[ADMIN] How to Use MEFA Banners
Voting for the 2011 Middle-earth Fanfiction Awards are now over. Congratulatiosn to those who received an award, and I hope even those of you who did not receive an award still enjoyed the experience. This post is primarily for those who have won at least one award, and specifically those who want to share this fact using a banner.
What place did you win?
You should have received an email listing any stories that have won an award in this year's MEFAs. If not, the full results will be posted at our website on January 5, so you can look up your results there. You will need this information if you'd like to use a banner to share your results with others.
To refresh your memory, the MEFAs offer several types of awards:
As you can imagine, some stories will win both a Smaug's Treasure and one of the other awards. This is fine. In this case you should just pick the award you most want to share and request a banner for it.
Finding a Banner
Once you know what awards you have won, you may want to find a banner to help you share the news. Of course, some authors prefer to just type in the name of the awards they have won, without using a banner. This is fine. But if you would like a banner, our volunteers have created several for your use. You will find two kinds of graphics:
Additionally, many banners set aside for nominated authors or for reviews who reached their reviewing goal can be modified so they will work for winning stories as well. You are free to request the banner be modified by commenting on this post; however, do keep in mind that this is not always a possibility for some reasons. So you may request a nominee/reviewer banner, but it's not always possible to accommodate these requests.
Both kinds of banners can be found in this LJ community's past posts, under the tp-winner tag. You can browse the old posts, or if you prefer you can use the tags to find banner sets with certain characters, races, categories, or other common elements.
If you'd like a banner to be customized for you, please comment on this post with the following information for each story:
Story Title:
Banner Creator:
Award Won:
Subcategory:
Link of Banner:
For the Link of Banner you should give a URL that points directly to the banner you want to use. Usually you can get this by finding the banner, right-clicking on the image, and selecting "Copy Image Location." All requests must be submitted by January 15, and incomplete requests may not be handled.
Once you make your request, one of our banner customizers will comment (usually within 2-3 days) saying she will work on getting the banner made. This is mainly to keep other banner customizers from duplicating the work. The banner customizer will then reply again to your comment after she has finished customizing your banner, this time with the customized banner displayed as part of their comment.
How to Use Banners
Once you have either found the ready-to-use banner you'd like, or else received your customized banner, you're ready to share it. First you will need the URL of your banner. You should right-click on the banner you want to use and then click "Copy Image Location."
Next, go to the page you'd like to display your banner. Usually you will usually add it using either a button or by typing some HTML code. If you display images using a button, just click this button and paste in the link you got earlier. if it is HTML code, you should enter the following line wherever you want the banner to be displayed:
(only LINK will be the URL you copied above.) This should display the image.
In all cases you should follow the rules of the site you are using. This means that if the website doesn't allow images you shouldn't use them. When in doubt, check with your site administrator before posting MEFA banners.
If you have any additional questions please see this FAQ, or email me.
What place did you win?
You should have received an email listing any stories that have won an award in this year's MEFAs. If not, the full results will be posted at our website on January 5, so you can look up your results there. You will need this information if you'd like to use a banner to share your results with others.
To refresh your memory, the MEFAs offer several types of awards:
- First, Second, and Third Place: awarded to the nominations with the first most, second most, and third most points in each subcategory.
- Honorable Mentions: awarded to other higher-ranking stories in each subcategory; the precise number depending on the size of the subcategory.
- Smaug's Treasures: awarded to the top third of stories, regardless of what subcategory they compete in.
As you can imagine, some stories will win both a Smaug's Treasure and one of the other awards. This is fine. In this case you should just pick the award you most want to share and request a banner for it.
Finding a Banner
Once you know what awards you have won, you may want to find a banner to help you share the news. Of course, some authors prefer to just type in the name of the awards they have won, without using a banner. This is fine. But if you would like a banner, our volunteers have created several for your use. You will find two kinds of graphics:
- Ready-to-Use Banners: Many banners already have the name of places and subcategories added to them. These are ready for you to use right now. Just post the banner (see below) right away.
- Customizable Banners: Other banners have space to add the place won and the sub-category you competed in. For these, you should either add this information yourself, or instead ask one of our banner-customizers to add the information with you.
Additionally, many banners set aside for nominated authors or for reviews who reached their reviewing goal can be modified so they will work for winning stories as well. You are free to request the banner be modified by commenting on this post; however, do keep in mind that this is not always a possibility for some reasons. So you may request a nominee/reviewer banner, but it's not always possible to accommodate these requests.
Both kinds of banners can be found in this LJ community's past posts, under the tp-winner tag. You can browse the old posts, or if you prefer you can use the tags to find banner sets with certain characters, races, categories, or other common elements.
If you'd like a banner to be customized for you, please comment on this post with the following information for each story:
Story Title:
Banner Creator:
Award Won:
Subcategory:
Link of Banner:
For the Link of Banner you should give a URL that points directly to the banner you want to use. Usually you can get this by finding the banner, right-clicking on the image, and selecting "Copy Image Location." All requests must be submitted by January 15, and incomplete requests may not be handled.
Once you make your request, one of our banner customizers will comment (usually within 2-3 days) saying she will work on getting the banner made. This is mainly to keep other banner customizers from duplicating the work. The banner customizer will then reply again to your comment after she has finished customizing your banner, this time with the customized banner displayed as part of their comment.
How to Use Banners
Once you have either found the ready-to-use banner you'd like, or else received your customized banner, you're ready to share it. First you will need the URL of your banner. You should right-click on the banner you want to use and then click "Copy Image Location."
Next, go to the page you'd like to display your banner. Usually you will usually add it using either a button or by typing some HTML code. If you display images using a button, just click this button and paste in the link you got earlier. if it is HTML code, you should enter the following line wherever you want the banner to be displayed:
(only LINK will be the URL you copied above.) This should display the image.
In all cases you should follow the rules of the site you are using. This means that if the website doesn't allow images you shouldn't use them. When in doubt, check with your site administrator before posting MEFA banners.
If you have any additional questions please see this FAQ, or email me.