Four Years Ago... Summer. Writers arose from their graves to battle on the field of paper, pens flying as they fought for honor, glory, and prizes. From all over the net they came to battle.

This summer, it begins again.

I'd like to welcome everyone to the beginning of the Summer Editorials Contest from Hell, two months to strut your stuff, battle it out, and take both glory and prizes for yourself. Yes, prizes. No contest is complete without some nifty swag to reward the winners with. And we're in luck here. NIS has graced us with awesome prizes. How awesome? Half our staff threatened to quit so they could try for them when our mighty Lord Klaxor read off the list.

• One first place winner will be walking off with a Laharl figurine and a plated Makai Kingdom poster.
• Two second place winners will be walking off with with a Prenaire or Archer figurine and a Makai Kingdom poster.
• Three lucky third place winners will get a Makai Kingdom poster.

Now, you may be asking yourself: How do I win? The swag calls! Glory over my fellow writers is demanded! Well, in order to do this you must write an editorial within the theme of the contest and submit with a [CONTEST] tag on it to either editor@rpgamer.com or me. What is the theme of the contest? Creating insightful and imaginative editorials exploring experiences with modern (no, Final Fantasy VII is not modern) RPGs or insights into how RPGs are progressing. All editorials received will go through the standard process and get on the site while also being passed to our judging committee.

How will that work? Well, in the desire for fairness, while everything will get edited by me before it hits the site, the judges will be getting the plain copies that are sent in, so be sure to check your work. Each editorial will be sent to three of the five judges at random who will then score them according to our rubrik from 0 to 100. These three scores will be averaged to provide the official score for the editorial. The top ten shall then move on to be considered by the entire judging committee and prizes awarded to the winners. Judges and RPGamer staff are not allowed to participate in this contest, so it will be fair to all entries.

• The purpose of this competition is to submit an Editorial or Editorials that fall under RPGamer's Editorial guidelines. These editorials will all be passed unedited for fairness to the judging committee and be placed in the queue for posting on the site.
• Submissions must include the following information: [Contest] somewhere visible in the email to indicate it is a contest entry, the editorial title, and the author name.
• You may enter as many times as you desire. There is no limit. That said, each entry will be judged individually. Producing a mass of editorials, while appreciated, does not ensure victory.
• While all editorials submitted will be posted as space permits during the weekly Editorials column, there will be a special posting with all of the winning editorials. Regardless of the timeline in which the editorials go up, all editorials received during the judging period will be judged fairly and equally prior to selecting a winner.
• Scoring Rubrik:
• Theme (20%) - This category ensures that you're following the theme of the contest. This means you should be writing about modern games, gaming life today, things that are now and are happening.
• Writing Quality (15%) - This is the standard area I fix up. Grammar, spelling, formatting, and generally making sure that your editorial comes across with good technical skill.
• Persuasiveness (35%) - A good editorial is a persuasive editorial. Pulling the reader in and either gathering their sympathy or convincing them of the truth of what you're saying is important. While this category will vary depending on the type of editorial, it will generally cover how much the reader is effected and drawn into the editorial.
• Creativeness (30%) - This covers that large bit of editorial writing that makes it worth reading. Is it simply stating a fact or is it truly delving into something interesting? Is it exploring a game with insight or just giving the facts? This will be a large flex category covering that which is hard to simply categorize on writing a good editorial.

• Contest begins Monday, June 20th, 2005 and continues until Monday, August 21th, 2005. A list of winners will be posted on http://www.rpgamer.com no later than 8:00 PM Pacific time on September 1st, 2005. Chances of winning depend upon the number of contest entries.
• Winners will be notified via e-mail prior to the public announcement. Winners will not be required to reply to the e-mail, but should the email be returned, the prize will be reawarded. Except where prohibited, by accepting said prize, winners consent to the use of his/her name for advertising and promotional purposes without additional compensation. Allow 4-6 weeks for delivery of prizes. All prizes will be awarded. No cash or other substitution for prizes except at the option of RPGamer, for a prize of equal or greater value. Prizes won by minors will be awarded to a parent or legal guardian.
• RPGamer's decisions in all respects relative to the contest are final. By entering, you agree to be bound by these Official Rules. The Contest is offered by RPGamer. RPGamer is not responsible for incomplete, illegible, late, or misdirected e-mail. By participating and/or winning a prize, the winner releases RPGamer and its employees and sponsors from any and all liability with respect to any prize. RPGamer reserves the right to cancel or modify the Contest in cases of fraud or prize supply limits, as determined by RPGamer in its sole discretion. RPGamer reserves the right to disqualify any winner, as determined by RPGamer in its sole discretion.
• Information submitted for this contest, such as your Name, Email, or Address will be used exclusively for the purpose of this contest. RPGamer does not sell, loan, or share this information with third parties, nor use it for their own promotion. Your privacy is important to us.
• The contest is open to all American and Canadian readers of RPGamer.com, except employees of RPGamer, and NISA; including their partners and their immediate families.