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Wikinews:Writing contest

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Over the 50 days of the competition some 224 articles were written for the contest! Congrats to all participants!

The Wikinews Writing Contest is a competition among Wikinews authors which aims to increase the overall output of stories. It is primarily a contest of quantity and only secondarily one of quality.

The contest opened on March 21, 2005. The rules are simple:

  1. There is an ever-growing pool of money and prizes contributed.
  2. Contestants have to start at least one Wikinews article every day (at least 3 paragraphs of their original writing per article). For this contest, "every day" means one article for each day of the week in your timezone (i.e. a submission on 00:01 on Thursday and 23:59 on Friday would still count).
  3. The articles should strive to follow conventions. Articles which the community decides to delete cannot be counted.
  4. The last person who is left writing one article per day takes all the prizes.

No excuses: If you don't meet your one article per day requirement, you're out. In other words, this is a contest of endurance. It is possible, but unlikely, that it will never end.

Contest Ending

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Since Erik has resigned and we have passed the May 1st deadline; I as the only active remaining judge officially end this writing contest. As Pingswepts proposal attracted near universal acceptance the disbursal of prizes is as follows:

  • Alan gets $50 from DV, a stolen possession of SJ's from me, and a postcard from Pingswept.
  • Simeon gets $50 from DV, a stolen possession of SJ's from me, a postcard from Pingswept, and the Gmail invites.
  • Pingswept gets $20 from Davodd and enough $CA from Amgine to total $50, and a postcard from the Bellman.
  • DV and Odigity each pay the Wikimedia Foundation $41 ($1/day).
  • The "strange, bizarre gift" gets sent by DV to Jimmy Wales on behalf of Wikinews.

Congrats to all on a highly successful contest, the contest generated a total of 224 stories - that means more than 1 in 8 Wikinews articles are direct results of this contest! → CGorman (Talk) 17:18, 2 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Phew! Thank god that's over! It's surpisingly taxing to file a story every single day by the deadline without fail, without break. Thanks to all involved for their efforts! DV, what do you need in order to transfer $$$? And I guess CGorman will want to know address to send dirty old sox from SJ ... I will email it. - Simeon 12:38, 3 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Registration

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If you want to participate in the contest, sign your name below (type "# ~~~~"). Please also indicate your timezone (if you don't know it, the country / state you live in are sufficient).

  1. I'll give it a try as I normally write one a day. CGorman 21:09, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    CGorman dropped out on March 23 as a personal choice, he wished to participate as a judge (see comment on Eriks talk page.) CGorman 20:12, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  2. Heh, why not! This should be fun! IlyaHaykinson 09:46, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC) (I'm in the US, PST — UTC-8)
  3. Heck, why not (part 2). We'll be getting a lot of U.S. law and TV-related stuff from me. -- Davodd | Talk 00:45, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  4. This ought to be a cakewalk (famous last words). Can I build a surplus by writing more than one article per day so I can take a break on the weekends? — DV 06:20, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    I'm filing stories for each day using server time, so please count me in timezone UTC 0 — DV 21:06, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  5. <sigh> I'm in, until I set sail (you're all going to drop out then, out of honour and the goodness of your hearts then, right?) - Amgine 06:39, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    Amgine dropped out on March 27 because no article was submitted. → CGorman (Talk) 16:26, 28 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  6. <flexes brain muscle> come on ppls ill take ya... until i get a whole heap of uni assignment that have to be done all at once... The bellman 10:41, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    1. To all my devoted fans, i would like to say i tried as hard as i could... i just ended up not being able to cut the mustard. ~The bellman | Smile 09:05, 7 Apr 2005 (UTC)
  7. This is such a cool idea! (But why the hell am I always last to know?! :) ) Dan100 (Talk) 17:38, 10 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    Dan100 dropped out on March 22 because he did not submit an article for March 21.--Eloquence 08:23, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Sadly work caught up with me the week this started (yeah yeah, any excuse I know :) ) Dan100 (Talk) 22:34, 31 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  1. I hope deletion requests count! edw 02:04, 16 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    Ed dropped out on March 23 because he did not submit an article for March 22.--Eloquence 07:49, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  2. I will defeat all of you in hand-to-hand combat if necessary. Pingswept 04:44, 16 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  3. Let the best man win. And rest asured I will. Amsterdam time = GMT+1-- Redge (Talk) 12:50, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    Redge dropped out on March 26: no article submitted.--Eloquence 12:44, 27 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  4. Sounds interesting. (PST=UTC-8) VF 06:31, 19 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  5. If I don't do this, I'll forget to keep my guard up while ping's in da house. Sj 03:46, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    Dropping out. But barring the windows... Sj
  6. OK, I'm in, but I think it could have done with a little more publicity - I only found out today! My timezone: GMT +10 Melbourne Australia Simeon 05:57, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Late entry: article debt

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It is possible to join the contest after March 21, but you will have accumulated an article debt for the days you have not participated. For example, if you join on March 25, you have an article debt of 4 articles. This debt can be worked off over time, but while you still have it, you have to write at least 2 articles per day instead of just 1.

Log

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April 30

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April 29

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Alan says I'm still kickin': Grenade attack on fellow soldiers puts sergeant on death row and I need a second on my motion to end the contest on it's talk page.

April 28

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April 27

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April 26

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April 25

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April 24

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April 23

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April 22

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April 21

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I've tried this before. It doesn't work. Judges ruling: can't submit articles in advance. :\ Probably just as well or this comp. would never finish. - Simeon 08:38, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC)

April 20

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April 19

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No problem, my friend. Just keep 'em coming in ;-)) --HiFlyer 14:37, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Judges are still here, not much to do other than verify you are following the rules... and you all are. → CGorman (Talk) 20:22, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)

April 18

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Yes, it's very very early on April 18, Melbourne time :)
Congrats, Alan, for riding out your article debt! - Simeon 14:55, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)

April 17

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Congratulations Alan if you made it this far! Simeon 18:05, 17 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Thank you my friend. And congratulations to you with your new Admin responsibilities. I think it's wonderful to watch WN go thru a growth spurt. --HiFlyer 21:24, 17 Apr 2005 (UTC)

April 16

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April 15

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Thanks for participateing! You were unbelieveable - setting up the Wikinews broadcast and still managing to submit an article or so a day! Fair play to you. → CGorman (Talk) 20:16, 16 Apr 2005 (UTC)

April 14

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  • Simeon still in? Timing may require adjudication - filed at 06:10, 14 Apr 2005, perhaps 10 minutes past my deadline .. is this close enough? I have not taken daylight savings into account at all, btw, due to no idea what the relevent ruling is on that.
Chinese authorities question genetically altered rice allegation
Actually, you're well within the time limit -- it's 0:00 your time which is the final deadline.--Eloquence 07:22, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)

April 13

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April 12

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April 11

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April 10

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April 9

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April 8

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April 7

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Hard luck... hope you keep writing now and then though! → CGorman (Talk) 14:46, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)
I will - it only takes me about 90 minutes from beginning to post to write a story (probably why so many other folks need to copyedit them and spell check). :-) -- Davodd | Talk 18:18, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Sorry to see the departure... good wishes on the courses! - Amgine 04:41, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Article debt down to 10

April 6

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Well, Alan, you can't have it both ways. The two articles have been un-merged at your request, and I am told by Amgine that wikinews policy allows multiple stories on the same issue. To have the article I wrote discounted, you would have to get someone to delete it. - Simeon 06:07, 7 Apr 2005 (UTC)
I say (as one of three judges) that Simeon stays in - however should Elequence comment otherwise, furture discussion may be needed. → CGorman (Talk) 16:53, 7 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Simeon stays, but for submitting another dupe, I hereby sentence him to an article debt of 1, to be worked off in the next 3 days :-).--Eloquence 17:20, 7 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Good idea! → CGorman (Talk) 17:21, 7 Apr 2005 (UTC)

April 5

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April 4

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April 3

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Hmm .. turned out my article was a duplicate. I have since merged both stories to Australian rescue helicopter crash in Indonesia: nine dead. Am I still in? - Simeon 03:08, 4 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Well as a fellow contestent i have no prob with you remaining in. Your pre-merged article was quite good, and so is the merged one. Do any of the other contestents have a problem with him staying in? ~The bellman | Smile 05:38, 4 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Dupes happen - no reason to throw you out.--Eloquence 12:23, 4 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Fine with me. Pingswept 14:14, 4 Apr 2005 (UTC)

April 2

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April 1

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March 31

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March 30

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March 29

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March 28

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March 27

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March 26

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March 25

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March 24

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March 23

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March 22

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(note: Simeon misunderstood the article debt, so he is allowed, even though he missed his first day's entry, by virtue of having written three articles) -- Eloquence
narrowly missed maybe - I thought it would be up to submission of first article, not registration, or I would have registered the next day ;) Simeon 08:41, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)

March 21

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Judging

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Contest judges are precluded from participating in the contest. Their role is to decide whether written articles meet the requirements above. If you would like to be a judge, you can nominate yourself below. Other users can comment on the nominations, similar to the process on Wikinews:Administrators.


Fuzheado

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Would be willing to serve. Fuzheado 01:31, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)

CGorman

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Decided to drop out of the contest due to a few unavoidable commitments coming up. Hope to help with the log. CGorman 20:14, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Prizes

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No prizes contributed yet. To pledge a prize, which can be a physical object or cash, just add the prize pledge below, together with your signature (~~~~). You can add prizes at any time.

The organizers will try to help with transferring the prizes to the contest winner. The winner can decide which prizes they want to accept. The prizes they decline can be entered into the next contest.

  • A Gmail Invite. 50 Gmail invites Doubt this counts as a physical good... so its probaly not valid (plus it is effectively worthless), but I might as well get the spirit of giving going. CGorman 21:14, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Not to undermine CG's generosity :), but if anyone wants a Gmail invite, see my user page! Dan100 (Talk)
Well I suppose I was a bit mean only offering one - i've 50 to give away! CGorman 19:47, 11 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • A strange, bizarre gift of my choosing, which will be mailed to you in a plain, unmarked package, with a barely legible return address, which may or may not clear customs depending on your location and the local laws in your community. (Less adventurous winners may decline the gift by simply refusing to supply a mailing address to the prize coordinator at the end of the contest.) — DV 06:30, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • CA$50, and we're working on how to put a cash prize together - we might be able to set up an account so others can contribute to a bigger pot. - Amgine 06:37, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • A postcard from oh so exotic *cough cough* Canberra. Come on ppl this is something which anyone can contribute, come join with me, and offer a postcard from your home town. The bellman 10:34, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • If the winner is in Europe I'm sure I'll post them... something! Dan100 (Talk) 17:52, 10 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • US$20 via PayPal. -- Davodd | Talk 18:22, 11 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • Something stolen from the home or personal effects of SJ by Pingswept 04:38, 16 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • US$100 via PayPal, US postal money order, or US bank-certified funds. The winner can choose which payment method is best for him or her. (This prize is in addition to the strange, bizarre gift of my choosing, offered above.) — DV 06:45, 19 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • $1/day x duration of contest donated to Wikimedia Foundation pledges:
    • DV 07:14, 19 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • Odigity 09:03, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Prize ideas

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  • A donation to the Wikimedia Foundation in the name of the winner. The amount of donation in US dollars will be equal to the number of days the winner succesfully lasts in the competition. (Kind of like a Walkathon) (<-- unsigned comment by Fuzheado)
Support. Good idea Fuzheado! Wikimedia should get something out of this - because it's their site. I will donate one US$ dollar per each day the contest continues, up to a limit of 365 days. If the contest lasts longer than a month, I will institute a routine of donating the accumulated pledge at the end of each month the contest continues. Is there a way to donate to Wikimedia in a way that is publically verifiable? (This prize is in addition to the prizes I have pledged up above.) — DV 07:14, 19 Mar 2005 (UTC)
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