Papa Bear
Awards 2012
Choosing
the Best of Hogan's Heroes Fanfiction
FAQ
Q: What is the purpose of the Papa Bear Awards?
A: The purpose of the Papa Bear Awards is to seek out and give
recognition to quality writing, and to acquaint fellow authors and readers with
the best work in the fandom of Hogan's Heroes.
Q: How does the PBA work?
A: First the authors and readers of Hogan's Heroes fanfiction
nominate the works completed during 2010 that they consider to be of
outstanding quality. All the nominated work goes to the voting round*, in which
both authors and readers decide which works are really the very, very best of
this past year.
* An exception has been made this year for the category *best story
of 2011*. See Q: How does the nomination
for *best story of 2011* work?
Q: How do I know which stories are
eligible?
A: You can find the complete listings here.
Q: My favourite story has been
assigned to drama, but I would like to nominate it in the general category. Can
I do that?
A: Yes, you can. Only slash,
supernatural and crossover stories have a very strict category assignment. For
the others, the choice is pretty much up to you. The given assignment is merely
a guideline to help you find your way.
Q: What exactly are those word counts?
A: Snapshots are stories of less than 1,000 words.
Short stories (comedy, drama, general) are between 1,000 and
5,000 words.
Long stories (comedy, drama, general) are those that have
more than 5,000 words.
The other story categories do not have a division by word count.
Q: This story has 5100 words. Can I nominate it for short story?
A: No, you can’t. The division by word count in the categories
drama, comedy, general and snapshot is very strict. No exceptions!
Q: This poem has only 400 words. Can I nominate it as a
snapshot?
A: No, you can’t. Poems, filks and songfics should preferably be
nominated in their own category. They are however eligible to be nominated for
*best story of 2011* and *most unique story*.
Q: Where do I nominate a story that is listed as (for example)
friendship/hc? There is no category for those!
A: When there is no clear category assignment, the author has
left the choice entirely up to you. So you may decide for yourself whether you
think it would fit best as comedy, drama, general, unique etc.
Q: I notice that some of the eligible stories on the list are
not marked *complete* on ffnet. How come they are in anyway?
A: Some authors have reported trouble: ffnet wouldn’t let them
mark their story or stories as complete. Rest assured that the stories on the
list that are not marked as *complete* on ffnet have been double checked with
the authors, and are indeed supposed to be complete!
Q: This story is listed as comedy, general, challenge and
episode. That’s great! Can I nominate this same story in all four of those
categories?
A: No, you can’t. You may nominate one and the same story in
only 1 story category. So if you nominate story A in the challenge category,
you cannot nominate that same story in episode, general and comedy as well. You
need to pick one!
The only category where you may nominate the same story for a
second time is the category *best story of 2011*. See below for explanation.
Q: If I nominate my favourite story in (for example) the comedy
section, can I still nominate characters, quotes and teasers from that story?
A: Yes, you can. The restriction of one nomination per story
applies only to the story categories (e.g. drama, comedy, general,
snapshot, challenge, episode, unique, poetry, supernatural, slash and
crossover). If you like, you could even nominate the teaser and all your quotes
and characters from one single story. However, with no less than 212 stories to
choose from... :-)
Q: I have a story participating in the PBA this year. Is it okay
for me to participate in the nominating and voting?
A: Yes, you are very welcome to participate in the nominating
and voting. In fact, most people participating have eligible stories out there.
Just make sure you don't nominate your own work!
Q: How do I nominate my favourite story?
A: You check the PBA homepage to see which stories are eligible
this year. Once you've made your decision about what you want to nominate in
which category, you can send an email to papabearawards@yahoo.com. If you
want to be sure you include all the necessary information, you can use the template.
Q: Do I have to read all the stories before I decide on my
nominations?
A: No, you don't. Of course it's laudable to try and read all
the stories before making your choice, but with the numbers we have this year,
it's hardly realistic. In the nomination round, it's perfectly okay to choose
your nominations from among the stories you have read – whether they are 20 or
200.
Q: Do I have to nominate in every category?
A: No, you don’t. Feel free to skip the categories you’re not
interested in.
Q: I don't want to read slash/supernatural/crossovers (etc). Do
I have to nominate in that category?
A: No, you don't have to nominate in every category. You are
free to limit yourself to the categories you're interested in.
Q: How many nominations are needed to go to the voting round?
A: One nomination is sufficient for a story, character, teaser
or quote to go to the voting round. The only exception to this rule is the
category *best story of 2011* - see below.
Q: How does the nomination for *best story of 2011* work?
A: You can nominate 1 story in our most prestigious category:
the *best story of 2011*. This can be a story you nominated in another story
category as well – mind you, this is the only category where you
are allowed to do that!
However, this is also the only category where your nomination
does not automatically let the story go to the voting round. That depends on
the overall number of nominations the story receives.
In short, to go to the voting round in the category *best story
of 2011*, a story must:
- receive at least 1 nomination in the category *best story of
2011*.
- and it must receive
nominations from other people in the story and/or character categories.
Only the stories that have been nominated by the most people
will go on to the voting round for *best story of 2011* - we are aiming at
approximately 7 to 10 stories in this category in the voting round.
I know it sounds complicated. Rest assured that the complication
is limited to our tabulating the nominations. All you need to do is to nominate your absolute favourite story!
Q: How does the international category work?
A: Everyone who has read one or several of the international
stories (in German, Spanish or French) gives them a mark, ranging from 1
(horrible) to 10 (excellent). Send in the marks with your nominations and/or
your votes. We will collect and tabulate them, and the story with the highest
average mark will win the international Papa Bear Award.
It is not necessary to read all the international stories before
giving your marks. Even if you read only one, your mark will be very much
appreciated!
The international category has no separate nomination and voting
round. You can just send in your marks anytime between now and the closing date
for the votes (mid April).
Q: I recall that some of the stories in the international
category have participated in the PBA before. How come they are in again?
A: Most of the international stories (5 out of the 8 we have)
have participated in the PBA before – that is indeed correct. However, their
number being so awfully small (we never had more than 2 or 3 per year), they
never got their own category, and thus had to compete with the English stories.
Which is pretty much a lost battle before the game even begins, since the
people who can reasonably read French, German and Spanish and are willing to do
so are certainly a minority. When the majority of the nominators and voters are
not even able to read the story in the first place, what chance did they stand?
So now that we have a reasonable number of international
stories, we take them on all together. However, the only ones also eligible
elsewhere (crossovers, best story of 2011 etc) are the ones that were completed
this year: Un Invierno, El Secreto and Wolf Trap. The ‘old’ ones are only competing in the international
category.
Q: I don't know whether character X was originally a guest
character, or whether the author just made him up. Where do I nominate him?
A: To be on the safe side, you can ask the author, alternatively
the PBA staff.
Q: Can I nominate quotes from my own stories, like we did a few
years ago?
A: No, you can't. That option has been dropped this year. No
nominations of your own work are allowed in any category.
Q: Where do I find good quotes without reading every story?
A: An option is to browse through the reviews. Many reviewers
mention a particularly good quote from a chapter in their review.
Q: I'm missing a few stories that have been completed this year.
Why aren't they eligible?
A: Three possible reasons.
1) The story has been newly edited and reposted, but has already
participated in a previous edition of the PBA.
2) The author has decided to withdraw this particular story from
participation in the PBA.
3) If the story has only been published outside ffnet, we may
simply have missed it. If that is the case, please let us know ASAP!
Q: I don't have an ffnet account, but I enjoy reading Hogan's
Heroes fanfiction. Can I participate in the nominating and voting of the PBA?
A: Yes, you can.
Q: How do I vote?
A: You can find the instructions here.
Q: Where do I send my votes?
A: You can send them by email to papabearawards@yahoo.com,
alternatively by ffnet PM. You will always receive a confirmation once your
votes have been registered.
Q: Do I have to vote in every category?
A: No, you don't have to vote in every category. If you are
pressed for time, or if some categories simply don't interest you, it's
perfectly okay to limit yourself to voting in only a few categories. Or even
only one.
Q: I understand we have 3 votes in each category this year. Does
that mean I have to cast 3 votes everywhere, or can I do 1 or 2 as well?
A: Yes, you can. It’s *max
3 votes*, so you are free to limit yourself to 1 or 2 (or 0) votes if that best
represents your opinion.
Q: How do I vote for the quotes? If we are allowed to vote for
as many as we want...?!
A: Yes, you may indeed vote for all the quotes that you like. No
limitations! If you’re making your decisions here on the website, you’ll see
that all quotes have been assigned a number. To vote for this or that quote, you
can simply list the numbers of the quotes you want to vote for.
If you are voting in the yahoo polls, things are just regular:
you tick every quote you like.
Q: My favourite story has been nominated in two categories. Can
I vote for that story in both categories?
A: Yes, you can.
Q: My own story/character/teaser/quote has been nominated. Am I
allowed to vote for it now?
A: Yes, you can vote for your own work, if you are indeed
convinced that your work is the best in that category. But be honest about it!
Q: Do I have to read everything before casting my vote?
A: In order to make a fair and well–considered decision, it is
certainly advisable to have read everything in a category before deciding on
your vote in that category. Or at the very least get a feeling for every story
in that category.
Q: Why can't crossovers, supernatural and slash stories qualify
for “best overall story”?
A: The “best overall story” should be accessible and
comprehensible for everyone who enjoys Hogan's Heroes – period. We know (and
their authors know) by experience that these three genres have a limited
audience.
To understand a crossover, you have to be acquainted with another TV-show,
movie, book etc. in order to even begin to comprehend the story.
As for supernatural and slash stories, these are elements totally alien to the
original TV show of Hogan's Heroes. And though we do appreciate them enough to
grant them their own PBA category, they have the additional problem that for a
variety of reasons, a considerable number of readers refuse to read one or both
of these genres.
Therefore, we do not consider stories from these three genres suitable to
perhaps end up being “the best Hogan's Heroes story that every HHfan should
read”, no matter how good they are.
As a side note: in none of the past four editions of the PBA
have stories from these genres made it to the “best overall” category – even
when it was done by direct nomination.
Q: I would like to help with the PBA organization. Is there
anything I can do?
A: For this year, all tasks have been divided. However, if you'd
like to help next year, just drop us an email, and we'll notify you once the
preparations for next year go underway!
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us.
Enjoy your reading!
Kind
regards from your Chief Librarian,
Konarciq
(Margherita)
Closing
date for sending in your votes:
April 6th, 2012
(Good
Friday)
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