Nominations for Rose and Bay Award: Other Project Category

[lilyayl.livejournal.com]

Nominations are now open for the Other Project category of the Rose and Bay Award. This award honors excellence in creative crowdfunding, and this category recognizes exceptional projects that are not art, fiction, webcomic, or poetry, or that span multiple categories (e.g., movies, music, etc). Everyone is encouraged to make nominations and, later, to vote.  Icons and banners are available to help spread the word.  Please read the complete details below, and then make your nominations in a comment on this post.

Note: A project or person which wins one year is not eligible in the same category for the next year.  After that, it is eligible again. In the Other Project category, Mischief  by S.J. Tucker aka sooj is not eligible.



What Is the Rose and Bay Award?
The Rose and Bay Award was launched by ysabetwordsmith (Elizabeth Barrette) in January 2009, and quickly gained additional volunteers.  This award focuses on a growing business model known as "crowdfunding" or "cyberfunded creativity," which directly connects creative people and patrons of the arts online.  This award recognizes exemplary projects and enthusiastic patrons.  It currently features six categories: Art, Fiction, Poetry, Webcomic, Other Project, and Patron.

The award period for eligible activities spans January 1-December 31, 2011.
The nomination period spans January 1-January 31, 2012.
The voting period spans February 1-February 29, 2012.  (Leap Day provides an extra day this year.)

These are the handlers for the 2012 award season:

Art: jenny_evergreen Nominate art!
Fiction: jenny_evergreen Nominate fiction!
Poetry: ysabetwordsmith Nominate poetry!
Webcomic: ysabetwordsmith Nominate webcomics!
Other Project: lilyayl Nominate other projects!
Patron: lilyayl Nominate patrons!

Award Rules

1) In order for a project to be nominated in the Art, Fiction, Poetry, Webcomic, or Other Project categories: 

• It must be "cyberfunded creativity" aka "crowdfunding."  That means it must be creative material marketed directly to an audience online, with money involved somehow.  There are many variations of this business model; all are welcome; and if you're not sure a project qualifies, you may ask.  See "5 Steps to Crowdfunding Success" for a discussion of key features that identify a crowdfunded project.
• At least part of the project must be visible online without charge.  If the project is normally visible only to paying subscribers or the like, and the creator wishes for it to be eligible, then s/he may offer temporary or partial access for voting purposes.  (If the available material is temporary and/or partial, it needs to say that at the top of the screen, to avoid annoying visitors who might otherwise think they're about to see a complete and permanent piece.)

Note: A project or person which wins one year is not eligible in the same category for the next year.  After that, it is eligible again. In the Other Project category, Mischief  by S.J. Tucker aka sooj is not eligible.

2) This award will go by calendar years.  So in order to be eligible for the 2012 award season, a project or patron must have been active on or between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011.

3) For the 2012 season, nominations will be made in comments to each category's nomination post (beginning in January).  A nomination consists of the project title, creator name, award category, a link to the project page, and a summary. The summary should include several sentences describing the project's content (theme, characters, plot, etc.), presentation (media, frequency, etc.), and crowdfunding approach (money handling, audience interaction, etc.).  Example:

Project Title: "Awesome Content" 
Creator Name: A.J. Muse
Link: http://awe.some.content.com  
Category: Other Project.  
Summary: "Awesome Content" is a story about A.J. Muse's three ferrets, told in a combination of music and fiction, illustrated by photos. It is funded by a combination of donations and photo sales. Updates twice weekly on Music Mondays and Fiction Fridays."

4) You may nominate a maximum of three projects per category.  You are not required to make that many nominations or to cover all the categories. Please make each nomination in a separate comment; that way, if a problem occurs with one nomination it will not affect any others. You may not nominate your own project, nor yourself as patron.

5) Nominations for the Other Project category will be collected by lilyayl.

6) Participation is voluntary. If a creator wishes to withdraw their project from any category, or a patron wishes to withdraw from the Patron category, simply contact the category handler. In case of withdrawal, the person who made the withdrawn nomination may then nominate another project or patron instead.

7) Voters are strongly encouraged to browse the nominees before making a final decision; that's what the links are for, and the purpose of this award is to promote the splendor of crowdfunded projects.  If you don't have time to explore widely or you already have a firm favorite, that's okay too. 

8) Voting will take place via LiveJournal polling in the crowdfunding community, open to all.  Polling is by popular vote, with checkboxes; you may vote for all of the projects in a category that you admire.  (There may need to be more than one poll question per category, and runoffs, if the number of nominees is high.  LJ has a limit to how many options there can be per question in a poll.)  You may not vote for your own project, nor yourself as a patron.

9) Winners will be announced after the polling is completed.

How You Can Help

As a relatively new award, Rose and Bay depends on everyone's participation and enthusiasm to make it a success.  Here are some ways you can help that happen:

a) Nominate. Leave your nominations for other projects in the comments on this post. Don't forget to check out the other five nominating posts as well.

b) Vote. Voting opens in February. Don't forget to mark your calendar or set up an alert.

c) Promote. Blog, email friends, tweet, post to Facebook, GooglePlus, Tumblr, or other social websites. Use the banners and icons. Hire a skywriter. Organize a flash mob. Just spread the word.

d) Share. If you're a patron or audience member, highlight your favorite crowdfunded projects from 2011 and direct people back to the award.  Are you following other patrons whose tastes match your own to see what they sponsor or recommend?  Mention them too!  This makes it easier for people to find eligible nominees.

e) Speak up. Don't be shy. If you have eligible projects for Rose & Bay, let your audience and patrons know and link them to the relevant nomination post(s). If you have an "honor wall" or other place acknowledging your patrons,  Mention that too!  Let your fans know there is a way for them to honor your project and the patrons who make it possible.

f) Plug in. Consider joining crowdfunding on LJ if you're not yet a member. You may also want to check out  freestuffday where many crowdfunded projects are announced. If you're on Dreamwidth, don't forget to check out the Crowdfunding community there as well.

Comments

Nomination

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Project Title: Filk Music by Tom Smith
Creator Name: Tom Smith aka filkertom
Link: http://www.tomsmithonline.com/
Category: Other Project
Summary: filkertom is a skilled lyricist and musician. He composes and performs speculative fiction songs, mostly humor, and also posts about other filk music on his blog. He's done convention concerts, house concerts, and other activities. I've seen him take prompts and filk them live, at a house concert, which is just amazing. He can also compose custom songs. A lot of his material is for sale on his website.

Nomination

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Project Title: One-Card Draw Augury
Creator Name: DW user wrenstarling
Link: http://wrenstarling.dreamwidth.org/
Category: Other Project
Summary: Various people do OCD divination, but this project is unique. Wrenstarling is an auspex who reads from a Bird Oracle. Each bird has its own associations and messages. She's quite apt as a diviner too.

Nomination

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Project Title: "The Three Micahs"
Creator Name: M.C.A. Hogarth aka haikujaguar
Link: http://mcahogarth.blogspot.com/
Category: Other Project
Summary: This is one of the rare nonfiction projects. haikujaguar writes detailed, practical articles about the art and business of creative careers. My favorite in 2011 was a three-part piece on pricing your products. This project is a terrific resource for crowdfunders!

[lilyayl.livejournal.com]

Project Title: TextFugu
Creator Name: Koichi
Link: http://www.textfugu.com/tour/
Free content: www.textfugu.com/free-lessons/
Each 'season' is designed to take one month to complete. The first season, linked above, is free.
Category: Other Project.
Summary: Textfugu is an online beginning Japanese textbook with frequent updates and rapid response from the creator. (For example, after a reviewer noted the lack of community on the site, Koichi created a forum that is very active). Subscribers may also receive 'bounties' (aka, cash rewards that they can keep or donate to charity) for finding errors or making suggestions that are chosen for implementation. The textbook is designed for self-learners and approaches learning Japanese from that perspective. Textfugu is subscriber-based with two levels, monthly ($20) and one-time forever ($120). The site also offers a 110% money-back guarantee.

[jenny_evergreen]

NOMINATION:

Project Title: "Community Sponsored One Card Draw"
Creator Name: miintikwa
Link: http://miintikwa.livejournal.com/tag/one%20card%20draw
Category: Other Project.
Summary: For a long time, miintikwa has been doing these one card draws, and mine wouldn't exist without her inspiration! She accepts tips at every draw.

[shadows-gallery.livejournal.com]

Project Title: EMG-Zine
Creator Name: ellenmillion
Link: http://emg-zine.com/
Category: Other Project
Summary: Ellen Million hosts this monthly fantasy/sci fi web zine that features artwork, fiction, poetry, articles, and a range of tutorials. Registered members get extra features, and there are yearly best-of anthologies for sale as well. The 'zine is supported through donations, subscriptions, and anthology purchases.

Nomination

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

Project Title: "Bird Oracle One-Card Draw"
Creator Name: wrenstarling
Link: http://wrenstarling.livejournal.com/tag/one%20card%20draw
Category: Other project
Summary: wrenstarling uses a unique bird oracle that she created herself to do monthly one-card draws for the public. Tips are requested, but not required, and she sets group incentives, including random drawings for more complex readings among sponsors, charitable donations and more. She has proven remarkably insightful!

Nomination

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

Project Title: "Readings by Stonetalker"
Creator Name: stonetalker
Link: http://stonetalker.livejournal.com/
Category: Other
Summary: stonetalker uses a variety of unique tarot decks for her one-card draws, and sometimes mixes it up by drawing stones and sharing their meanings. Tips are welcome but optional, and she also offers more complex readings for purchase.

Nomination

[laffingkat.livejournal.com]

Project Title: "Dance Challenge"

Creator Name: Marie DeMars

Link: http://inutska.blogspot.com/search/label/dance challenge (http://inutska.blogspot.com/search/label/dance%20challenge)

Category: Other Project

Summary: Marie asks the audience to suggest songs, and then she dances to the first minute of each song, posting the videos on YouTube and her blog a week later. The audience then has 5 days to vote on which song she will dance to in its entirety. She will dance to whichever song receives the most Likes on YouTube, and then post the final video. The project is funded by donations.

Nomination

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

Project Title: "Dandelyon's Card Draws"
Creator Name: wyld_dandelyon
Link: http://wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com/153236.html
Category: Other Project
Summary: A one-card draw, free for anyone with tips accepted for reading upgrades and group tip incentives. She uses a small variety of commercial decks, and also has created a unique set of divination discs set in the shared world of Torn World. (http://tornworld.net) These latter readings are given as short stories, told as if the querent were asking a reading from a specific character within the world.

[mystique-muse.livejournal.com]

Project Title: Torn World
Creator Name: Ellen Million, Elizabeth Barrette, Deirdre Murphy, Lorna Cowie, and more
Link: http://www.tornworld.net
Category: Other Project.
Summary: Torn World is a fantasy world which was fractured hundreds of years ago, and the disaster that caused that has many consequences into the present day. The southern Empire has steam technology, and the tribe that lives isolated in the far north has snow unicorns. Supporters can use the bulk of their subscription money to reward their favorite writers or artists directly. Torn World creators also have a periodic fishbowl event called the Torn World Muse Fusion, where fans can ask questions and leave prompts to help shape the stories and art that appear online.

[my-partner-doug.livejournal.com]

Project Title: Kingdom of Loathing
Creator Name: Asymetric Publications
Link: http://www.kingdomofloathing.com
Category: Other project
Summary: Kingdom of Loathing, or KoL for short, is a fantasy role-playing game playable in any web-browser. Players learn magical or other skills in such diverse and amusing character classes as Pastamancers, Turtle Tamers, and Disco Bandits, all in the attempt to free the Kingdom from the influence of the Naughty Sorceress. The game is funded primarily by player donations, for which in-game perks are received; a line of real-world merchandise, including a recently crowd-funded comic book, also provides financial support.