04.27.2010
Sorry for the slight delay everybody but I'm happy to announce that voting period has officially begun. Go check out the nominees list! You'll see a huge difference. I probably will not have the time to send out the congrats letters to all the new nominees till later today. If you are a nominated author who somehow found out about your nomination before you received your letter, I guess here is where I congratulate you. So if you are a nominated author reading this, Congratulations and keep up the amazing work you've been doing!The poll for the category Le Series Meillure will not be up till later today as the nominees for that category has not yet been finalized. Series is a big category so the judges will need a bit of extra time to finish off and make their decisions.
Due to the fact that the start of Voting Period has been delayed (especially for Best Series), Voting Period will now end on May 28th, which will give everybody an extra four days to read and cast their votes. Happy reading, everybody!
P.S. I need some lines/quotes from comics to put in that little box in the top-right corner of the page. Suggestions? Send 'em my way. :)
04.21.2010
Nomination is still open for all categories except for Le Poetry Award. Unfortunately, we just don't have enough nominees to run a proper cycle so we'll be keeping nominations opened. We still hope to start the voting period on Monday, April 21st, 2010. Due to the fact that the nominations sent in now are late nominations, the judges are not obligated to read the nominations if they deem that their category has enough nominees.Categories in particular that need some loving: Le Plot Twist Meillure Award, L'Inspirational Lead Character Award, L'Evil Mastermind Award, and Le Conclusion Meillure Award.
That's it for now, folks. Nominate, nominate, nominate!
04.01.2010
Hi Everybody. I had this perfect plan where I would say in the update, "There is no contest winner for the March contest because none of the entries were good enough." or "Sorry guys. I can't do this anymore. Campanella is going down." for April Fool's Day. Unfortunately, I forgot. And I'm ready to smack myself for forgetting because I had it all planned out so well too.Anyway, since I forgot to do my April Fool's, I guess I should get around to announcing the winner of the March Writing Contest, eh? Congratulations goes to Aderyn Azula with her entry Food: by Taylor. The March prompt was a really difficult one so props to her for doing it and for doing it well. Go read it because like MaGa says, "whoever was crazy enough to attempt to write that... well, it deserves to be read." :)
03.22.2010
Whoo! Nominations for Cycle 2 has begun! Go and nominate to your hearts delight.Noticed the beautiful new layout? It was created by Jenny, a new graphics artist at Campanella. As you can see, the theme for Cycle 2 will be Cartoons. Jenny did a wonderful job with the theme, don't you think? Send her some love in the cbox!
Go on the nominees page and you'll see some wonderful Cycle 2 "Nominated!" buttons made by Kaleigh. And there are still more to come! Send Kaleigh some love as well. (:
The new staff graphics are all made by Tahti. Some are still in the progress of being made but the ones that are displayed are amazing.
Speaking of new staff, time to announce the panel of judges for Cycle 2: Charlie, Kathy, Erica, Lily, Candice, MaGa, Jelsa, Ellie, Gracie, Aderyn and Lisa. Want to get to know them? Their bios can be found on the staff page. :)
Lastly, the new category for Cycle 2 is Le Plot Twist Meillure (which translates to Best Plot Twist). Go check the categories page to see which categories are running during Cycle 2.
On another note, there has been a serious lack in Contest submissions lately. If you have the time to do so, please check out our March Contest and give a thought on entering it? :)
Now go nominate, nominate, nominate!
03.02.2010
Spring is coming - you know what that means. Animals come out of hibernation, plants turn green, and 'Nella's Spring cycle is about to begin! As you may (or may not) have noticed, the dates for Cycle 2 were pushed back by a week because I will be in Florida during the week of the 15th. *excited* Any Floridians (is that the right term?) here?Or course, to get the cycle running, we need judges. I'm a bit disappointed by the amount of judge applications I've received so far because at this rate, we might not end up having a cycle 2. I'm extending the judge application deadline to March 10th (a week from now) for any of you last minute procrastinators.
The new contest is up! Click on the 'contest' page to view it. I was personally quite amused by it so I hope you will find it to be a fun prompt. Speaking of contests, time to announce last month's (February's) contest winner! Congratulations to Narq who won the February contest with the one-shot Roses and Petals. Please be sure to check it out!
02.09.2010
My apologies, everybody! This update is over a week late and I'm so sorry for keeping you all waiting.Anyway, a few updates. Firstly, the judge application is up! All judge applications are to be submitted by March 8th, 2010 - which gives everybody about a month to work on them. I am also looking for Graphics Artists. :)
I will be postponing Cycle 2 of Campanella down a week as I will be out on vacation on the week of March 15th. To anybody who's wondering - yes, I am still accepting suggestions for Cycle 2 categories. You can make them on the cbox or email them to me. :)
Lastly, the contest prompt is up! I was originally going to do a Black History Month prompt but I couldn't find a way to make it interesting. This month's prompt is inspired from the fact that Valentine's Day is coming up. This month's contest is also a time challenge as you all only have about two and a half weeks. ;) Happy writing!
01.31.2010
Contests, contests, contests! We do have a winner for the January writing contest! Congratulations to sophiesix who won the contest with her entry Home. Great job, Sophie!
01.01.2010
This feeling is so odd - I suddenly I have to get used to writing 2010. My, does time go by fast.Firstly, the new contest prompt is up. :) I think this prompt will appeal to the sci-fi writers a lot.
Secondly, I have found a wonderful new host for Campanella. If you have somehow found your way here, reading this, that means you did it - you're on our new site. :) I will be leaving Campanella on Webs for another month but afterwards, all content will be removed (except for a "we've moved" link). I highly suggest you start following us here and to never venture back into the horrid world of Webs. Plus, don't you love the new URL? I sure do. :)
Overloaddd is an amazing site ran by Shanelle. There you will find beautiful graphics, layouts, contests, stories, and more! Shanelle has been nothing but kind and helpful to me since I contacted her about hosting so please send her some love on her website. Comment on her cbox, read her stories and vote in the current contests. :)
Anyway...
Welcome to the new & improved La Campanella Awards! :)
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12.31.2009
Last update of the year. Heck, last update of the decade! And look out because this is a pretty significant update.
Layout: As you can see, we have a new layout! This is Eve's first layout with Campanella and it sure is gorgeous, don't you think? Our last layout was themed around Autumn but since Autumn has passed and frost has rolled in, we decided it was time to switch layouts to reflect the change of seasons (well, reflect the change in the northern hemisphere). I love the blue and white of this layout - it gives off the chilling mystical effects of winter. Please send some love Eve's way for creating this wonderful layout! :)
Apply Page: Yes, we have an apply page now for those of you who are thinking about being part of La Campanella's Staff. Currently, the judge applications are closed since it's the off-seasons. However, the Graphics Artists application is always opened so if you have a gift with graphics, apply away! Any and all help we can get at Campanella is appreciated. :)
Award Suggestions: If you look at the categories page, you will see that there are three more categories in the Autumn Cycle than in the Spring Cycle. That is somewhat of a problem since we like to keep everything even and balanced out between the two cycles. Therefore, we need the help from our viewers (yes, you) to suggest some categories for the Spring Cycle. Please keep in mind that the Autumn Cycle is dedicated to genre-specific categories while the Spring Cycle is more open-ended. We may actually need four more categories for the Spring Cycle since I want to add one more genre-specific category to the Autumn Cycle (I just don't know what to name it yet). So suggest away!
New Categories: The reason why the number of categories in the Autumn Cycle outnumbers the amount in the Spring Cycle is because I added two extra categories (and another one is pending/undecided) to the Autumn Cycle. The first category is Le Poetry Award - pretty self explanatory. The reason why I decided to include a poetry category is because I'm judging Best Poetry at SKoW Awards right now so if you're also a romance/SKoW follower, go nominate! Especially in Best Poetry and Best Tragedy - I'm judging those. ;) The second category I added is Le Prompt Response Fantastique. As we all know, Campanella holds a writing contest every month and at the end of the month, I (LilyAnna) choose a winner out of all the submissions (as well as give honourable mentions). By the time the next Autumn Cycle rolls around, we would have held twelve contests with twelve contest winners. Those twelve winners are the nominees of the category, Le Prompt Response Fantastique. The readers are going to vote on the submission that they felt was the best out of those twelve and the winner of that would become our Contest Winner of the Year. Basically, we're choosing the cream of the crop. :)
New Contest Rule: Due to the fact that the twelve contest winners of the year will face off in the next Autumn Cycle, I have decided to enforce a limit so that an author may only win three times yearly. There's no point in building up to the ‘final show-down’ if all the pieces are by the same author, correct? I still do highly encourage everybody to write for our contests, but if/when an author has won three times, I’m afraid I cannot select that author's submission as the winner even if it is the best. I will, however, give it a special mention if it is deserving of one.
Contest Results: Speaking of the contest, it's time to release the contest results of the December Writing Contest. Firstly, let me give an honourable mention to A Story for the Doctors to Discuss by Lani Lenore, Lost by sophiesix, Let's Bet by Narq, and The Ocean by Aderyn Azula. These entries were all wonderful and I highly encourage for all of you to read and review them. Now let me warn you that the submission that won this month's contest should not be read tonight since we're all supposed to be happily celebrating the new years. The submission really pulled at my heart strings and the conclusion had a sense of finality that was truly bittersweet. Now without further ado, the winner of La Campanella's December Writing Contest is The Statues Speak to Me by RentBoheme. Congratulations!
Other: I am currently looking for a new hosting site for La Campanella. Personally, I really dislike the bar at the bottom of the page. Webs has also been giving me a lot of trouble in editing the site. If you have a site and is willing to host La Campanella, or if you know of a good hosting site, please let me know via the cbox or email. Thanks!
Wow, that was a pretty heavy update. Now on behalf of all the staff members at La Campanella Awards, I would like to wish everybody a safe and very happy new year's.
11.30.2009
Hello everybody! It has only been a couple of weeks since the end of Cycle 1 and I'm already missing all the action around here. Things are going to be a bit quieter now that we're in our off-season. But don't you fret, we're still running our monthly contests and the contest winners are always something to look forward to!
This month's entries were all amazing and I have to admit that I had an extremely hard time choosing the winner. Before I announce the winner, I would like to give a special mention to Dora's Sombreros And The Holy Grail by I Read Your Diary and The Devil's in the Detail by sophiesix. Both short stories were wonderful to read so I highly suggest you check them out.
Now the moment you've all been waiting for...The winner of the November Writing Contest is Lani Lenore with her one-shot, Room 8. It is a thrilling short story that will keep you on the edge of your seat. If you're into Psychological Thriller, Mystery, Thriller, and/or Horror, this is a must-read. Be sure to leave a review and congratulate Lani Lenore! (:
Our December Writing Prompt will be up tomorrow. I hope that the off-season will not affect the number of entries we get for the contests. I will also be putting up so polls later because we need to choose a theme for Cycle 2 (Cycle 1 was our jump-start cycle so we didn't have much of a theme) and a new category as well. All suggestions are welcomed! (:
Happy belated Thanksgiving to all the Americans, by the way! Hope you didn't overstuff yourselves on turkey too much. (;
11.16.2009
And the list is out! It has been a week since the polls were closed and hopefully the suspense didn't kill you because they are here...
The winners of La Campanella Awards Cycle One!
Obviously the entire list would too long to fit on the update itself so you'll have to go to the Winners page to see them. The lovely graphics artists of La Campanella Awards (Kaleigh, Marta, Tahti, and Eve) made some amazing banners for each of the winners. Each banner is unique in its own special way and the artists were able to get all of them finished in the little time of one week. Please give them lots of love, applause and cookies because they totally deserve it.
Also, if you head to our Contest page, click on October 2009 (or you can click on the link right here), you will see a lovely icon made especially for our October Contest winner Kaitlin. The icon was made by Eve and if you want one of these gorgeous icons for yourself, submit a piece for our contest! We do need more submissions for our November contest and you never know, you may be the lucky winner!
I guess I shan't waste your time any much further (I know you're all itching to go to the Winners page - if you haven't already). This does mark the end of Cycle One of La Campanella Awards. I would like to thank everybody who participated in Cycle One, whether you may be a writer, nominator, or voter, for such a successful start. I would especially like to thank the judges (Kathy, Ashes, Hope, Erica, Mysty, Kelly, Rose, Justine, Lily, Written and Charlie), the Graphics Artists, and my Public Relations Person, because without them, 'Nella would not have gotten to where it is today.
Now, just because the winners are out and the first cycle has ended, doesn't mean we're going to be inactive till the next Cycle starts. Be sure to check in every now and then for the features that will be coming out during the off-period! And without further ado, here are the winners (although by now, I'm pretty sure you've already checked out the winners and came back):
Click me!
11.09.2009
The polls have closed! Thank-you to everybody who voted. Results will be out in a week. Excited? I sure am.
10.31.2009
Happy Hallowe'en! And with Hallowe'en comes the results to our October Writing Contest (for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, please head to the Contest page). The contest had a rather disappointing start but we were able to pick a winner out of the two entries that we received. So give me a drum-roll please...
And the winner of our October Writing Contest is Kaitlin with her one-shot Devil's Night. Big congratulations to her and please check it out if you have the time to do so. A special mention goes out to Eponine254 who also entered our Contest with her Cheating at Checkers.
Keep an eye out for our November writing contest which will be coming out tomorrow. Who knows, maybe if you need a prompt for NaNoWriMo, you can use our Contest prompt. The submissions can be one-shots or multi-chaptered so NaNoWriMo writing pieces are eligible to win.
On another note, we do need more votes for some categories! While some categories have over 100 votes, there are a few categories that can't even get past 20 votes. Namely: Le Psychological Thriller Award, L'Horror Award, L'Historical Award, and Le Supernatural Award (Incomplete). Making that one vote in these categories can determine the winner so be sure to cast your vote!
Lastly, do you want the list of winners to be personally emailed to you on the day of the announcement? Head on to the 'Suscribe' page and suscribe to the email updates. Our Public Relations will ensure that the list of winners be emailed to you so that you don't have to keep checking in (although visits to the site and cbox are appreciated).
10.19.2009
Voting has begun. The nominees list is finalized and we would like to thank everybody for the wonderful nominations. I did squeeze in several nominees a few minutes before voting started so make sure you check out the nominees list once again before heading off to the voting page!
There's no need for hurry when it comes to voting though (the polls will be there for the next three weeks). Make sure you have thoroughly thought through which story you think deserves the award before submitting that vote. You do only get one vote per poll so make your decisions wisely.
10.16.2009
Huge update on the nominees list. You may notice, when you look at the list, that most categories don't have the Complete/Incomplete subcategories anymore. That is because most of these categories did not receive sufficient quality nominations to run subcategories. Thus, complete and incomplete stories will now be competing against each other (with the exception of Le Fantasy Award and most probably Le Supernatural Award). We will now, instead of having a winner for each subcategory, have a Winner, a Runner-Up, and a Judges' Pick for each category (with the exception of Fantasy and Supernatural).
The judges are still going through some nominations (especially in L'Horror and Le Supernatural Awards) so keep checking in for updates! I won't be making an announcement unless it's a huge update so keep in mind to check the nominees list yourself.
Voting will hopefully start on schedule (give or take a few hours) so make sure you read the nominees and vote for your favourite!
On another note, please check out this awesome blog: The Typewriter. It is ran by the lovely Earthen Faerie and on this site, you will find blog entries of story reviews to author interviews. They've recently also featured an extra special entry about Campanella. Show them lots of love; they deserve it.
Lastly, the contest! Due date will be in two weeks, I do hope we get some submissions.
10.04.2009
Wow, October already? We're already into Autumn (for those of us in the northern hemisphere)! And obviously, our new layout is reflecting the seasonal change. (: Like the new layout? I do too. Much love goes to Leila, who is not a resident Graphics Artist but has kindly taken the time to create a gorgeous layout for us. You are amazing, Leila!
Contests! The contest page has been there since the site started but it never really got anywhere (
Nominations are going well. However, we still need more nominations! Especially in: L'Historical, L'Action, Le Tragedy, Le Mystery, Le Psychological Thriller, L'Horror, and Le Sci-Fi (why don't I just name off all the categories, eh?). In short, there's only about another week of nominating so get those nominations in!
PS. The nominees list was updated.
09.25.2009
Staff page has been updated (go and see the wonderful staff graphics)! The amazing staff graphics are made by Marta and Tahti. I am super jealous of their skills and Campanella is so blessed to have them on the team.
Nominees list has been updated! I figured we have enough nominees (four) to start making the nominees list, so go and click on that link to see who're the lucky authors to be the first ones nominated in the first ever cycle of Campanella! As you scroll down the page, you will also see some gorgeous 'nominated' graphics made by Tahti. However, only the authors who are nominated can use them - so get those nominations in!
We need more nominations, people! Especially Le Mystery Award, Le Tragedy Award, Le Psychological Thriller Award, and L'Horror Award. Le Supernatural, L'Humour, and Le Fantasy are doing mightily fine (what a surprise). But all the other categories could use some lovin'. (:
09.14.2009
Nominations are open! Nominate to your heart's delight. Just make sure you've read the rules before you nominate. (:
Staff page also updated. Want to know a little bit about the awesome judges of this cycle? Head on over to the staff page to read their bios. Since they're so wonderful, I think they deserve a spot on Campanella's front page. So I present to you, Cycle One's Judging Panel: Kathy, Ashes, Hope, Erica, Mysty, Kelly, Rose, Justine, Lily, Written and Charlie! We also have an amazing team of Graphics Artists: Tahti, Lauren, Sammi Donna, and Marta. (Did all that pink kill your eyes yet?) You will all get to see some of their works once I have the staff graphics uploaded.
Unfortunately, we were not able to rush the new layout in time for it to open up our nomination so expect it to be up within the next few days! I apologize for the inconvenience the links cause on FireFox. However, just bare with it for a few more days as we await for the new layout! (:
Lastly, on the last update, it was mentioned that Mibba is one of the accepted sites. However, one of the judges pointed out that in order to view the content on Mibba, an account would be required. Thus,
I think I've said enough. Go nominate!
09.08.2009
Cycle 1 starts in less than a week! Tres exciting.
I updated the categories page. After long deliberation, I decided how to split the categories (since I was a few applications short from running all the categories). During the Autumn Cycle, we will be running the genre specific awards. To see what I mean, please check out the categories page. I have also added in Le Horror Award since I noticed a few inquiries about it on the cbox.
We also have a new affiliate. Reviewing the Hottest Romance on Fictionpress does exactly what its name says: it reviews the hottest romance stories on FP. For those of you who are new to FP, you may want to head over to RtHRoF and check 'em out. It'll give you a taste of what a story is like before starting on it.
Since Cycle 1 is basically a cycle for me to test things out (in my mind, at least), I'm going to allow story nominations from all writing websites and see how it works out. I realize some websites are harder to navigate than others, but in the end, the nominations will only be linking you to the story itself - so you don't really have to worry about navigating through the entire website. Said websites would include Quizilla, Fiction Central, Mibba, Authonomy, Lemonfinger, Fan Nation, Worthy of Publishing, LJ, and anywhere else with stories. It is accepted as long as it's original fiction. We don't like plagiarism here.
I believe that is all for now. As the cycle is coming to a start, there will be a lot of updates. Keep an eye out for them!
09.05.2009
Applicants, please check your email.
08.23.2009
Hello all!
This is a small update from Beijing, China. Exciting, non? Due to the fact that the hotel I am currently residing in has no high-speed wireless internet, I am not able to be constantly around. Thank the heavens I have my awesome PR - Fadetonoir. If you have any questions, just throw 'em in the cbox and Fade will answer them. (:
In other news, we need more staff applications. I have not received any applications since I last checked my email (which was a week ago). Once again, due to the fact that I have super slow internet, I may not get back to all the applicants by September 4th. Thus, I'm thinking of extending the application due date to September 4th and I will get back to all the applicants by September 6th at the latest. More time to work on applications will hopefully equate to more applicants. (:
I'm so excited for the start of our first ever Cycle. I do hope it works out.
-crosses fingers-
08.08.2009
New feature - subscribing via email and twitter. Check it out and see if you like it. It will be handled by our new PR - Fadetonoir. The Twitter updates will be from me, though. Also, if you check out Campanella on Twitter, be sure to look at the custom made Campanella avatar. That is made by our amazing Graphic Artist, Lauren. You'll be seeing various Campanella avatars popping up here and there since Lauren made quite a few. Lastly, still looking for applications - both for graphics (especially for layouts) and judging positions! They are due September 2nd (that's about three and a half weeks from now).
08.03.2009.
Real quick update! And then I swear I'll go back to studying! New affiliate! Monster Reviews, created by the lovely Terra, is a website that every author must check out! Do you want that one review that covers all the nittay-grittay in your story. No rock that will be left unturned? Well you've found the place (and the reviewer!). Go submit your story to Monster Reviews and voila! Terra will get back to you with a review and a mark. If your story scores higher than 90%, it'll even be showcased in the Monster Reviews A-list! So go submit, submit, submit! Plus, the layout of the site is tres cute so even if you're not an author, go check it out and give Terra some loving! (:
08.02.2009.
A little update: We have two affiliates: Undiscovered and Project Fiction. Also, I'm sure I've mention this before, but I just want to proudly declare that Some Kind of Wonderful Awards is our mama site.
So our first affiliate, Undiscovered, digs through the piles and piles of stories on FictionPress and brings you those hidden gems that nobody ever seem to pay attention to. They are geared towards finding those unpopular stories on FP and bringing them to the attention of the viewers so that the said stories can get the attention that they deserve. (: And speaking of Undiscovered, go check out their fan-site Undi-Land! You're not cool unless you join that community. Like, seriously. So go join now! [or after you're finished reading this update, whichever works]
Our second affiliate, Project Fiction, is a site that creates a list of the best stories from all around; Quizilla, FictionPress, Fiction Central, etc. So if you need a good read, head on over to their site and check out their list!
After affiliating with Project Fiction, I was toying with the idea of not only accepting nominations from FictionPress, but from anywhere on the interwebs where good original fiction stories could be found. That would include Quizilla, Fiction Central, Mibba, Authonomy, Lemonfinger, Fan Nation, Worthy of Publishing, LJ, and anywhere else with stories. I mean, let's face it, there's probably a wealth of stories outside of FictionPress that is just as amazing as some of the top FP stories and it would be a shame to discriminate them just because they're not on FP, right? So what are your thoughts on this? Drop us a line on the cbox!
Oh lastly, we're really in desperate need of judges! So please consider joining us if you have the time to do so. We hope to run at least half the categories in our first cycle, but that would require at least 10 judges so applications are appreciated!
Ah, and I almost forgot to mention the purpose for this update in the first place. I have three massive exams on Friday and Saturday so I'll probably be pretty unresponsive in the next few days. I'll still check in with the cbox so it's suggested that you throw your questions into the cbox rather than email me as I probably won't be checking my email till Saturday afternoon. Judge applications aren't due until September 2nd so there's still a month to work on them! However, I do hope to see more judge applications in my mailbox once I'm finished my exams. (:
07.30.2009.
It's pretty much up and running! Welcome to La Campanella Awards! It was noticed that many of you would like to see an awards site that is not geared towards romance and this site is it! Feel free to browse around and familiarize yourself. Please do forgive me for some of the blank pages but the important stuff, such as the categories and the staff applications, should be up.
Speaking of staff applications, we are in dire need of staff members! We need 20 judges by the time the cycle starts. I know it's still over a month away (looking at the tentative dates) but 20 staff members is hard to recruit. And a graphics artist would be nice too seeing that I can't create graphics for my life and I tend to get bored of layouts within a month. Please head over to the 'staff' page to view the applications.
I think I should also mention that if you can, please ignore my many spelling/grammar errors. They will be fixed ASAP.