Hi everyone. I am proud to announce the first Lindenbaum prize for short gamebook fiction.
The prize is for a gamebook of up to 100 sections and 25000 words. The entry submissions begin on December 1st and close on February 1st at midnight GMT (as in, as soon as January 31st becomes February 1st). There are prizes for the best entries, voted for by the readers!
Full information can be found at this post: http://www.lloydofgamebooks.com/2021/10/lindenbaum-prize-for-short-gamebook.html

Ulysses
Mon Oct 18 11:33:14 2021

Hi Stuart.

Good on you for resurrecting a gamebook writing competition - it's a really good way of encouraging this specised form of writing.

I just read the discussion above about feedback and voting during the Windhammer competition, and agree that having encoyraging and useful feedback is important.

I note that the rules for this year are set, but I'll add a couple of suggestions for the future:

1. Rather than just a voting system, a panel of experts (anyone who has actually written a gamebook) who provide feedback, with the voting used as a 'people's choice' award for the best entrant.
2. The Expert Panel can additionally choose winners for categories like: 'Most Adventuresome', 'Funniest', 'Best Under 30 Chapters', etc. Whatever you think is best to encourage.

Stuart Lloyd
Mon Dec 6 20:46:49 2021

Submissions are now open for the 2021/2022 Lindenbaum Prize for short gamebook fiction. The prize is for a gamebook that is 100 sections or less and 25000 words or less.

Full rules are here: http://www.lloydofgamebooks.com/p/the-lindenbaum-prize-for-short-gamebook.html

Entries are to be sent here: lindenbaumprize@gmail.com

Good luck!

SCC
Fri Dec 17 11:32:18 2021

I actually agree with Ulysses regarding a panel deciding the winner, as this makes the competition somewhat fairer.

I submitted Golem's Gauntlet in a year with 22 entries, and as it was placed on the bottom of the reading list (just how it happened - no one's fault) most people never read it at the time.

If people make the effort, I think all entries should be read and judged on their respective merits equally.

Stuart Lloyd
Fri Dec 17 22:51:50 2021

I remember that. Didn't Wayne cycle the entries around so they had a different order each day?
I'm not sure who could be on the panel who would give it the time.

Stuart Lloyd
Sat Dec 18 18:33:03 2021

@SCC
Do you think cycling the entries works?

Stuart Lloyd
Thu Feb 3 15:54:25 2022

Entries have now closed for the 2020/2021 Lindenbaum Prize for Short gamebook Fiction. Sixteen authors have been accepted for this year's competition and their entries are currently being adapted to the standard competition PDF format.

We have an amazing array of gamebook goodness with 16 entrants!

It should be noted that as the number of gamebooks has exceeded 14, the competition rules now require an extension on time for the close of voting date will be extended to the 5th April and winner announcement dates to be extended to the 14th April (2 week’s delay). Due to the large number of entries submitted and my decision to hyperlink the books there must also be a short extension of time for all entries to be properly converted to the standard competition format. Due to this delay all entries will be available for free download and review from the 15th February.

All information regarding this year's comp including full entry guidelines, competition schedule and prize details can be found at http://www.lloydofgamebooks.com/p/the-lindenbaum-prize-for-short-gamebook.html.

Stuart Lloyd
Tue Feb 15 21:24:44 2022

Voting is now open for the 2021/2022 Lindenbaum Prize. Voting is open until 10pm GMT on the 5th April 2022.
You can get the gamebooks at www.lloydofgamebooks.com
Voting
The Lindenbaum prize is awarded to the entrant who receives the greatest number of reader votes. This prize relies on votes provided by readers who have read enough of the entries to make a considered choice as to the relative merits of the gamebooks submitted. It is expected by the sponsor of this competition that votes will be provided on this basis. For 2021-2022, the voting system applied as follows:
A valid vote must be forwarded by email to Lindenbaumprize@gmail.com. A valid vote must nominate the three gamebooks most favoured by the voter from the competition entrants. A vote with less than three nominations cannot be accepted. A vote forwarded with more than three nominations will only have the first three accounted for in the voting tabulation.
Only one voter email is allowed per reader. All votes will be checked for duplication of email addresses.
Feedback to the authors may be forwarded to the competition sponsors at Lindenbaumprize@gmail.com. All feedback given will be provided to authors at the end of competition as a part of the email notification of results.
Voting will close on the 5th April at 10pm GMT!

Ulysses
Wed Feb 16 08:21:02 2022

Very interested to start reading the entires.

It has only occurred to me now to ask: As an entrant, am I allowed to vote?
I wasn't planning to vote for myself, although politicians do, so I guess it isn't unheard of.

Stuart Lloyd
Wed Feb 16 10:07:39 2022

@Ulysses

Yes, entrants can vote for two main reasons

1) Since you have to vote for 3 books, even if you vote for yourself (which I would expect all entrants to do), you also have to vote for 2 others.
2) Wayne always let me vote.

I'm not voting, but I will be providing feedback.

Ulysses
Mon Feb 21 14:15:09 2022

I've just finished reviewing all of the entires to this years competition and sending in my votes.

There was a great variety of genres, gaming mechanics and writing styles. There were a few entries that I thought were really great, others were enjoyable, and a few with great ideas that I hope will be reworked into more complete gamebooks.

I won't mention any particular entires here as voting is ongoing, but below is the approach I took to assess the entires.

I scored each entry using 5 factors (with different weightings):
Length - while writing a good short adventure is its own challenge, generally more references means a longer more complicated adventure, and so the first factor was the number of references. The entires ranged from 39 to 100 references, with an average of 80.
The second factor was writing quality. I didn't judge this too harshly, and just looked for easy-flowing language without any pauses to try and work out what was being said. I marked writing quality out of 10, and I deemed more than one to be 10/10, there were also a couple of 4s, but overall the average score for writing was 8/10.
The next factor was Story Quality where I considered the premise and how the plot unfolded. While some had far less story than others, I tried to judge each according to what it seemed to be trying to be. The scores I allocated again ranged from 4 to 10/10, with an average of 7.
Gamebook Mechanics was the next factor I looked at, which scored the combat system, implementation of tests, etc. in the text, whether choices made sense, and the extent to which the choices lead to the best ending(s). These scores ranged from 4 to 9, with an average of 6/10. There were quite a few examples of combat systems that were unfortunately poorly explained and/or complicated to use.
The final factor I looked at was 'Challenge', which was a review not only of difficulty, but if the difficulty made the adventure more enjoyable. Adventures that are too eay or too hard can both be less enjoyable that one that offers an interesting challenge. This is where there was the greatest variation, with scores from 2 to 8, and an average of 5. For this factor 5/10 is actually an ok score.

So overall, I judged the entires as ranging from 46 to 83, with an average of 66/100.

Well done to all of the authors, and good luck!

Ulysses
Tue Feb 22 14:56:40 2022

Just noticing I spelled 'entries' as 'entires' multiple times above. Wanna say it was a typo but...

Stuart Lloyd
Sun Mar 20 15:50:59 2022

16 days left to cast your vote for the 16 books entered for Lindenbaum! The deadline is 10pm GMT on the 5th April. So if you start now, you can read 1 a day before getting your vote in!
http://www.lloydofgamebooks.com/p/voting-is-now-open-for-20212022.html

Stuart Lloyd
Mon Apr 4 03:16:51 2022

Just today and tomorrow left to vote!

Stuart Lloyd
Tue Apr 5 14:42:53 2022

Vote for your 3 Lindenbaum books! Lindenbaumprize@gmail.com 6 and a bit hours remaining!

Stuart Lloyd
Sat Apr 16 12:46:09 2022

Winner announced for the 2021/2022 Lindenbaum Prize

Stuart Lloyd
Sun Apr 17 12:16:55 2022

Lindenbaum post competition analysis

Stuart Lloyd
Sun Apr 30 10:55:36 2023

I am pleased to announce that the winner of the 2022/2023 Lindenbaum Prize for short gamebook fiction is Niall Turner with Phoenix.
Merit awards go to Thomas Betsworth with Milly and Joe Cheal with the Endless Asylum.
Commendation awards go to Jeremy Johnson with Awakening Aboard the Anastasia, David Donache with Escape from the Tower of the Stars, Paul Partington with Ghost in the Shadows, Andrew Greene with Hollywood Noir and Sean Loftiss with The Horn of Blaat. This is due to a tie between three books.
I would like to thank everybody who participated, the authors and those dedicated readers who took the time to evaluate all the entries, and also a further thanks to those readers who provided feedback and comment to the authors.
If you intend to write feedback in a public place, please email me the address and I will link to it.

http://www.lloydofgamebooks.com/2023/04/results-announcement-to-20222023.html

Ulysses
Fri May 5 13:38:07 2023

I missed this one entirely! Just today I was wondering when it would be on again.

Stuart Lloyd
Sun Nov 5 07:20:59 2023

I am pleased to announced the 3rd annual Lindenbaum gamebook competition.
This year, the winners will be determined from a combination of judges and votes.
http://www.lloydofgamebooks.com/2023/11/20232024-lindenbaum-prize-announcement.html

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