(I'll spare everyone with the excessive excuses on why this post is so damn late and move onto the good stuff ^_~.)

Wow. This year's contest had an amazing turnout. Thank you all so much for participating. Special thanks goes to the mods who helped me out. I know there were some rocky bits, but I sincerely appreciate your efforts. I've learned a lot on how to run this contest in the future, but that post will come in all due time. Now we should concentrate on finishing the present contest :D.

So, without further ado, I formally present you with the 2008 voting posts! These links will direct you to each category's designated post. All comments will be screened, anonymous votes are not permitted, and we ask at this time that any author of a nominated story to NOT vote for themselves. If you are unable to vote within these terms because you are not a registered user of LiveJournal, please email your votes to: narutochoice@yahoo.com

When emailing your vote, please give the following information to confirm your identity: Your pen name and a link to where you post your fanfiction OR the handle you go by online and your active email address. Let's be honest here folks: No double voting through the use of fake name handles!

Also, before I give you guys the voting links, I'd like to plead with you all to give our VOTING GUIDE a look. WHAT YOU REALLY SHOULD BE VOTING FOR IS NOT YOUR *FAVORITE*, PER SE, BUT WHICH STORIES REPRESENT THEIR CATEGORY OF NOMINATION THE BEST. That's the whole point of having categories, right? Besides, you might find out that you absolutely LOVE a fic that you had never heard of before now :D.

No matter what your choice will be, just know that we thank you for your participation and hope to see you in the years to come! We couldn't have done it without you!

So, without further ado (for real this time!), let the voting commence!

VOTING LINKS

ANGST + AU/AR/FUSION + COMEDY/PARODY + DRAMA + ROMANCE + OTHER + MOST ORIGINAL + BEST CHARACTER PORTRAYAL + BEST TEAM FIC + BEST ONE-SHOT + BEST MULTI-PART + BEST WORK IN PROGRESS

If you have any questions, you can either post them here or direct them to the FAQ.

VOTING WILL END ON OCTOBER 31ST, 2008!

serenphoria     raised an interesting question over in the FAQ thread yesterday morning, and I decided to go ahead and pursue it. ^_^

She said: "My question is, could the mods agree on, and provide, definitions for each category? You've made it very clear that readers should vote for the story that best fits the category, but I suspect each person would have a different interpretation of angst, action, etc., so having a description/definition to calibrate against might be helpful. Even the more general categories, like best crack, best multipart, best pairing...it would be nice to at least have some elements to think about (for example, character development, story structure, IC-ness (not a real word, I know) etc. Otherwise, without some definition to work with, it can be very easy to default to voting for your favorite out of the category."

And I'll be damned if she isn't one-hundred percent correct. What kind of definitions should be applied to each category that are things most everyone can honestly agree on? Is it possible?

I think the most important point is that, yes, in most cases people will just default to their favorite story overall without actually thinking about what category their voting for it in.

And how can we try to change that? Is it possible for most people to get beyond the author's name? Is it possible to look beneath the story itself while reading it, really take it seriously, and then make your vote based on not personal bias but the true nature of said fic in said category?

If it's within the realm of each individual's understanding and within their interest to do so, I have all faith that people *will* do so. And I'm here to help those who wish to go that extra mile.

So here are some clarifications and 'directions' (I use that word liberally) on what to think about when voting in each category.

I hope it's helpful. ^_^

<3 Ane S. Thesia

WOW! Such an impressive response to this contest, I'm really, really happy! Eraya hadn't run this in the Naruto fandom until just now, and we both were a little 50/50 on how successful it'd be-- but, hell, look at all the submissions we have!

Thanks so much for everyones support! A lot of you totally stepped up for this, and it's beyond words to show how much we appreciate it! Not to mention that we have a literal cultivation of so many great stories for everyone to read and vote on! =D I'm pretty excited, myself!


So, here we go! This post will direct you to each voting category. PLEASE make sure to read the directions at the bottom of the post (they're the same on every page). Also, I'd like to stress something really quick before I post this up:

Even though you may have been a nominator for this contest, or maybe an author who was nominated. Even though you may have read some of these fics before, or perhaps don't like the pairings of some of the fics---

PLEASE try and read all the entries before you make your final vote. You never know; maybe you'll end up liking something about the stories you hadn't assumed you'd like? Maybe you'll be surprised by how well some unfamiliar stories actually capture the category they've been nominated for?

I guess what my point here is, is that WHAT YOU'RE REALLY VOTING FOR IS NOT YOUR *FAVORITE*, PER SE, BUT WHICH STORIES REPRESENT THEIR CATEGORY OF NOMINATION THE BEST. That's the whole point of having categories, right?


No matter what you decide to do, just know that Eraya (shafted_artist), Mel-chan (cherry_blossom4), and myself love you all for coming over here and nominating your favorites over the past couple months! It's thanks to you all that we even have this contest *in* the voting stage now! =D

Without further ado---

VOTING LINKS

ANGST + DRAMA + ROMANCE + ACTION / ADVENTURE

COMEDY / PARODY + AU / AR / FUSION + YAOI / YURI + OTHER

MOST ORIGINAL + BEST CHARACTER PORTRAYAL + BEST SURPRISE + BEST ENDING

BEST ONE-SHOT  + BEST MULTI-PART + BEST 'SASUKE RETURNS' + BEST TEAM FIC

BEST CRACK PAIRING  + BEST SMEX SCENE + BEST WORK IN PROGRESS

VOTING WILL END ON AUGUST 14TH. UNLESS SOME KIND OF UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES ARISE, THIS DATE WILL NOT CHANGE.