Forum:CT:Goodwood's Fanon Challenge

Hello there! In the spirit of cooperation and new ideas as put forth by our fearless leader Brandon Rhea in this thread, I would like to propose the idea and setting up of a series of Fanon Challenges. The intention here is to provide an adjunct to our story contests and other activities, such as the annual Wiki Awards, and would be run on their own timetable. If the community thinks this is a good idea, I would take responsibility for setting up and overseeing each challenge.

The way each individual challenge would work is thus:


 * 1) I will post the parameters for the challenge on a special page, possibly a new namespace (example: Challenge:Fanon Challenge 1).
 * 2) Writers are given eight weeks to come up with original fanon which meets the criteria, working either on a subpage or off-site (the latter would be preferred, but that's not really important). There will be no limit to numbers of entries per author.
 * 3) After this period is ended, each writer has one week to submit their entries to the main namespace and post them on the challenge page.
 * 4) Finally, there will be a three-week period for users to cast votes. Depending on the number of entries, each user will get up to three votes apiece.
 * 5) After that period, a first- second- and third-place winner will be declared, with myself choosing a pair of "honorable mentions" if I'm so inclined.

The rules are simplicity itself.


 * 1) All entries must be new; if it existed on the wiki in any form prior to the issuance of the challenge, then it is ineligable.
 * 2) All entries must follow the Manual of Style, Layout Guide, and any other site policies.

That's it, really. An entry doesn't have to be FA quality, though I think that if a winner is deemed as worthy, then such status could be expedited. It basically comes down to who can write the best original fanon given a broad set of parameters, even if it is outside of what would normally be a writer's comfort zone (for example, I don't much care for making articles for Sith Lords). Such parameters would be broad in scope, so that as many different ideas can be explored as possible. Examples might include "an Old Republic Jedi" or "an Imperial-era freighter," with a gray area open for overlap (basically, if the latter example included an entry that started life during the Republic or continued operations into the Legacy era).

And that's my idea. If this CT passes, then my first challenge would be a Character Challenge, set to start off either in March or April. 02:05, December 31, 2011 (UTC)

Support
Vote here if you think this is a good idea, or even if you think it could be improved upon and/or refined (please include a comment in the Discussion section).
 * 1) Naturally. 02:05, December 31, 2011 (UTC)

Oppose
Vote here if you think this is a terrible idea, but not if you think I'm an egocentric little prat (save that for the Discussion section).

Discussion
All comments are welcome here, but please keep it SWF:CIVIL}civil.