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Nominations are now CLOSED for the Other Project category of the Rose & Bay Award.
Nominations are now OPEN for the Webcomic category of the Rose & Bay Award. This award honors excellence in creative crowdfunding, and this category recognizes exceptional artists. 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 under this post.
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. The Rose and Bay 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. (Other Project includes any cyberfunded creativity that isn't art, fiction, poetry, or webcomic -- or that spans more than one category -- such as movies, music, etc. The categories and their handlers are listed below:
The award period for eligible activities spans January 1-December 31, 2024.
The nomination period spans January 1-January 31, 2025.
The voting period spans February 1-February 28, 2025.
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.)
2) 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 Webcomic category, "The Fujoshi Guide to Web Development" by
enigmalea, is not eligible.
3) This award will go by calendar years. So in order to be eligible for the 2025 award season, a project or patron must have been active on or between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024.
4) For the 2025 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: "Wonderful Webcomic"
Creator Name: Written by A.J. Muse, Illustrated by Robin Ping
Link: http://wondr.webcomic.com
Category: Webcomic.
Summary: "Wonderful Webcomic" is an ongoing (2012-current) serial about two sentient pennies and their adventures in the global economy. It is funded by donations; there's a permanent donation button plus periodic fund drives with specific goals and perks. So far, the 2012-2020 material has been released in ebook and hardcopy; the 2021-2024 material is currently available in ebook only but a hardcopy edition is planned. This series is famous for its fanart sculptures based on coins, and fan photos of pennies in tourist attractions around the world. Several times, A.J. Muse has written extra stories inspired by those photographs.
5) 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.
6) Nominations for the Webcomic category will be collected by
ysabetwordsmith.
7) 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.
8) 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.
9) Voting will take place via Dreamwidth 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 radio button runoffs, if the number of nominees is high. DW has a limit to how many options there can be per question in a poll.) You ARE allowed to vote for your own project, or for yourself as a patron.
10) Winners will be announced after the polling is completed.
How You Can Help
The Rose and Bay Awards depends on your enthusiasm to make it a success. Here are some ways you can help that happen:
1) Make some nominations. Leave yours in a comment to this post, and watch for separate posts to appear for the other five categories.
2) Mark the voting period on your calendar. Make sure you come back to this community in February to cast your votes.
3) Promote the Rose and Bay Award by blogging about it, emailing your friends, posting it on social networks, or any other method you can imagine. Boost the signal on Facebook, Twitter, and whatever other social networks you frequent. Everyone is encouraged to spread the word as far as possible whether you are a creator, a patron, or a curious bystander.
4) If you're a patron or audience member, highlight your favorite crowdfunded projects from 2023 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.
5) If you're a creative person, let your audience and patrons know which of your projects are eligible for the Rose and Bay Award, including a link to the relevant nomination page(s). Do 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.
6) Plug in. Consider joining
crowdfunding on Dreamwidth if you're not yet a member.
7) Place an appropriate image on your website; there are general ones for promoting the Rose and Bay Awards.
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. The 2024 winner of the Webcomic category was "The Fujoshi Guide to Web Development" by
enigmalea.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
What is the Rose and Bay Award?
The Rose and Bay Award was launched by
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Art:fuzzyred
Fiction:curiosity
Poetry:fuzzyred
Webcomic:ysabetwordsmith
Other Project:ysabetwordsmith
Patron:curiosity
The award period for eligible activities spans January 1-December 31, 2024.
The nomination period spans January 1-January 31, 2025.
The voting period spans February 1-February 28, 2025.
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.)
2) 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 Webcomic category, "The Fujoshi Guide to Web Development" by
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
3) This award will go by calendar years. So in order to be eligible for the 2025 award season, a project or patron must have been active on or between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024.
4) For the 2025 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: "Wonderful Webcomic"
Creator Name: Written by A.J. Muse, Illustrated by Robin Ping
Link: http://wondr.webcomic.com
Category: Webcomic.
Summary: "Wonderful Webcomic" is an ongoing (2012-current) serial about two sentient pennies and their adventures in the global economy. It is funded by donations; there's a permanent donation button plus periodic fund drives with specific goals and perks. So far, the 2012-2020 material has been released in ebook and hardcopy; the 2021-2024 material is currently available in ebook only but a hardcopy edition is planned. This series is famous for its fanart sculptures based on coins, and fan photos of pennies in tourist attractions around the world. Several times, A.J. Muse has written extra stories inspired by those photographs.
5) 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.
6) Nominations for the Webcomic category will be collected by
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
7) 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.
8) 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.
9) Voting will take place via Dreamwidth polling in the
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
10) Winners will be announced after the polling is completed.
How You Can Help
The Rose and Bay Awards depends on your enthusiasm to make it a success. Here are some ways you can help that happen:
1) Make some nominations. Leave yours in a comment to this post, and watch for separate posts to appear for the other five categories.
2) Mark the voting period on your calendar. Make sure you come back to this community in February to cast your votes.
3) Promote the Rose and Bay Award by blogging about it, emailing your friends, posting it on social networks, or any other method you can imagine. Boost the signal on Facebook, Twitter, and whatever other social networks you frequent. Everyone is encouraged to spread the word as far as possible whether you are a creator, a patron, or a curious bystander.
4) If you're a patron or audience member, highlight your favorite crowdfunded projects from 2023 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.
5) If you're a creative person, let your audience and patrons know which of your projects are eligible for the Rose and Bay Award, including a link to the relevant nomination page(s). Do 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.
6) Plug in. Consider joining
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
7) Place an appropriate image on your website; there are general ones for promoting the Rose and Bay Awards.
Nomination
Date: 2025-01-31 08:14 pm (UTC)Creator Name: Clare Steel
Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/katieandthebadguru/katie-and-the-bad-guru-the-awakening/posts
Category: Webcomic.
Summary: This is a sci-fi comic book about a girl born with Complex Medical Health needs that turns into a superpower. It was crowdfunded through Kickstarter.
Nomination
Date: 2025-01-31 08:23 pm (UTC)Creator Name: Isaac George
Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/whatzacdrewcomics/bronwyn-short-story-collection/posts
Category: Webcomic.
Summary: This is a full-color comic with Celtic themes. It has been crowdfunded on Kickstarter.