Let the Games Begin! SPSFC2 is Go!
Books have been allocated, checked. Covers have been dispersed. The judges are prepped and ready!
WHAT’S NEW THIS YEAR?
This year we’ve made a few adjustments and wanted to highlight them for those following along.
Re-submissions
Firstly, this year we struggled to get to the cap of 300 submissions, so we decided that we would open up the competition to re-submissions for those books who didn’t make it through the slush pile last year. This really helped us hit the cap as we received 112 re-submissions!
With plenty of new judges (currently at 59, with only about 15 returning from last year) we hope to get a fresh set of eyes on these contestants.
Cover Contest
We have also decided to let those re-submissions be eligible for the Cover contest. We thought it’s a new pool and we should judge them across the rest of the competition. There are only a couple repeats from last years top 10 covers so this should add an interesting twist.
‘NMS’ Scoring Classifications
Due to the feedback of last year, we’ve implemented a ‘Not My Style’ (NMS) option for judges to select – which will have no impact on score – if they decide the book just isn’t right for them or contains potentially triggering elements. This will allow books to be judged fairly by other team members rather than given a low score.
The ‘DNF’ option, however is still in play. These options differ in the fact that it may be someone’s preferred style though the story elements just weren’t coming together enough to hold the reader.
Judging Team Check-Ins
Just to make sure we engage and continue to communicate amongst the teams for scores to be updated, we’ve implemented periodic check-ins. This will come into play more towards the semi-finalist/finalist stages of the competition.
Website Updates
This year we’re going to try our hardest to keep the team progress and communication centralized. We’ll be playing with some ways to keep that going and please tag us on Twitter (@thespsfc) or in the Facebook Group with feedback.
