Yahoo Forum Archive

On membership:

How does one “join” MEFA?

In various ways!

If you want to nominate stories by other authors or yourself, you will need to
become a nominating member by joining the Yahoo group "MEFAwards."

There are several ways you can do this:

1. Visit our 2009 website, http://mefawards.net/MEFA2009/ , and click the
"MEFAwards" link. From here click the "Join this Group" link.

2. Go directly to the YahooGroups page,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MEFAwards/ and click the "Join this Group" link.

3. Join by email: send a message to MEFAwards-subscribeATyahoogroupsDOTcom

4. Email the administrators to be added: send a message to
mefasupportATmefawardsDOTnet

Doing any one of these things will get you added to the MEFAwards Yahoo group.
You will automatically be sent a list of four questions and, as soon as you
answer them, one of our volunteers will email you a password to our 2009 website
where you can nominate and vote for stories.

Nominating members of the MEFA community are now in communication through the
MEFA email list group hosted on YahooGroups, are able to have input into how the
group and contest are run, and are notified immediately about changes in
policies in nominating stories or what information will be gathered for display
to aid readers in choosing which stories to read and review, and so on.
Nominating members may also take part in the activities via the MEFA LiveJournal
community if they so desire. A nominating member can nominate stories, read,
and vote on them through posting reviews, then take part in the debriefing
process when the contests are over to help determine how to better handle things
in the coming year.

Another way to take part in MEFAs is to do so as a nominated author. Once
someone else has nominated one of your stories for this year, you are will be
sent an author signin name and password enabling you to go to the site, see the
list of stories nominated this year, read them via the provided links, and vote
on them as do nominating members. You may miss out on the announcements and
discussions unless you decide to follow our Yahoo group or LJ community, but you
will still be active in helping decide which stories will do well or otherwise
during the voting.

Or one may choose only to go to the MEFA site and read the nominated stories,
which also can be rewarding, as most of the stories that make this list are
among the best fanfictions based within Tolkien’s world available, and represent
a great many authors across the spectrum of Tolkien fanfiction writing. It is
an excellent means of becoming familiar with various archives, authors, and
genres available. I particularly welcome the opportunity to read among the
choicest writings of authors I don’t have much chance to read most of the year
as we don’t frequent the same archives!

For those who wish to further contribute to the MEFAs, consider nominating
stories each year as well as reading and reviewing those stories nominated by
others. Become a promoter, passing on information from the list administrators
to members of other communities to which you belong that may have an interest in
the MEFAs. Example, due to my years of experience in working with individuals
who are blind I have joined several discussion groups that focus on literature
that is accessible to this population, discussion groups on specific authors and
genres, and other topics of interest to those whose vision is impaired; I
promote the MEFAs to several of these groups, giving those who are as fascinated
with Arda as we are the opportunity to stay abreast of the contest. And you
might be surprised by how many who read and write Tolkien fanfiction have
various disabilities!

Or you can volunteer within the MEFA community, doing whatever your talents and
experience may best fit you for. Some help with the technical aspects of
getting the site up and running; others provide the banners and buttons that
nominated authors often use on those archives that allow them to indicate a
particular story has been nominated for this year’s competition or has won in
years past. You might become an author liaison and help the author decide how
to best categorize a story that has just been nominated, or volunteer on the
ratings panel to help make certain that both authors and readers don’t receive
nasty surprises. There are so many ways that you as an individual can help this
contest continue and be enjoyable for those who take part!

Nominations are now open, and already there are well over four hundred stories
on the list that have been nominated and are eligible to compete. To be able to
nominate a story for this year’s competition, look to join MEFA as soon as
possible, as it can take several days to finish the application process. Don’t
wait until too late to take part in nominations, which will close at 11:59 GMT
on June 30. Those who join too late to nominate stories for this year’s
competition can still read and review stories and will be in place to take part
in next year’s nominations, however, so don’t despair!

So, now it’s up to you how you choose to experience the MEFAs this year! Just
don’t let them pass you by!



Bonnie L. Sherrell
Teacher at Large

"Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends." LOTR

"Don't go where I can't follow."