Tapastic Awards?

[minzinger]

Great post! Thanks for this. Like @UzukiCheverie mentioned, it's our biggest fear. However, I think it's a good idea if we can make it work nicely.

Agree with @keii4ii that it's better to do creative awards, not "Best..."

So help us out (no guarantees) but good time to brainstorm.

1) Suggest 3 award categories

2) Best process to keep things fair + community healthy.

3) Should $ be involved? We've learned through experience that $ may cause more harm than good via GREED although $ has the power of word-of-mouth (Ahem...kinda what we currently see from our competitors...haha).

Min

[PotooGryphon]

1) Suggest 3 award categories

hmmm, here are my ideas for Categories:

Most Artistically Improved Series
Most Well Written Series
Gives the Most Laughs Series

2) Best process to keep things fair + community healthy.

The idea of a panel of unbiased judges sounded pretty good, however, the best way to drum up support and to get the Tapastic community/website visitors involved is to have it open to voters.

3) Should $ be involved? We've learned through experience that $ may cause more harm than good via GREED although $ has the power of word-of-mouth (Ahem...kinda what we currently see from our competitors...haha).

I worry about this one. If we attach cash prizes to it, then there's more at stake to win and more of a let down for the artists that don't win. Maybe instead of offering cash prizes, offer a front page feature to the winners for a full week or something. Help promote them of a certain amount of time. Winning money for being chosen as the top in your category doesn't feel right to me, at least.

Maybe this could be something that can be done once a year or month or whatever, so more and new artists can possibly win in a category. Winners from a previous awarding might need to be excluded from the next award to give other artist a chance?

[hierogriff]

The idea of a panel of unbiased judges sounded pretty good, however, the best way to drum up support and to get the Tapastic community/website visitors involved is to have it open to voters.

If we want to encourage the Tapastic community, would it be best to say only Tapastic users (people with accounts) can vote? I'm just imagining a situation where someone with a lot of tumblr/twitter/etc. followers asks for votes.

[PotooGryphon]

Perhaps, and that might encourage people to make a Tapastic account so they can vote. That would be good too.

[feyuca]

Most Artistically Improved Series
Most Well Written Series
Gives the Most Laughs Series

Hey guys! Social Media Manager here. These are great categories! In addition to having awards for artists, I think it'd be cool to award non-creator community members, to encourage and reward your superfans.
i.e: "Most clever comments," "most prolific commentor" or "#1 tapastic superuser!" Something along those lines? (any ideas? ;0 )

I worry about this one. If we attach cash prizes to it, then there's more at stake to win and more of a let down for the artists that don't win. Maybe instead of offering cash prizes, offer a front page feature to the winners for a full week or something. Help promote them of a certain amount of time. Winning money for being chosen as the top in your category doesn't feel right to me, at least.

Maybe this could be something that can be done once a year or month or whatever, so more and new artists can possibly win in a category. Winners from a previous awarding might need to be excluded from the next award to give other artist a chance?

Let's try out this as tentatively an annual event for now! We can have a small feature section for the winners. Prizes can be tapastic swag like shirt, mug, a special medal or plaque, and sketchbook?? some other art supplies if people are interested too! No hard cash $$, everything in good fun.

If we want to encourage the Tapastic community, would it be best to say only Tapastic users (people with accounts) can vote? I'm just imagining a situation where someone with a lot of tumblr/twitter/etc. followers asks for votes.

Yes! It'll be on the site, so to comment, nominate, or vote you'll have to be logged in

[PotooGryphon]

Awesome! I love these inputs!

Maybe Most Beloved Comic Character could be another category?

We definitely need to acknowledge the awesome readers on the site. They help make this site awesome! X3

I love the swag prize idea! I'd totally be down for some Tapastic stuff and a feature.

I'm starting to get pumped for dis! XD

[hierogriff]

Maybe Most Beloved Comic Character could be another category?

I love that category omg

[keii4ii]

In addition to having awards for artists, I think it'd be cool to award non-creator community members, to encourage and reward your superfans. i.e: "Most clever comments," "most prolific commentor" or "#1 tapastic superuser!"

OOOH that is an awesome idea! Not sure what constitutes superuser, but comments that are clever and/or insightful deserve recognition.

Most Artistically Improved SeriesMost Well Written SeriesGives the Most Laughs Series

The latter two categories are just "best writing" and "best comedy" worded differently, though, and I think we should stay away from best ___ types. The difference comes not just from the choice of words, but also from what the judges/voters focus on when they make their picks.

The only cases where I'd support best ____ type of a category are 1) reader awards, and 2) objective criteria categories. For example, something like the most reliable updater, which would go to the comic with the highest # of episodes without any missed or late updates ever. That's objective and leaves no room for bitter disagreements.

[hierogriff]

something like the most reliable updater, which would go to the comic with the highest # of episodes without any missed or late updates ever. That's objective and leaves no room for bitter disagreements.

But that would exclude a lot of people... I feel like everyone should have a chance at these awards

[hierogriff]

whoops, looks like I can't undelete that last post?

Anyway I was saying that I feel like everyone should have a shot at these awards, so stuff like most updates or most reliable updater would exclude a lot of creators!

[keii4ii]

I feel like everyone should have a shot at these awards, so stuff like most updates or most reliable updater would exclude a lot of creators!

To be fair, it would exclude my comic, too.

More importantly, that's not going to be the only category in the award. The point is to have a variety of categories so all sorts of creators, new and old, can find at least one category that applies to their work. Just because one or even most of the categories don't apply to your comic, doesn't mean you have no chance at all!

EDIT: That just made me realize one more case where I'd support best/most___ categories: if they're specific enough to encourage the voters/judges to look outside of their top favorite comics. Things like Best Use of Body Language or Most Adorable Critter/Monster Design, for example.

[PotooGryphon]

Things like Best Use of Body Language or Most Adorable Critter/Monster Design, for example.

Oh, I like those two categories!

[Banditt]

No. Absolutely no money
rewards might be a favored spot on the front page. Our a star in the corner of their icon.

[MylCreates]

1) Suggest 3 award categories

1. Most intricate world settings (is the culture showable, backgrounds taken into consideration)
2. Most relatable character or favorite character (as others have suggested)
3. Underrated/ unsupported comic of choice (comic MUST have under a certain number of subscribers, say maybe under 600?)

others for readers:

1. Most involved (how many comics do they actively comment upon and involve conversations)

2) Best process to keep things fair + community healthy.

Voters MUST be Tapastic users, to prevent contesters from getting votes from fans from other sites (unless those fans become members of Tapastic).
Again I feel that some contests have to have parameters (such as a comic can only win one contest or only comics not meeting a certain number of subscribers or having been on the site for a certain time or both can help bring light to some not so popular/known comics).

3) Should $ be involved? We've learned through experience that $ may cause more harm than good via GREED although $ has the power of word-of-mouth (Ahem...kinda what we currently see from our competitors...haha).

NoNoNo!!! No money or else it will turn into a contest of pity! I've seen too many contests like that create anger and pity. I don't want it to be something so competitive and put down because money's involved. Maybe like a tshirt or mug or something digital like what Banditt said (honestly I think exposure of a comic is the best reward):

a favored spot on the front page. Our a star in the corner of their icon.

,
(um... and off topic and speaking of tshirts, i still never got a tshirt/mug from the Tapastic October contest series... ~ Kailani)

[kazumaoboro]

so at this rate we would have to make a contest to determine the categories for the contest!XD
well i think there should be no money involved, i mean it would be a great prize, but i think we first need to make this awards at least 2 or 3 times before involving money

[keii4ii]

I've come up with a few more category ideas. My aim was to promote discovery -- to encourage people to take a look at worthy comics that they would've missed or passed up otherwise, for one reason or another.

• Most Well Researched
  Award goes to the comic creator who's REALLY done their research. It could be about anything: a "hard" sci-fi comic that makes great uses of the laws of physics instead of ignoring them. Or a historical comic that's true to history... a comic about bushmen that accurately shows you what life is like over there... or even a comic about Japanese gods (mythology research, anyone?).

• Wittiest Character
  My attempt at improving things like 'funniest' or 'most likable.' The former skews heavily toward one genre (comedy) which I want to avoid. The latter is just too open-ended. Wittiness is something that comics of ANY genre can have, so even if you're likely to pass up comedies, you might give this category a chance.

• Most Heartwarming Moment/Episode
  Alternatively, most aww-inducing moment. I don't want to say Most Heartwarming Comic because some comics are super long, and that can be intimidating to prospective new readers. But if we pick the most heartwarming EPISODE, people are more likely to actually check it out... I hope? XD In addition, this makes the category accessible to a wider variety of comics, e.g. a gritty comic with one super memorable, heartwarming scene.

• Best Fan Service
  Just for giggles. 'Best fan service' means different things to different people, so this should be interesting.

[hierogriff]

@keii4ii Great ideas!

I think it'd be cool if there were craft-centric categories could be used as a resource to teach comics. Like, if you were interested in improving your own comic's composition, you could check out the winners of the "Best use of composition and flow" award for some examples/ideas.

[minzinger]

Good stuff. Keep 'em coming. We'll do something about this.

[yuliusefferven]

3) Should $ be involved? We've learned through experience that $ may cause more harm than good via GREED although $ has the power of word-of-mouth (Ahem...kinda what we currently see from our competitors...haha).

Haha I noticed everyone running off to Line webtoons because of the $30k competition, personally, I find the idea of limiting the artist from posting their work outside of LINE silly, and doesn't stop other people from doing it for them at all. The comment and interaction system on Tapastic, as well as pretty much all the site features here are better. Despite how much I would really like to win a prize, I think in the long term I'd rather use Line as another fishing spot to lure more people to Tapastic instead . I love everything Tapastic is doing to improve support for independent creators, and I'm putting my bet down here for the long haul. I think once you guys have had time to improve the mobile app and also work on other areas of the site to improve discoverability etc Tapastic has way more potential. The comment system itself has made fun and interesting comics like my YUM possible. Without seeing how the commenting system has worked here I would never have come up with that idea. After uploading my comic on LINE which i know is a platform that they must have had plenty of time to develop and improve already, I'm more in love with Tapastic than ever.

Awards sound awesome, I love a good competition but really I have no idea how we can stack comics that are completely different in genre and style against each other, I feel bad for the judges already if there are any. However I'll think about if I can contribute to this discussion if I can.

[DoubleSea]

I imagine there would be an honorable mentions area for those comics that are still good, but didn't win the vote .