Hey everyone!! Tomorrow, judging will officially start, at least for the categories where we already have judges. This is happening way faster than expected, but still, I'm super excited for this!
Firstly, a quick note to all of you:
I don't want to sound rude or mean, and I feel very bad saying this. But when I say to please *permanently* follow me, that's exactly what I mean. Do not unfollow after you've been accepted, or after the awards are over. Besides receiving my constant updates on the status of the awards, I do work very hard to make sure these awards are running smoothly. Following me is basically a payment.
There are hundreds of you (judges and participants), so obviously, there's no way for me to check whether everyone is following me or not. But if I ever discover that one of you has unfollowed me (anytime in the future), I will give a warning, and if you still do not follow, I will sadly have to put you on the blacklist. That means you will no longer be allowed to participate in any more awards hosted by me, and I may share this list with some of my friends who also host awards. This may seem harsh, but it's part of the rules, and there are consequences for not following rules. I am seriously getting frustrated with the people unfollowing me just in the past few days, and we haven't even started judging yet!
The *majority* of you have been abiding by this though, so thank you so much!!
Anyhow, moving onto a much more lighthearted topic :)
A quick note to all participants:
PLEASE do *permanently* follow your judge. Judges work very hard to read, judge, and review your work, so please give them a follow and DO NOT unfollow after the awards are over!
Now, all judges please read this! This is super important!!
1. Tomorrow, I will publish a list of who you will judge. If you are judging a MAIN category, please add all books to a reading list, at least for the duration of the awards. You don't need to do that for special categories.
2. Also tomorrow, I will put up a rubric. That rubric is basically the judging guidelines, so please judge accordingly!!
3. It is your responsibility to make sure that everyone you judge is following you. When you begin to judge, simply check to see who is following you, and who isn't. If someone you're judging isn't, then give them a simple message on their message board: "Hello, I am judging you for the Dream Hearts Awards, would you mind giving me a follow so I can start judging?"
4. This only applies to judges who sign up AFTER the judging process has already begun: I don't expect participants to constantly check the list of who is judging them. So, once you see your name appear in the list of accepted judges, please contact the participants who are judging them, preferably on their message board: "Hello, I've recently been accepted as your judge for the Dream Hearts Awards. Would you mind giving me a follow so I can start judging?"
5. I am trusting that you will not accept bribes or show favoritism, in the event that you happen to be assigned to judge someone you know. Thanks!
And that's all! I am SUPER excited for these awards! I seriously can't wait for the results (no pressure to judges though, lol :P)! Thanks for participating, everybody, and love you all!
💙, Stella Rose