Judge Duties and Responsibilities

(in order of what you'll be doing first)

DUTY THE FIRST - Read each nomination that is submitted to your category. (Well, duh.)

DUTY THE SECOND - Check the nomination for the following things:
1) Check with all past winners and see that it does not replicate.
2) Check with the nominees from the previous round and see that it does not replicate.
3) Check with the nomination rules and see that the information given is sufficient. Check if it is after all, a romance. 
4) Check that it is in English and is in fact, original prose. No fanfiction, foreign language, or poetry, basically. 
5) Check for grammar and punctuation. Subpar grammar and punctuation is unacceptable -- I was a little lenient with this in the past, but I am tightening up now. I will not hesitate to remove the nomination from the site and notify you of this if I deem the grammar and punctuation to be below our standards. (And then you'll have the rather embarrassing task of notifying the nominee that s/he is not, in fact, nominated -- a task I do not envy, I assure you.) 

You can view the complete nomnination rules here: http://skow.endless-romance.net/nom.php?rules 

DUTY THE THIRD - Now, you must check with your own category requirements. They are located at http://skow.endless-romance.net/index.php?categories (you'll also find your category assignments on this page later on). For example, Best Kiss requires an actual kiss, and the nominator must specify which kiss it is by giving the chapter URL. You cannot judge any other kiss in the story other than the one specified by the nominator. Also watch for the "Complete/Incomplete" categories such as Best Het. Read all the way through the story -- it can't be on hiatus and be complete! 

DUTY THE FOURTH - This is where your judging skills will come in. If the nomination has passed all the previous requirements, you'll have to judge the nominee subjectively. Do you think this story would be a contender for this award? Placeholders do not belong here. Either the nominee is fully competent, or it's not. Don't worry about filling the category. I'd rather have four great nominees than six shoddy ones. BE PICKY. You don't have to accept or reject a nomination right away. You can tuck it away and reconsider it later. If the nomination has passed even that and you've deemed it acceptable to be a nominee, you must then post it on the nominees page (details on this at a later date). Afterwards, you must notify the nominee about his/her nomination through e-mail (using the official gmail account I'll be making for you) or through a review or PM, if he/she does not provide an e-mail. 

DUTY THE FIFTH - If the nomination has failed and you've deemed it unacceptable to be a nominee, you must then send a rejection letter to the nominator to say that their nomination has in fact been rejected. You must also state WHY. (Very important!) Nominators like to know that their nomination went through and if it was accepted. You do not need to send any acceptance letters -- if it was accepted, it'd be up on the nominees page! 

DUTY THE SIXTH - This will be done after the nomination period has finished. You must send in your pick for Judges' Pick. Judges' Pick is a subcategory in which you get to choose a winner from the nominees that you, yourself, think deserves the award. You will be picking this winner before voting results return.

DUTY THE SEVENTH - [This is a new requirement for judges!] As you may have heard, we are trying to start up a newsletter that will be a separate entity from the awards. You will be required to write or draw something relating to your category to contribute to the newsletter. When you submit it will be up to you, but you have to have submitted it before the winners are announced for Round Six. You can write an essay, a poem, a play -- you can even submit a graphic. Nevertheless, it has to relate to your category. For example: Say my category was Most Humorous. I could write an essay about the different types of humor and when they are most commonly used and which are more effective for certain situations. Also, I could write a poem incorporating all different types of humor in separate stanzas. Finally, I could also draw a comic strip (ick -- bad example, but you get it!). It'd be great if you could incorporate some examples from the nominees, but that bit isn't required.

ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES:
1) Each judge will be in charge of a single category. There will be fifteen judges total for all fifteen categories. This means that if someone has an inquiry about your category, you will be required to answer it.
2) Check your e-mail frequently. I will be clogging your inbox. That's a fact. Just ask all the previous judges. They're probably sick of me already, bless their hearts. (:
3) Emergencies happen. I'd like to know, though, so I can cover for your emergency and not freak out on you for being absent. I have judges who volunteer to double their workload, so don't worry about it.
4) Consult with each other! Each judges' information is on the Contact page and I am here, of course. If you ever want a second eye on your nomination, contact one of your fellow judges or me and we'll help.
5) I will be butting into the gmail account that I provide for you all the time to check up on how you're doing with nominees. However, this e-mail is yours to keep. You can use it for personal reasons, as long as it doesn't interfere with your judging.

Questions? Toss 'em to me at skowawards@gmail.com. I'll be glad to help.