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Mon Mar 4th - Sun Mar 17th

Worldbuilding Awards 2024

Vote now for the best worldbuilders of the year!
The Worldbuilding Awards are our extra-special contest to find the best worldbuilding! This is your chance to spotlight your hard work to the world and to get inspired by the amazing worldbuilding that our community has created. Submit your worldbuilding before March 17th and keep reading to learn how to win!  

Detailed information

Rules

  1. You can submit to any number of categories, but you can only submit one entry per category.
  2. You can submit any World Anvil content regardless of creation date, as long as it fits the category requirements.
    • Eligibility limitation: work which has either won or been nominated in previous editions of the Worldbuilding Awards/Best of World Anvil since 2020 (inclusive) is not eligible for resubmission in any categories.
    • Exception: If you were nominated to a major category in the past, you can submit again this year. However, the limitation still applies to past winners of major categories.
  3. You may not edit your entries while they are being judged: entries that don't go to the second voting round can be edited after April 13th. Entries in the second round may not be edited until the end of the voting round on April 26th.
    • For full world submissions, this rule applies to the world homepage, meta, and primer/introduction article (if any), as well as the world CSS theme.
  4. All submitted works must be public (not private) and published (not draft). You may not set entries as private or draft while they are being voted on.
  5. All art used must be clearly labelled with the artist's name, e.g. beneath the image, in the author's notes, footer, global footer, or similar. If you are the artist, you must credit yourself. You must have explicit permission and rights of the original artist to use their work.
  6. Duplicate votes (i.e. multiple votes submitted by the same person) will be removed.
  7. Entries to the Awards may only be submitted to one category (rule introduced on March 19th due to unexpected technical constraints).
  8. The World Anvil Team reserves the right to disqualify entries deemed to be problematic regardless of the vote results. Please take a look at the Etiquette policy to learn what's considered problematic content on World Anvil.
  9. Similarly, World Anvil retains the right to arbitrate and/or change the rules where necessary to uphold the spirit and integrity of this event and the community. We will communicate changes as necessary.
  10. As always, World Anvil claims no ownership over your original work.

Categories

These are the available categories for the Worldbuilding Awards 2024!   N.B. Please do not write to us asking if the topic of your article fits the topic of the award! It is up to you to make this judgement call, based on the description and the eligible article templates.   Article Categories (click to expand)
Heart & Minds Award 2024: An article touching on intellectual, sociological, spiritual or cultural accomplishments and traditions of a people in your world
Allowed article templates: Character, Document, Language, Ethnicity/Culture, Profession, Species, Tradition/Ritual
Rise of Nations Award 2024: An article relevant to the history of civilisations and peoples of your world, and their legacies.
Allowed article templates: Building/Landmark, Character, Document, Ethnicity/Culture, Geographic Location, Organization, Profession, title, Settlement
Wondrous Nature Award 2024: Your natural world in all its glory — an article describing anything from species to locations, to natural and supernatural events, and bizarre naturally-occurring materials
Allowed article templates: Condition, Geographic Location, Material, Natural Law, Species
Strength & Honour Award 2024: An article relevant to the interactions of the people of your world across a grand scale — diplomacy, war, trade and collaboration, and the people who drive and engineer them
Allowed article templates: Character, Document, Military Conflict, Military Unit, Organization, Profession, Technology, Vehicle
Pillars of Progress Award 2024: An article describing a technological or scientific (including metaphysical) accomplishment, or celebrating creations developed by the people of your world.
Allowed article templates: Building/landmark, Item, Material, Natural Law, Settlement, Species, Spell, Technology, Vehicle
Myths & Legends Award 2024: An article describing an aspect of your worldbuilding that's mythical or fictional within the construct of your world, even if it's based on true events. Examples might include pantheons, urban legends, and other stories that are not accurate renditions of history.
Allowed article templates: Character, Myth, Organization
  Non-article categories (click to expand)
Time and Space Award 2024: This award is for the best Chronicle created on World Anvil.
Minimum content requirement: 20 events and 1 map
History Award 2024: This award is for the best Timeline created on World Anvil.
Minimum content requirement: 20 events and use the new timeline format introduced this year.
Cartography Award 2024: This award is for the best original Interactive Map created on World Anvil.
  • All map-types can be submitted—there is no stipulation of image-type (dungeon maps, battle maps, region maps etc).
  • Minimum interactive requirements are 30 pins, each with a title and description of around 120 characters, 2 marker groups, and no less than 50 words of description for the map itself.
  • You must either own full rights to the map outright, or have the artist's permission, to submit any map illustration you have not made yourself.
  Major Categories (click to expand)
Best Worldbuilding Article 2024: Any article is eligible for this award.
Most Beautiful World 2024: For worlds that deserve their own spot in an art gallery.
Best World 2024: Best overall world, considering both its content and design.
Best Newcomer: Awarded to the best world created by a user who joined World Anvil on January 1st, 2023 or later.

Voting and judging process

The winners of the Awards will be selected based on a vote open to the public, including people without a World Anvil account. This is the full schedule of the event:

Submission phase: March 4th-March 17th
Use this time to submit your entries using the Google Form. Only submit the form once; duplicate answers will be removed.

First voting round: March 20th-April 3rd
Votes can be cast by any person using a widget added to the entry itself. The top 5 winners of each category will form a shortlist of nominees.

Second voting round: April 13th-April 26th
Only the shortlisted entries will be available for voting in the second round.

Awards Ceremony: May 18th
The winners of the Awards will be announced in the Awards Ceremony on May 18th.

Prizes

The following digital awards will be awarded:
  • Participation badge: awarded to all submitters.
  • Nominee rosette: for shortlisted works.
  • Winner rosette: for the winner of each category.
All participants will also be entered in a raffle for a small prize. Additionally, winners will also get: Please note that both of these prizes require significant time to prepare, so delivery might take some time!

FAQ

Can I submit NSFW content?
NSFW entries will not be elegible for these Awards. This includes sexual themes or erotica, and depictions of extreme violence or gore.

How do I submit an entry?
Use this form, and only submit your entries once; duplicates will be removed. Entries must be submitted with their ID code, as well as their view link. The form itself contains instructions with screenshots to get the ID for each type of entry.

Where can I check if I've won or been nominated in previous years?
The Worldbuilding Awards Showcase has the list of all winners, and you can find all nominees here.

How are my creator rights affected by these Awards?
By entering the Worldbuilding Awards, you allow World Anvil to use your content for promotional purposes. However, your creator rights are in no way affected by this and you can revoke this permission at any time with reasonable notice.

I have a question not answered in this page. Where can I ask?
You can email us at [email protected].