Firstly, I'd just like to say a really big thank-you to all the authors who submitted something for Katie's Summer Vacation story contest .. I have to admit to being somewhat stunned at how many entries we got (32). I'd also like to say an equally big thank-you to Katie B for rounding up and nagging would-be contest entrants, a job well done!
I suspect most people will already know this but for those relatively new to the site the Contest entries can be found by clicking the
Latest button from the main menu and then the button labelled
Contest which will be shown in yellow while voting is in progress.
Until voting is over the authors of the stories entered in the contest will not be shown, just the titles, although I'm sure in many cases if you're a regular reader you'll be able to guess who many of them are by. Each person has 10 votes which they can use in whatever way they see fit. A maximum of 5 of those votes can be awarded to any one story and you can vote for your own entry/entries if you wish.
To vote, select the entry number (#) from the drop-down selector at the bottom of the screen where it says "entry:", then select the number of votes you wish to award using the other drop-down selector where it says "votes:". Having done that simply click the green button labelled 'Vote'.
If you make a mistake you can always delete any of the votes that you have cast by clicking the delete symbol in the right column, next to the appropriate entry.
When voting concludes at midnight GMT on July 4th the author names of all the stories should be revealed along with the details of the Top 3 stories (or more if there's a tie) and the number of votes they received. At this time all the contest entries will then be made available like any other story in the library and appear on the relevant author pages etc.
And finally, just a reminder that it's all just intended as a bit of fun and a way of encouraging the writing of new stories. If anyone has any problems or discovers any glitches in the contest software (since it's the first time it's been properly used) do let me know.
