HomeStation Announces the Second Round of Community Writing Contest Winners!
by NorseGamer, HSM Editor-in-Chief
Last month was the biggest challenge HomeStation ever faced.
We’ve run contests before. We’ve filmed machinima before. We’ve held public events before. We’ve geared up for major HSM content releases before. But we never tried doing all of it at the same time.
In the month of March, twenty-seven different authors produced seventy unique articles and an hour of machinima.
That’s insane. That’s so far beyond the level of output you’d expect from a Home fansite that it’s hard to comprehend. If you printed out all of March’s articles and slapped them into a three-ring binder, the aggregate word count would be roughly equivalent to a novel. And, keep in mind, that’s on top of the seventeen articles that were developed and kept in reserve for April Fools Day.
Now, on top of this, let’s add a public event. HomeStation was invited to be the closing act for the AlphaZone4 Expo — a tremendous honor, given that AZ4 is by far the most-visited Home fansite in the world — which had us planning and executing three simultaneous parties and giving away a bucket of prizes. Keep in mind that this event was created, coordinated and administrated by the team, who had to maintain their writing duties at the same time.
The Marine Corps has a philosophy that every Marine is a rifleman. He can specialize in a number of various areas, but every Marine is a rifleman. And with HomeStation, it’s much the same: you can be a filmmaker, a party host, et cetera — but if you wear the HSM badge, it’s a sign that you’re a writer, and damn good at it.
So now let’s add filmmaking. We don’t specialize in machinima; PSTalent is the acknowledged leader in that field, and rightfully so. But HomeStation is designed as a platform for creative artistic expression, and there are a lot of talented filmmakers on the team. So why not open up the taps and see what happens?
Well, what happened was that this team produced an hour of film last month. On top of the writing requirement. On top of the party planning. On top of the April Fools Day arrangements.
And, topping it all off: the writing contest.
We love running contests at HSM. They’re wonderful for encouraging new voices to step forward and express themselves. Because we have a fantastic audience, and they gravitate to HomeStation because of its type of content, we know that there are some brilliant voices out there — and we want to publish them.
(Special thanks really must be given to HSM’s editorial team. Cubes keeps things going behind the scenes whilst running AlphaZone4. Jers lost his Hauppauge, badly injured an arm, and still managed to put out two videocast episodes. Mike, our brilliant art director, is assembling our eleventh issue. And Terra — a single mother raising an autistic child — edited so much content that her eyeballs were practically bleeding by month’s end.)
Some genuinely excellent work came out of the writing contest. You know that feeling of excitement when you open up the HSM page, because you know there’s an awesome, original story waiting for you? That’s the feeling I get when I go into the pending queue and get to read the articles before they go out. This team of writers is just amazing. And this contest saw us publish such guest contributors as Dlyrius, AlacrityFitz, sadvaultboy, Phoenix, PixelCub, BONZO, Femaelstrom, Viennese, LostRainbow, and deuce_for2. Every single one of them is invited to continue contributing to HSM; their material was remarkable to read.
So the big question, then: who won the second round of our month-long writing contest? Which three team writers and which three guest contributors are walking away with $20 SEN cards?
Ladies and gentlemen, here are your winners:
Team Writers:
1. Orion_NGC1976 — Experience the Journey
2. Kassadee Marie — If You Had A $50 SEN Card…
3. Dlyrius — Gamer or Lamer?
Guest Contributors:
1. DragongScales — How Home Helps Those With Learning Disabilities
2. deuce_for2 — Spending Real Money in a Virtual World
3. BONZO — The Scavenger’s Run
Of course, there’s one more prize to give out. The Editor’s Choice award.
I know it’s somewhat cliche to say it was difficult to choose, but it really was. When you’ve got one really outstanding story after another flowing through, how do you single one out for special recognition? Eventually, though, after going around it a few times, we arrived at what really is a story deserving of special recognition:
Godzprototype — Home’s Forgotten Public Spaces.
This is a somewhat interesting choice. Why would a machinima win a prize in a writing contest?
Simple: it deserved to.
The contest rules state that machinima is a valid form of contest entry. What we didn’t state is that machinima was at a fairly obvious disadvantage: it takes longer to produce than a written article, and while editors can perform some body-and-fender sleight of hand on an article, we can’t do anything for a machinima. Couple that with the fact that, if we’re honest, most Home machinima is fairly dull to watch, and the odds are stacked against anyone trying to use machinima to win.
Which is why Godz’ film deserves it.
That movie isn’t just another Home machinima. It’s a thermobaric detonation in your brain.
There are a handful of Home films that just truly stand out. The gold standard, of course, is Alinea3’s Alors on Danse. Then you’ve got the collected works of DIRECTOR_ON_DUTY and HearItWow. After that, it turns into a hodgepodge. I personally really like ShikasClouds’ SAW homage. Kaptin Fathead also produces some very clean, well-articulated stuff.
For my money, Home’s Forgotten Public Spaces is right up there.
It’s a genuinely unsettling film. The premise is simple enough: what would Home look like if it was suddenly abandoned? Then, as you dive into the film, you get the sense that some horrible disaster took place. And, of course, it’s a direct reference to Pripyat and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
That movie does something that very few Home films do: it hits you in the gut. Hard. It’s so good that at times, particularly in the second half, it actually makes you forget you’re watching a Home machinima. It feels real. And when you’re done watching it, your immediate reaction is, “What the hell was THAT!?”
And then you watch it again.
What makes this all the more astonishing is that Godzprototype is absolutely brand new to filmmaking. That’s just sick. Come on, man — tell us you secretly studied under Sidney Lumet for twenty years. Tell us you have a poster of Vittorio Storaro on your bedroom wall. Tell us anything that gives the rest of us some hope. Wow.
So there you have it: your winners for HomeStation Magazine’s first-quarter writing contest! The winners will be notified shortly by e-mail with their redemption codes, and I want to personally thank every single person who participated — because the real winner was the Home community, and it was a blast to showcase your skills to them.
April 3rd, 2012 by NorseGamer | 17 comments
NorseGamer is the product manager for LOOT Entertainment at Sony Pictures, as well as the founder and publisher of HomeStation Magazine. Born and raised in Silicon Valley, he holds a B.A. in English/Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and presently lives in Los Angeles. All opinions expressed in HSM are solely his and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sony DADC.
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I’m thrilled. As always it’s an honor to write for this magazine, but it’s great to think the “audience” might like my writing. Thank you so much.
And that’s exactly why we go by visitor numbers as our criteria: though someone with a large friend list can theoretically try to skew the numbers, when you’ve got seventy articles in competition, it really does boil down to the ability of the writer to create something that stands out. And each one of the winning articles did just that.
I do want to point out that *everyone* did a phenomenal job with this contest. With one of the winning articles (no need to say which one), it literally came down to a difference of *one* visitor. It was a very close competition.
Congrats to all the winners and readers! we had some outstanding articles and videos and i look forward to more of both!
IT WAS EPIC!!! woot woot
and fun, hehe, and indeed great job to all the writers, 
5 X’s woot for all the writers
Thank You Terra and Norse! “Persielene” set it off for me.
I highly recommend it!
I am looking forward to other artist expression in Home.
Congratulations to everyone!
No posters, but I do study film in Home, and I love movies. I love Stanley Kubrick films. Yimou Zhang’s “Hero” has to be one of my most favorite movies. I would love to do something like that, but I know I have a long way to go to realize that.
Godzprototype congratulations and fantastic job on that video. I have been trying to put a video together for sometime now and it is not easy so kudos to you, You did an amazing job.
That went well. I guess I will have to do it again.
HSM is an outstanding effort. To be able to get so many talented people to contribute is amazing. I have run volunteer organizations and couldn’t even get people to attend meetings let alone write and/or make movies. You all astound me. Thank you for leaving the door open and letting me join you. Next time, I’ll bring snacks!
Congrats to all of you who won the contest, all well deserved. We all work hard to make this a magazine worth the read and you have all done your part well. Good job to everyone who participated.
Congrats to all the winners! It has been my pleasure to work with and meet everyone here. it was a great contest. Job well done everyone.
Thank you and congratulations to all the winners. Well, done everyone on some really fantastic articles. Hope to see more of what you have to say.
Wow awesome, I really didn’t expect to win. I submitted a few articles but there were a lot of really awesome submissions. I was especially touched by DragonScales story that just continues to remind me what sets Home apart from everything else out there, and why I continue to come back.
Nice.
I’m happy for all of you won won, all of you who wrote, and those of us who read and enjoyed.
One vote difference? I wonder if that was the one that I had an outage and had to power on again to re-read it. I forget which one.
Seriously, I notice Norse talking about unique visitors and such and as page counters/trackers have interested me through the years as a user, I appreciate someone taking the time to distinguish between the kinds of visitors.
A tip of the hat to all the writers and film makers.
It was fun to write, and I offer my congrats to all the winners! Good job to all. The articles are great reads and worth the win. Good job all, and let’s all keep up the excellent work!
CONGRATS to all the winners! particulary to my friend bill! not because he s my very friend, but because behind his shy, a true artist is about to explode…
I ear ur voice bill!
Congrats to all who won, wonderful articles. It’s always good to see new blood on the pages of HSM and Bill has really shown he has a natural talent for machinima! Keep it up Bill!
Congrats to all the winners and thanks so much for publishing my articles and allowwing them to be part of HSM! It is an honor to contribute!!!