Summer Camp 2023: the JUDGING

Here we Go Again!

Weeeeeeere Back!
Now that I've trawled my way through over 300 articles, before I dive into my shortlist I'm going to take a breather and review my progress!
As a refresher, the Prompt that I sponsored for this year's Summer Camp was:

"A Settlement at the edge of the 'known' or 'civilized' World"

This opens up the prompt to a wide variety (and I mean wide) of not only settlements, but where they are in the world! You'll see from the charts below just how varied. There were 92 Different kinds of frontiers and 76 Different kinds of Settlements, and that's after I combined some of the similar categories!

by Rachel Bentz

by Rachel Bentz

_{Let it be noted that ??? denotes either settlements or locations that either were not described in a way I could categorize, or were not mentioned at all. There was one that was ????? but I cut it for berevity's sake.}
Y'all didn't make my job easy, that's for sure. There's 30 prompts that are on my combined 'Shortlist' and 'honorable mentions'.
After reading through all of these, I've also created an article about Settling the Issue of Settlements. As much as I would love to give feedback on 300 articles, I can't. But I can sum up my base feelings about what makes a good settlment and, more importantly, how to write about it in a clear and concise manner. This way I can give 'generic' feedback to 300 people without commenting on 300 articles. I'm lazy, alright?
This being said, if you do genuinely wish for feedback on your article you need only comment below. I would be more than happy to give your article a second look and give in-depth feedback. I just can't do 300, I got my own world to build!

Fun Facts

There were 12 Articles that were listed as 'Private' and Could not be viewed. So sad!
There were 36 Articles that were ineligible due to wordcount, and 61 That were ineligible due to lack of a proper Art Credit.
There were 22 Articles that were Ineligible due to a bad publication or creation date. If you don't reset your Stub, your Metadata Will Tell on you.
In addition to this, there were at least 3 Articles that were originally created in response to an entirely different prompt. Yes, your metadata shows this too.
Some of the above were multi-point ineligibilities, leading to a whopping total of 102 articles ineligble for fabulous prizes. That's 1/3rd of the articles submitted because you were a few words shy, didn't reset your stub your credit your art!
There were 21 Articles that joined the 'close to 300 as we can get' Club, and 2 articles in the 'You Madlad' Club.

The Shortest of Lists

By some Miracle of Miracles I was able to narrow down 300+ entries to a shortlist of 10. The winner *might* be amoungst these, but I won't tell you which one!
Truly, you all had such phenomenal work, I was fretting for days over the final decision. I'm still working on getting dedicated comments out to you all, so please be patient with me.

The Underhang

By TheDumbOwl

One of the more unique settlements I stumbled upon; a cave at the bottom of a parkour cliff! The article is brimming with personality and the voice of the author gives a very personal and unique feel. And the art matches perfectly!

Gobblyton

by DazzlinKat

If there's one article I talked to other people the most about, it was this one. I don't know why the NomNom Pit made me smile as much as it did; it's literally their trash heap. But the unique names for every tree in the village combined with the civil structure of the Goblins made their home at the edge of Transylvania unique and adorable. Even if the NomNom pit is a bit deadly.

Infinity's Watchtower

By EmilyArmstrong

I've heard of Diners at the edge of the Universe, but Bed and Breakfasts are a new one on me. Run by a couple who may or may not be Eldritch dieties, this home-away-from-anywhere is a Curious mind's getaway of their dreams... provided you can pay the ransom of cosmic knowledge. You might be in for an extended stay if you can't...

The Khyshev Commune

By Koragath

This one was testing the limits of being at the limit, simply because you can't find it on a Map. The Khyshev Commune is a Secret Hideaway, obsensively for freeing people from slavery. The Narrator's inherent frustration at being unable to share anything of trule value about the settlement, at least from his perspective, is palpable and gives the Settlement depth.

Krtajala

By Hanhula

You know how you have that one person that's always amazing at anything they do? That's Hanhula. And they've certainly knocked it out of the park with this undersea abyssal-gorge toe-ing research town. There's even a special suprise for people who read all the way to the end...

Locomotriam

by Arger Growler

All Aboard! Nothing defies being at the Limits of the Known world by being the limits of the known world! This Settlement on Rails traverses the continent once a year, taking on new passengers as the wind wills. You never know who is going to step on or off next!

Allsend Landing

By Yerran

While the title might entice one to think of FFX and the 'Sending', this settlement couldn't be anything but! Named for the place where All Ends, The settlement founded by famed explorers-turned-madmen entices more inhabitants and would-be thrill seekers to this day.

City of the Lost

By Escritora Novata

Sometimes, You get what You Want rather than what You Need. And once that happens and all hope has left, the kind One who gave you the Wish brings you to the City of the Lost, to quietly live out your days. Filled with more Ghosts than People, this forlorn land simply seeks to be a refuge, and nothing more.

Sunny Peak Ski Resort

By Tim-in-a-Box

Just as unique as the Underhang, the Sunny Peak Ski Resort is the furthest-and therefore the best- place to get a summer or winter getaway! Though the rest of the world seems to be plagued with apathetic dieties, demons, and general world-shifting shenaniganry, the Ski Resort is the place to go to forget your woes.

West Copperwynn Outpost

By Vertixico

Nothing Entices Adventurers like the smell of adventure, and this town is no different! The Charm in Vertixico's article stems not from the settlement iself, but the unique introduction to its major characters and the social issues that plague it. A good example for any budding Worldbuilder!

Rookery

By Shaaman

...I can count, alright? I just like even columns, that's all. Besides, I would be remiss without mentioning the Magnificent Rookery! A settlement whose livelihood is focused around raising special birds to hunt the artifact-filled wilderness for shinies. Who doesn't love birds that hunt shinies?

There were another 20 entries on the longer version of the shortlist, but I won't list them all here.

What were My Critera?

I started with 3 basic criteria to filter out the lowest tier:
-300 Words Minimum
-Created, published, and updated between July 1 and August 1 (Offical rules say July 31st but the closing stream was not until Aug 1.)
-Any and ALL art, including page covers and headers, had some form of art credit.

I also took into consideration the Kind of Settlement the article discussed, and where in the world it was located. There were a fair amount of articles that were *somewhere*, but could not quite be adequately described as at the limits of known or civilized territory. Some never mentioned their frontier at all. Settlements are harder to categorize simply because they can be so varied, but ultimately I was looking for a settled, currently living location with at least a few hundred people living in it.
I tend to favor unique ideas and creative ways of solving a problem over more standard settlements. I also look for authors who can put a fair amount of thought into their settlements, giving their Settlement some logistical depth and weight to it rather than it being 27 monkeys living in a barrel out at sea. (I did not see this, but now I am tempted to add it to my own world.)

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What Now?

I still have a reading challenge to do! I might pull a few articles from the honorable mentions, then trawl either the Summer Camp homepage for the other two prompt styles or just bug people in Discord. I've also got a notifications page that's a few hundred items long...

Gimme your Stuff to Read!

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Still here? Fiiiiiiiiine.
Go check out my Competition page if you're really desperate for something to read. WARNING; Everything is SC quality and low-key trash