WAC: Join Judged Events
Winning is nice, but there's a lot more in them that should be considered and you should be prepared for.
Many worldbuilding events will have judges. Is it worth it to join those events? Should you? And how do you deal with the consequences of winning or losing?
This is the second article of my “Worldbuilding & Challenges” series, where I will talk about worldbuilding events, why you should take part in them, and share some tips and insights.
Reading time: 5 minutes.
Table of contents
Judged Events
Many events within the community will be judged - be it by their organisers or a panel of picked judges. Those Events, also known as competitions, often draw more people in but also might cause Impostor Syndrome and a feeling of "not belonging there" in some authors, stopping them from joining.
I believe everyone should join them.
Often people are tempted to join judged events because of the possibility of winning a prize or discouraged when they realize that it won’t be random people reading your content but will be read and compared to others.
So, let’s talk about both sides of the coin!
Brain Goblins
Our brains are our best friends because they give us all the creative ideas, but they can also be our worst enemies and critics. When brain goblins appear (negative thoughts towards yourself and your creations), they often tell us that our content is not good, the best, or something similar, devaluing our efforts.
All of this is to protect us from possible failure and disappointment. But, if we hide in our shells and don’t try things, how are we supposed to grow and improve?
Learning to ignore the brain goblins or at least coexist without them affecting your life is important. While there are lots of brain goblins and what they say to yourself, let’s focus on what to do about them when we join a judged event.
Often, these goblins come from thinking we are not good enough and similar. I propose, that whenever you get such thoughts, try to face them head on by trying to figure out what part of it makes your brain doubt your capacities.
Understanding where they come from instead of simply accepting or ignoring them can help you realize parts of your work where you feel less confident, and analyze them to see how to change (improve) them to something you are happier with.
Why Joining Them
You never know! You could be the new winner! And if you aren’t? It’s fine anyway! Your world isn’t ending, and you’ll surely have learnt some stuff as I’ve previously talked about.
Sometimes, judges will offer feedback to the participants. Sometimes, people will read the competition’s entries and leave comments on your articles. Winning the competition is nice and important, but there’s much more to be gained than winning.
Seeing new people read your articles, getting new comments and likes, feedback, all of this and more are big wins. And sometimes, judges search for new faces to claim as winners or even pick a winner randomly (yes, I’ve seen both cases happen).
I’m not saying you shouldn’t try to do your best, you absolutely should, but you must understand that everyone’s best is different. Hell, even your best will be different depending on many things (such as how life is treating you or if you have improved). But some judges discourage people from submitting content if it’s not the best of the best, and I think that’s a horrible approach, it just feels like they are trying to lighten their load.
If you hope to win stuff with your content but don’t submit things to competitions, how are you supposed to become a winner? You already have the “No”, now go for the win!
Good Winning And Losing
Win or lose - either way its important to show good sportmanship. Try to be gracious about it - if you won, awesome! Celebrate you win, but in a positive and encouraging way if you can. If you didn't - you just earned valuable experience, congratulate the winner, talk about the challenge or check the winning article for inspiration. And if you feel a bit down and dont want to talk - that's fine too.
~by Tyrdal
Of course, when one wins, they want to share it to get congratulations and because they are proud of their achievements. I’m not saying that the winner should say nothing, they should mention they won and share their content! But there’s a difference between saying that you won and be proud, and rubbing in everyone’s face that you won, that you are the best, and that they lost.
We all feel sad when we lose, even when the odds might be stacked against us. In the creative space, winning is objective and based on the judge’s opinions and what they enjoy. But while you might be sad about it, sharing such sadness online and possibly being angry with the winner is not nice and will make people uncomfortable.
I’ll talk about how to deal with the disappointment of losing and how to deal with it in the next WAC article: Getting Ready.
WA Competitor Mode
If you participate in events in World Anvil, there’s a thing called “Competitor Mode”. If it’s on, the content you submit will be sent to the judges; if it’s off, you can still participate in the events and get the badges, but won’t be able to win prizes. So make sure to activate or deactivate as you think will be better for you!
You can find that feature in the Feature Configuration.
Tell me
Have you encountered before with brain goblins, and if so, how do you combat them? Do you enjoy judged events or prefer unjudged ones? Why? I’d love to hear your opinion.
Keep reading the series
Joining Judged Events (this article!)
Burning out (to be published)