Help needed with the UFOs.

[Dejana]

It's time to face facts; the UFO Awards have gotten too big for one person to handle alone. It was easy enough when we started out with only a few fandom categories, but with over twenty now, I'm facing starting the next round when I still haven't finished the work associated with the last one. I don't want to shut the awards down, because I enjoy being able to recognize talented writers, but if I can't get some help with them 2010 will be the last year. 

So, I'd like to add some staff positions for the UFOs. There are two basic tasks I need help with.

• Nomination processing. When someone nominates a story, it goes to a holding queue for verification. This task is as simple as checking that all the story details are correct and the story fits the criteria for the awards (word count, date of completion). This is definitely the easiest task, easier even than our in-house Story Moderator job, but there are a lot of nominations to process (and many of them are on FFN, which I don't have access to very often), so they tend to pile up on me.
• Award graphics. This is the hefty one. Nominee badges are easy enough, since they all have the same design with different text, but all the winner graphics are unique with images tailored to the content of the story. There are three or four winners per fandom category, and with twenty fandoms and ten WIP honorable mentions that adds up to a lot. Making one of these means reading enough of the story to get a feel for its characters and content, tracking down images that fit that content, and editing them into the standard template. Ideally, volunteers to help with this task should have access to Photoshop, but in a pinch I'll be happy enough with a few people to read the winning stories and collect source images for the graphics.

Creating the award graphics is the most time-consuming part of running the UFOs. It may seem excessive, but the individualized graphics are what makes the UFOs something special. When the award is a graphic that fits the story, it stands as proof that the content of the story matters to us, and the recipient is a lot more likely to display it than a standard cookie-cutter image. I've gotten a lot of delighted comments from authors who have received these, and frankly, I don't see a purpose in continuing the UFOs without giving out awards that matter. This is both the most time-consuming task and the most important one, as well as the key to the whole question. If I can't find some helpers for this job, this year will be the last one. I hate to be dramatic about it, but I can't handle the UFOs on my own anymore.

If you are interested in joining staff in either of these roles please post or PM me.

[Cherry-Kerry]

I can definitely help out with the graphics. 

[Yumeko]

I'll volunteer for nomination processing.

- Yumeko -

[Dejana]

Thanks, KR! It's still too much for two people, so I hope we'll get a few more volunteers. Any chance you have some spare time now to help finish up the 2008 awards? >_>

Yume, I need to tweak the admin pages a bit to make them easier for helpers to use, but I'll get some instructions to you soon. We could do with a few more volunteers for that task as well.

[nightingale]

I'm new to the board, but I'm willing to help with the Nom Processing.

[Dejana]

I'm very grateful for the offer, nightingale, but as the awards committee has direct access to most of the database entries for the UFOs, I need to limit it to people I'm at least casually familiar with. If you stick around on the site, please do feel free to ask again at a later date.

[Bunneh of Dhoooom]

I'm down for nomination processing.

You know what's crazy.  I had this really weird feeling that I should look in here even though I accidentally clicked the mark as read button for the site.  It's crazy when something like that happens. 

[Dejana]

Thanks, Shel! I'll send you the PM 'o Info.