Don't forget luck.
And yeah, people should stop worrying about how other entries are doing, you're just psyching yourselves out.
Anyway, idk how their promoting works (afaik we can't know for sure, has anyone asked i'm curious?)
But say they do choose personally the comics they recommend (we're talking about that right?), what is wrong with that? It's their platform, of course they can choose what they want to feature.
Now onto more contesty stuff.
I'm gonna address the points @beta1042 made cause it seems like they sum up loads of worries around here
1- It's really discouraging to other creators who enter the contest.
Personally I think everything about making a comic is discouraging (idk about you but it's all doubt for me). Is not being able to win this contest with your story gonna stop you from continuing it??? (come on, you've already made something!!)
If you went into specifically to win the contest, well, the winner is always gonna be picked by someone, in this case the judges. You've these 3 months to appeal to these mysterious judges. Keep trying or not, that's up to you.
2-It's unfair to the author who will possibly be accused of not deserving the win if they do win because people will be like "the contest was rigged in your favor from the start!"
Ok, that's an awful sentiment which i hope is not actually wide spread.
I would understand if that happened if the entry to win didn't fulfill the episode or panel requirements but otherwise it's anyone's games.
...who's picked by the judges, who have who knows what criteria apart from the technical aspects specified. Storywise we don't know what will appeal or not, to a wide audience or to a some judges who are strangers to you.
We have guesses, but we can't really know until we put the story out there to see how it's received.
3-When you say 40% of the deciding factor is reader interaction(AKA popularity) it is UNFAIR to actually push one entry to be more popular than another.
Except 60% is gonna be from the judge score. Like, it's really what the judges pick that's going to win.
It would make sense to me that if something catches their eyes they would throw it in people's face to see how the public reacts. Doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna win, but probably means they think it's a good entry.
I think the 40% 60% is to give themselves leeway. As in, they're going to look and see what fits their criteria and obviously some of it is how the story is received, but mostly it's gonna be what appeals to them.
With maybe the exception of say, one story goes viral but it's not what they would have picked at all.
And really, what is fair in a contest where loads of people are gonna be putting their best forth but only a few are going to reach the top?? (Have you guys read shonen sports manga, I recommend, I'm a sucker for them damn.)
Really, in the end luck does play a big part, as in circumstances aligning together. So good luck everyone!
I hope this untangled someone's worries a bit?
Anyway, I've been lurking on this topic and hey, we've got this channel (it's aptly named screaming into the void) in a discord server where we share our woes about making something for the contest if you want to come hang with us!