Though all official pages have been claimed, I will allow for commercial parody pages. (The pages are not required to be in cannon with the story or feature the characters)
Planning ~ Now - July
FYC Comic Jam ~ April 25 - July 10
The Drunk Duck Award Design Contest Submissions ~ June 5 - 12 Voting ~ June 12 - 14
Drunk Duck Awards Voting Opens ~ July 3 - July 31
Tie Breakers (as needed) ~ July 31 - August 7
Finalists Announced/Volunteers Assigned ~ August 7 - August 13
Judging ~ August 14 - September 24
Emergency Wrap Up ~ September 25 - October 9
The Ceremony Begins ~ October 10
Feel free to provide feedback and ideas here.
First of all, I would like to thank everyone for their hard work this year. Also, for two years I have not been able to keep up with judging for the awards. I would love to still host, but I would love to bring on a Judge Wrangler ahead of time.
Some ideas that have come up: Best Newcomer Award (still up for debate to include in future years) Most Improved Art (discussion about tweeking the dates to include more years, only award this to a comic once, and/or giving this award only to completed comics)
Niccea wrote: Feel free to provide feedback and ideas here.
First of all, I would like to thank everyone for their hard work this year. Also, for two years I have not been able to keep up with judging for the awards. I would love to still host, but I would love to bring on a Judge Wrangler ahead of time.
Some ideas that have come up: Best Newcomer Award (still up for debate to include in future years) Most Improved Art (discussion about tweeking the dates to include more years, only award this to a comic once, and/or giving this award only to completed comics)
What would the qualifications be for best newcomer? Just a new member within the past year? If how long? Would there have to be a comic?
Since there are no membership time constraints for comics anything in the way of best new comic would be redundant and it should just be best new member.
Also, at this time, I would like to ask for a volunteer to be the judge wrangler. It just means keeping the judges on track and reporting people that aren't pulling their weight. The last couple of years I haven't been able to monitor the judge forum as efficiently.
Also I want to ask about the FYC plot. Do we want to hold a contest again or pick one of the scenarios from last year?
It would have to be well organized with a very short turn around. I think I have some organizational ideas for it that I can expound upon when tomorrow I get to Niccea Command Central (aka home computer)
FYC stands for "For Your Consideration" It is a one to two page comic that artists use to plug their comic before voting begins. The last three years they had to fit a specific plot.
I don't have the resources to paste the categories at this time but you can check the previous comics in my profile for examples of both.
Best Adventure Comic: Quests, missions, explorations, and/or other dangerous or exciting ventures.
Best Adult-oriented Comic: A-rated comics. XXX No one under 18 admitted! Live nudes! Or excessive violence. Or both!
Best All Ages Comic: Child-friendly comics that the whole family can enjoy.
Best Anthropomorphic Comic: They act like people and think like people, but they look like foxes or dolphins or toasters.
Best Community Project: Comics and projects that bring together a variety of DD members for massive synergy! (DD Awards are not eligible, for giving ourselves an award would create a paradox vortex from which there is no escape.)
Best Drama: A story focused on a real world setting and is character-driven with a focus on emotions. Courtroom dramas, medical dramas, crime dramas, romantic dramas, high school dramas (but when is high school not dramatic?), etc.
Best Fantasy Comic: Magical, mythical, mystical, marvelous. Comics set in fantastical settings, involving magic or mythical creatures, abilities, or beings.
Best Horror Comic: The dark, scary, and twisted. Monsters, psychological thrillers, and ax-wielding psychos all have their place among these wonderfully horrific comics.
Best Humor Comic: Gags, jokes, lols, roflmaos, and such. Format and subject matter aren't important. It just has to make you laugh. Best Mystery/Crime/Noir: Crime drama, police, mobsters, mysteries, hard-boiled detectives, and/or meddling kids.
Best Parody/Tribute: Comics that use the characters, worlds, or creations of other creators. It's not copyright infringement! It's an homage!
Best Philosophical/Political Comic: Make-you-think comics that address deep topics from the spiritual and philosophical to the cultural or political.
Best Sci-fi Comic: A form of speculative fiction so named because the fantastical elements are rooted in or explained by actual or fictional scientific theory.
Best Superhero Comic: Too super for other categories.
~~~~~
STYLE AWARDS
Best Action Within A Comic: Chase scenes, fights, big explosions; CRASH POW ZOOM – you know the stuff Best Manga Style Comic: Comics inspired by the artistic style and conventions of Japanese cartooning.
Most Deliciously Offensive: These f&%#@ comics might p^@(# you the f*^^@* off.
~~~~~
TECHNICAL AWARDS
Best Background Art: The background, setting, environment, and surroundings. Including architecture, scenery, furniture, vehicles, etc.
Best Character Design: The artistic design of the characters. This includes anatomy, facial expressions, and clothing (but not speech, mannerisms, or personality/actions).
Best Comic Layouts: The components of visual storytelling that harmonize the artwork into a page and direct flow and pacing. Includes panel shape and position, placement of speech balloons, lettering, and general readability.
Best Dialogue: It's all about what they say and how they say it.
Best Plot Development: The overall story composition and pacing, and the use of storytelling elements.
Best Use of Non-Traditional Medium: Comics that use 3D rendering, Photography, Sprites, or Maccoroni Art Best Use of Traditional Medium: Comics that use traditional artistic mediums or the computer to simulate them.
Most Improved Art: The comic that shows the most artistic improvement between July 2011 and now.
~~~~~
CHARACTER AWARDS
Best Protagonist: Contrary to popular belief, the protagonist is the main character of the story whether they are good or evil.
Best Antagonist: Opposes the protagonist. Doesn't necesarily have to be evil incarnate, it could be Superman in a comic about Lex Luthor for example.
Best Supporting Character: A noteworthy secondary character; can be good, bad, or other.
~~~~~
USER AWARDS Outstanding Achievement Within the Community: The user that will win this award is always there to particpate in the community no matter what. These people show their support for the site within the forums and by participating in community projects. Most Dedicated Creator: That creator who seems to be a page-making machine, every day on time – or maybe the one who has been at it forever and has a thousand pages of the most amazing quality – or the one who is updating five different regular comics on a schedule. Whatever they are doing, they sure are DEDICATED.
Most Supportive Reader: Maybe they leave the most comments or the most insightful ones, or they draw wonderful fanart, or they are always available to discuss your
script ideas or send you cards when you're on hiatus.
**Best Newcomer Award Awarded to a newcomer who has come to the site who has really stood out. They could be creators or dedicated readers
~~~~~
THE BIG ONES
Best Completed Comic: Comics that were concluded sometime between July 2014 and now. (Indefinite hiatus doesn't count.)
Best Overall Comic Strip: Best webcomic with stand-alone updates or short, unrelated story arcs, usually in a horizontal or vertical strip format.
Best Overall Story Comic: Best webcomic that tells a continuous story, usually in full page format.
~~~~~
Create Your Own Award Didn't see the proper award for the comic/person you were thinking of on this list? Make one up. Create your own award and give it a winner. Best awards will be chosen by a dedicated team of judges. Last call to make changes to categories (and to help with a short description for the Drama A.ward)
I decided that for this year we will try out doing a comic jam for the FYC.
Instead of having a theme for the FYC's they will be following a little more of a plot. The first volunteer is going to be the one to set the stage for this. However, my one stipulation that the main character(s) for this needs to be a new made up character. The characters from your comics can have cameos, but the main characters need to be originals, so that they are easily accessible to anyone.
Genejoke has the following suggestion, but it is really up to you: I would suggest requiring each page to follow a character or two as they navigate "things" which have the ads for the FYC. it could be beavis and butthead style watching TV or wormholes jumping, or even visiting different movie sets.but A common them needs to run through them.
Rules:
Keep the comics rated PG
Let try to stay to one week max to page creation
Let me know what awards you want your comic considered for, so I can put it in the comments. (The list might not fit into the comic as easy this year)
Please let me know if you wish to be reached by PQ or email.
So, if you are interested in making an FYC page please let me know. You can comment in the comic, post in the planning thread, or PQ or email me.
I am mostly looking for volunteers for the first and last pages. The first page will set the story for the comic, and we need to get this out as soon as possible since we are trying to do a little bit more for the FYC. The person who volunteers to go last will have July 3rd through 10th to work on their page.
For those pages in between, I'll be keeping a loose list of who is going next. If I get to the end of the list, and there is still time for more pages, I'll make an announcement, and it pages will be assigned on a first come first serve basis.
I'll def help out, although I don't want to do the first page because I am not quite sure how this works yet and am terrible under pressure, but sign me up otherwise!!
I think with this, we will officially end out with something near 11 pages. So, I'll also open up for a limited amount of standard FYC pages. Rule, they are to be something like television commercials.
Have we discussed changing the scope of "most improved art" criteria? The judges have struggled with it every year, since improvement within the scope of a year is pretty subtle for nearly everyone.
I think we were talking about expanding the judging to the past two years for that category (and maybe making the previous winner ineligible for the year). Any thoughts?
I like the idea of making the previous year's winner ineligible. Ideally it'd be nice to have previous winners judge the next years nominees. But that's just me.
I wasn't talking about all the categories. As long as we are looking at a single year worth of material, there's no reason to cut anyone out. (It would be unfair to do so, imo.)
I was suggesting extending that one category to two years' material. And, if so, making a previous winner ineligible due to the material overlap. I've judged "Most Improved" before, and none of the nominees had really marked changes in a year. I can't imagine it has been easier for any other judges.
usedbooks wrote: I wasn't talking about all the categories. As long as we are looking at a single year worth of material, there's no reason to cut anyone out. (It would be unfair to do so, imo.)
I was suggesting extending that one category to two years' material. And, if so, making a previous winner ineligible due to the material overlap. I've judged "Most Improved" before, and none of the nominees had really marked changes in a year. I can't imagine it has been easier for any other judges.
Neither was I. I was referring to Most improved art. I'm also in favor of expanding "most Improved art" to cover the last two years of an artist's run. But if the artist won the previous year he couldn't win the next.
And that he would be encouraged to judge the following years nominees in "Most Improved Art"
And now building on that: a super crazy idea that would mean revamping the entire awards system currently in place:
Comics could not win an award in consecutive years. The comic would win one year and be exempt from nomination for the following year. The winning creator would be obliged to judge the next years' nominees.
This would expand the amount of people/comics eligible for winning awards and potentially increase the number of judges.
But that is a crazy idea out of far right field and probably not in the realm of possibility. Since most of us can't remember what won a year ago let alone two, and how many comics come and go in months let alone year, it isn't realistic either.
I was also thinking that (having "winners" judge) wouldn't be in the spirit of the awards. The awards were never about actively trying to compete. Other people nominate favorite comics, not the creators. If creators were forced/asked to judge, they might want to "opt out" of competition to begin with.
I suppose it's one way to do awards, but showcasing *the best* of the year was always how I saw it.
That said, winners make good judges because they have an eye for the category. I usually volunteer to judge awards I have won or previously been nominated in. – Or in categories I personally want to improve myself in because judging also gives you are better eye for comics, art, and writing.
Anyway, sorry for misunderstanding/derailing. I'm more than willing to have the first "ineligible" comic for Most Improved if we want to try the change. (And I'm happy to judge the category too.)
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