligible if there are significant mistakes in spelling, punctuation, verb tenses, etc.
- Shipping: All ships are acceptable, including slash pairings, that are tastefully done and well written, but pedophilic pairings and incest pairings are NOT acceptable. Any story found to violate this criteria will be ineligible for The Indies.
Why 2 different review criteria?
The first question you may ask, why different criteria for WIP vs Completed?
There are a few answers. To explain, we'd like to take you through the process used to create the criteria.
Using FanFiction.com, we looked at roughly 100 stories that were either complete or WIP, analyzing the review trends. What we found was the following:
- There is a threshold at approximately 28 reviews per chapter for a work in progress. Once a fic starts to clear that number, it seems to pick up momentum, pulling reviews in along with it
- There is a 'magic' number of 1,000; when a fic hits the 1k mark, it seems to pick up additional momentum due to the credibility that 1,000 reviews brings
- A number of completed works averaged below 30 reviews per chapter for the duration, then upon completion went above the 30 average due to people reading and reviewing only the last chapter. As an example, a fic that was completed in December might have averaged 28 reviews for the first 20 chapters, and then received 100 reviews on the last chapter, effectively putting it out of contention. By creating the 1,000 review band for completed works, we have guaranteed that fics are not penalized due to the pattern of reviewing the last chapter of a fic and skewing the average
There may be situations where a story does not fit either criteria (e.g. a completed work with 65 chapters and 1300 reviews, which works out to 20 reviews per chapter). Those will be reviewed at judges discretion for inclusion in the process.
Process to vote:
Once nominations have been reviewed and validated we will have ten (10) days of voting for top five stories in each category.
All nominated/validated stories will be listed on this site, along with the link to their story. Our goal is to promote awareness of as many stories and authors as possible!
Please note that Staff members (validation readers, judges, organizers, etc) are not eligible to win The Indies.
Stories may be screened by judges, and excluded at their discretion due to quality of written content inclusive of poor grammar and/or material the judges deem as inappropriate.
The indies were designed to create awareness of under recognized works of Twilight fan fiction. We view the actual voting process as secondary to the nomination effort. Our goal is to create a diverse list of stories that deserved promotion and recognition.
As we wrap up the voting for the first round and prepare for the final, we feel the need to call out a few items:
- We encourage word of mouth efforts. Whether this is a/n's to the author's story, promotion by other parties, social media, boards, or email.
- Exchange of content for votes by someone other than the author is not acceptable, and will result in the story in question being pulled from the voting process. This is considered ballot stuffing, and runs entirely counter to the spirit of the Indies. This includes offers of outtakes, sneak peaks of new chapters, or special chapters being mailed.
Revised Schedule:
Please note that our schedule has been revised as follows:
First round of voting: 7/9 to 7/13 at midnight
Short list of Final Nominations: 7/18
Final voting: 7/22 to 7/26
Winners announced: 7/28
This schedule is tentative and may change if we experience any technical difficulties.
For updates please follow us on Twitter at:
@TheIndiesTwific
You can also find us on the Twilighted threads at:
http://www.twilighted.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4113&start=0