How to Nominate a Fanfic

[hpfanficfanpoll]

HOW ROUNDS WORK & NOMINATING FANFICS - Rules & Procedures


Please read these rules carefully before submitting your nominations!

NOMINATION RULES:

1. Nominating will be open at Midnight, Pacific Standard (San Francisco) Time on the 1st of January, April, July, and October, respectively.
2. Nominating will close on Midnight, Pacific Standard (San Francisco) Time on the 21st of January, April, July, and October, respectively.
3. You may nominate only ONE fanfic per Category.
4. You may not nominate your own stories.
5. Stories must not have been previously nominated for the awards ceremony as of the 2012 year. Check previous Rounds' nominations to make sure your story passes this qualification before submitting your nomination.
6. An author can have multiple Category nominations for the same fanfic (for example: if the fanfic is both romantic and smutty, nominate it for both categories; or if a fanfic has both an equal share of comedy and drama and mystery, nominate it for all three categories). Please make sure that the story fits each Category you’re nominating it for, however (use common sense here).
7. Only a completed nomination form (see below for the template) will be considered. Do not leave any information blank on your nomination form, or your nomination will be rejected.
8. No anonymous nominations can be taken.
9. No Work-In-Progress (WIP) stories can be nominated for any Round. Stories must be completed to qualify for nomination.
10. No stories featuring original characters as the top two main characters of the story can be nominated for any Round. The top two characters of a story must always be "Harry Potter" canon-based characters from the novels, movies, video games, J.K. Rowling's website, Pottermore, or The World of Harry Potter amusement park experience (basically, anywhere that the copyright has been officially recognized by J.K. Rowling/Warner Brothers). An original character who stars in a supporting role, however (meaning, they aren't the main two characters of the fanfic), can be nominated for the "Best Supporting Character" Category in any Round.
11. Crossover stories can be accepted for nomination so long as the "Harry Potter" universe is where the main action takes place, and "Harry Potter" characters are the top two main characters in the story. Also, if you're nominating characters for "Best Hero" or "Best Villain" in a crossover story that qualifies, those characters must be "Harry Potter" characters. 
12. In order to further qualify for a nomination, the story’s completion date must fall within the 12-month timeline allotted for a particular Round (January 22nd to January 21st the following calendar year for the Spring Round; April 22nd to April 21st the following calendar year for the Summer Round; July 22nd to July 21st the following calendar year for the Fall Round; October 22nd to October 21st the following calendar year for the Winter Round). When a story began (when it was original conceived) is irrelevant - it's when it's marked as completed that counts for the sake of nominations. The completion date must further be THE ORIGINAL COMPLETION DATE, and not the date the author posted the fic somewhere else for the first time. For example: if the fic was posted on marysblogsite.com, and then a few years later moved to fanfiction.net, it's when it was posted on marysblogsite.com that counts as the original publication date. We realize that you can't always know this information, especially if the fanfic was removed from that other site permanently, but try to Google it or ask around the fandom if you're in doubt.
13. The "Best Line" Category means just that - a single sentence that has somehow touched you enough to want to nominate it for its brilliance. This Category is really meant to highlight an author's ability to turn a phrase. 
14. Please make sure that the URL to the story that you provide in your nomination form is accessible to the general audience, and not a "friends-only locked" entry on a blog or on a site that requires registration/age-verification before you can view the story. If the story only appears on such a site, let us know, so we can contact the author and try to convince them to open the story up for a general audience, or post it somewhere else that has more access.
15. If there is a problem with a Nomination, and the Nominator does not return our contact emails before a particular Nomination period closes, the Mods will make any changes necessary to the Nomination to assure it is properly classified (by category or length) or discard it, depending on what the actual issue for its hold-up is.
16. Once the Nomination period is closed, no more nominations will be accepted for that Round. No exceptions.
17. Nominators caught cheating (plagiarising, submitting multiple nominations per category under different email addresses, or submitting their own fanfics under false identities/email addresses) will have their nominations nullified from that Round and, and they will be banned from participating in the event again - THAT INCLUDES ACCEPTING THEIR FANFIC FOR NOMINATIONS BY OTHERS IN THE FUTURE. We frown upon liars and cheats, and don’t want them to be a part of our community.

TO NOMINATE A FANFIC:

You must completely fill out the following information and email it to us here through LJ or to our home email address (hpfanficfanpollmod at gmail dot com).

Your email address:

Your LJ alias (if you have one):

Story name:

Author name:

Story Rating (PG-13, T, R, MA, etc.):

URL link to story:

Qualifying Theme for this Round:

Category/Categories You’re Nominating The Story For:

If nomination is for 'Best Hero', 'Best Villain', or 'Best Supporting Character', please indicate the character name here:

If nomination is for 'Best Line', please indicate the line you're nominating and the chapter it appears in the story here:

Only fully filled-out information will be accepted.

We will contact anyone who sends a nomination that is not complete and offer you the opportunity to correct the mistakes and resubmit it. If you do not resubmit the nomination with all of the correct information required your nomination will be rejected.