Hey guys,

It's almost that Kerth time of year again -- and we've been thinking that we should do a file of Frequently Asked Questions. We've got lots of new people this year, which is terrific, and we want to make this a user-friendly process <g>

So, um... what questions would you want to ask? <g> I've got some set up already (starting at "What the heck are the Kerths?"), but I'm sure there are others that I haven't thought of.

Fire away! I'll answer them here, and get them added into the file, which should be posted later this month...

PJ

Okay, I already know from browsing what it is and what the catagories are, but there's a question that's still nagging me: How long do stories need to be to qualify?

Julie

Julie, there's no minimum length - in fact, last year there was a category called Super Short, for stories of 10K and under. Take a look here at last year's winners and nominees' page. The Super Short category is first on the list, and while size isn't shown, you can see by opening the files how long - or short - the stories are.

I hope you'll want to nominate and vote, Julie - it's simply great to have new people participating. And don't forget that, as long as you have at least one story on the Archive by 31 December this year, you are eligible for the Best New Author category!

Wendy

Hi Julie -- ooh, good question <g>

There is no minimum length -- any story at all is eligible. All we ask is that we can find it.

Some of the categories have size restrictions, but that's always to keep the larger stories from stomping all over the little gems

PJ

Oooh, cool, that means me and my little baby story are eligible! :p Lol, thanks for the explanation from both.

Julie

Does this mean, uploaded until then?

LabRat had mentioned (in another thread) something about only stories submitted until December 1st are eligible... or did I get it wrong?

AnnaBtG.

Anna, here's what I've got in my file about that, lemme know if it doesn't help <g>

>> What makes a story eligible?

Any story uploaded to the lcfanfic archive within a calendar year is eligible for awards. Stories posted elsewhere, in entirety by the end of the year, can be added to the eligible list if the author so chooses. It is the author's responsibility to contact the K-Com; otherwise we will assume the author does *not* want to be included for some reason. Stories which are added to the eligible list and later uploaded to the archive will not be eligible again in the next year.

>> What if I finish my story in time to post it to LCFIC or the Fanfic MB, but miss the deadline to get it on the Archive by December 31? Do I have to wait till next year to be eligible for Kerths?

No. If you send email to Erin Klingler giving her the story information and a URL, she'll add your story to the eligibles list.

>> What if I posted my story to the MB in December but I'm still revising it based on the comments I received. Do I have to make it eligible this year when I'm not even done with it yet?

No. If you do *not* ask to have it included on the eligibles list, it will not be added, and may be eligible the following year.

PJ

It helps a lot Thanks, Pam.
AnnaBtG.

to clarify, what labby was saying about the archive deadline was this:

if you want your story to be uploaded to the archive by dec 31 (and thus be automatically eligible for this year's kerths), you have to send it in by dec 1.

that gives enough time for it to be GEd and to let the archive staff space things out. a lot of stories get sent in at the end of the year, precisely for the dec 31 deadline, so the dec 1 rule was established to give the archive staff time to deal with the flood. stories sumitted after dec 1 may still be uploaded in dec, depending on how things go, but there's a chance they'll be bumped over to jan.

now, stories uploaded in jan are still eligible for the kerths. they just have to wait until the next year's ceremonies (unless they were posted elsewhere first and you let k-comm know that you want it to be eligible this year).

of course, with everyone looking to get their stories up in dec, jan tends to be slow for uploads. so, if you don't mind letting your story wait, it'll probably stand out better in jan (being uploaded with only a couple others) than it would in dec (one among many).

Paul, posting unofficially from memory

Paul, did I mention I adore you? <G> Thanks for saving me time here (it's at a premium right now )and clarifying this - probably a lot more succinctly than I would have done, too.



LabRat