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Hey guys,

*eep* Very sorry, guys! I hit "send" too soon. Here is the corrected email.

The 2011 awards will start soon, and we're still a little short on the
volunteers. Here are the jobs I still have available, listed more or
less in how badly we need people to carry them out.

1. BANNER COORDINATOR. The banner coordinator basically makes sure
banners are run smoothly. You don't have to make banners yourself,
though you can if you want to. It's your job to make sure banners are
properly labeled and meet our rules (for example, that they are
roughly the right size and that they don't use copyrighted art.

You also would be a sort of first line of support for people with
banner-related questions - authors but also banner makers who aren't
quite sure how to do things. And anything else you want to do
regarding banners to make that part of the awards run smoother, I'm
more than happy to talk about the idea.

2. RATINGS PANEL. Whenever authors aren't sure what to give a story,
they can submit it to what's called the rating panel. This is a group
of three members who will read it and recommend a rating. Currently,
we don't have ANY volunteers for the ratings panel. Basically, you
just need to be willing to read a story that may not (or may!) be your
cup of Earl Grey, and say what you think the rating should be. For
longer stories, we usually ask the author to submit a chapter or two
along with a summary of what's going on before and after the parts
they wanted the panel to look at in particular.

3. PROMOTERS. Currently, we just have one person signed up as a
liaison. If you know of a Tolkien-centric website OTHER than the
StoriesofArda.com listserv where they let people make announcements
about other fandom goings-on, we'd love to have you onboard as a
promoter. Basically, I will occasionally send out an announcement
which you can forward on to the group. You can rewrite it into your
own words if you like (though I do ask that you not change the actual
information). Also, if you ever feel like I am asking you to make too
many announcements, you are free not to pass on any announcement you
like. This is a rather easy way to volunteer for the awards.

4. AUTHOR LIAISONS. Currently we only have six liaisons. That's less
than last year and I'd like to get a few more people involved.
Liaisons essentially work with with authors to help them tell us about
their stories and get them ready to compete. This means knowing some
basic details about story eligibility (but you can always ask me - I
tend to focus most on answering liaison's questions during
nominations) and having the time to work with authors. But it's an
incredibly rewarding experience, to give good news to authors and
maybe introduce them to the MEFAs for the first time.

5. BANNER MAKERS. Finally, if you have artistic skill and want to use
it to make banners for the MEFAs, we want your help! You would
basically make banners and buttons for nominated authors; reviewers
who reach their reviewing goals; and for authors whose stories win
their subcategory (or a Smaug's Treasure). You can make as few or as
many as you like, and they will be made available to authors.
Currently we only have two banner makers signed up, so let me know if
you are interested.

*******************

Before, I asked people to sign up by posting over at an LJ post,

http://mefas.livejournal.com/264837.html

You can still do that, but if that's difficult for some reason, you
can also email me at supportATmefawardsDOTorg.

Oh, and if none of this sounds sufficiently appealing, remember that
you can always help out just by nominating stories. Start thinking
about what you want to nominate, and once you decide, why not contact
the author so they know the MEFAs are getting ready to start?

Elen Sila Lumenn Omentielvo,

Marta
(MEFA Admin.)