Welcome to the 2012 Holy Worlds Read-a-Thon! You’re about to become a part of this summer’s coolest reading program. Join in and drag all your friends, family, and coworkers with you! We have lots of prizes and fun activities planned, so read on for details.

What’s the Read-a-Thon? It’s a reading program, like those things you used to do during the summer at your local library. The basic goal is to read books. Lots of them. The person with the most pages at the end of the summer wins! But there’s more...

This year, we’re shaking things up. While we’re still competing for most pages read, we’ve also added several more prizes with the Holy Worlds Genre Tour!

This summer, we’re going to take a journey through the realm of speculative fiction - fantasy, sci-fi, and historical fiction. During the following months, we’re going to be promoting these genres by awarding bonus points for reading books that fall under these genres. You know what that means? More chances to win! There will also be featured “Books of the Week” and extra activities, giving you even more opportunity to win bonus points.

So sign up and start reading! Below are the official rules with more details on how we count points and award prizes. The event officially starts June 3rd, so check back to this announcement for a link to June’s reporting and activity announcement threads! See you there!

Rules and Regulations
1. Sign up! Do this by sending a Holy Worlds private message to Azlyn A. Mimetes. You will then be added to our official list of participants.
2. All signups must be received by July 1st. You cannot participate until you’ve registered with our signup person!
3. Read! Each time you finish a book, report your page count on the designated thread. See example below. You earn one point for every page read. Rack up pages to win prizes!
4. Read books from featured genres and official “Books of the Week” and participate in activities to earn bonus points! See additional rules below.
5. There’s a new reporting thread each month, so pay attention! June’s thread will be on Holy Worlds Fantasy forum; July’s thread on Holy Worlds Sci-Fi forum; and August’s thread on Holy Worlds Historical Fiction forum. You will need an account on each forum to participate. Links will be provided as each thread goes live.
6. Event officially runs from June 3rd to August 25th. Only books read during that time qualify for points.
7. Fiction and non-fiction are eligible.
8. Event is open to readers of all ages. We encourage participants to read books at or above their reading level. If we determine a participant is reading books below their level in an attempt to boost their count, they will be disqualified. However, older participants may count books below their reading level if they read the book with/to a child.
9. For e-books look up the page count of the print version and report that number.
10. Audio books are also eligible! Simply look up the page count of the print version.
11. Each participant can only earn one prize per month, not counting giveaways and contests hosted separately. Each participant can only earn one grand prize. Winners of monthly prizes are eligible to win grand prizes.
12. You must have an account on at least one of the Holy Worlds forums and be registered for the Read-a-Thon by July 1st to be eligible for prizes. Event administrators and point counters are not eligible for monthly or grand prizes but may participate in separate giveaways and contests.
13. All participants must abide by Holy Worlds forum rules when engaging in activities on the site. The administrators reserve the right to disqualify any participant for any reason. The judges’ decisions will be final regarding all page totals and prize earnings.

How we count bonus points:
1. Bonus points are awarded for reading books in the genre of the month. Rack up bonus points to win extra prizes!
2. Featured genres of the month are as follows: Fantasy (June), Sci-Fi (July), Historical Fiction (August). So if you read a fantasy book in June, you earn bonus points, and so on.
3. 1 bonus point for every page read in the genre of the month.
4. 100 additional bonus points awarded for reading the Book of the Week.
5. During theme weeks, read any book with the designated theme to receive 100 additional bonus points!
6. Claim your bonus points when reporting your page count in the designated reporting thread. See example below.
7. Additional bonus points are awarded for participating in official activities. Points earned varies by activity. An announcement thread will be provided each month with links to official activities. Bonus points earned from activities will be calculated by the activity organizer; do not report participation in activities on the book reporting thread.
8. Activities surrounding Books of the Week may vary. Some activities will run past the designated week; you can earn points as long as the thread is officially open!
9. Bonus points are tallied separately from regular points and count towards special prizes. Some prizes are awarded based purely on “most books read” without regards to bonus points earned.
10. Activity coordinators cannot earn points from their own events, but can earn points from other events and are eligible to win monthly and grand prizes.
11. In the case of a dispute as to whether or not a book qualifies for a bonus, the administrators’ decision will be final. Administrators reserve the right to restrict the number of bonus points earned from activities if they deem the participant is not putting decent effort into their entries.

Official Calendar of Events & Books of the Week: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... 0ZDYXhZMlE

How to Report Your Pages
Each time you finish a book, make a post in the designated reporting thread. Report your book as follows:



For example, if you read Eragon during June 3-9 (Dragon Week!), you would report it as such:



You do not need to keep a running total of your points. Official counters will keep track of the tallies.

Winners and Awards
We’re awarding a variety of prizes, so there’s something for everyone! Whether you want to aim for the most number of pages read or prove you’re the most prolific in a given genre, there are lots of opportunities to win.

What prizes are you competing for? Books of course! We have several books lined up for prizes, some of them signed by the author. More details to follow.

Monthly Winners:
Most books read in June (based on total pages read)
Most Fantasy books read in June (based on fantasy pages read + bonus points)
Most books read in July (based on total pages read)
Most Science Fiction books read in July (based on sci-fi pages read + bonus points)
Most books read in August (based on total pages read)
Most Historical books read in August (based on historical pages read + bonus points)

Read-a-Thon Grand Winners:
Most books read: First and Second place (based on total pages read)
Most points achieved: First and Second place (based on total pages read + bonus points)
Most genre books read: First Place (based on total genre pages read)

Questions? Contact Constable Jaynin Mimetes or Aubrey Hansen.

The Read-a-Thon has officially begun! Start reading and report your pages here.

June is FANTASY month, so you earn bonus points for every fantasy book you read! More details on this month's activities and Books of the Week in June's announcement thread.

Leave your knights and dragons behind and climb aboard a spaceship - the Read-a-Thon continues with SCIENCE FICTION Month! During July, earn bonus points for every sci-fi book you read. Report your pages for July here, and don't forget to check out July's announcement thread for bonus activities. To infinity and beyond!

Tired of all the sparkly dragons and glowing lightsabers? Take a trip back into the past with HISTORICAL FICTION Month over at the Read-a-Thon! Check out the activities thread for special events, and report your totals for the month here.

Aaaaaaaand.... cut!

Whew. You guys got through a veritable marathon of reading! Congratulations to all who participated! I'm going on vacation now, and when I get home we'll russle up some official personages and count up all the totals, and announce our winners!