SIGs/Join/WhyWeFOSS

Some thoughts/ideas

The contest submission process should definitely include FOSS tools and workflows:

   - Entries must be Licensed under FSF/OSI Approved Licenses
   - Entries must be in submitted in Free/Open Formats
   - Entries must be made web-accessible

• Having a few essays/stories as examples when we announce the contest will likely help improve the number and quality of submissions.
• We hop on the #hashtag bandwagon, and run a social media campaign to help promote the contest (#WhyFOSS, #WhyIFOSS, #WhyWeFOSS, #ChooseFOSS, #FreeAsInFreedom, #etc)
• Keeping the requirements as simple as possible will keep the barrier to entry lower, and encourage more participants. I think asking one simple question ("Why do you contribute?"), giving a deadline (1 month before the next FLOCK/FUDCon?) and maybe a wordcount limit (maybe) would suffice.
• Co-promotion with other communities could also help. Some natural allies would be folks like http://CreativeCommons.org and http://Wikipedia.org for starters. There are many others I could imagine being interested too (http://Mozilla.com, http://LibreOffice.org, etc...)
• As far as prizes, I can imagine there being Fedora Badges for those involved in the contest (both participants and organizers alike. This may or may not fly, as Fedora Badges are usually for Fedora-Specific activity, and this contest may have a slightly broader scope.) I think a good tangible prize would be a 3D printed badge/plaque with the winners' name/nick/handle inscribed within it, and a FedoraMagazine/Opensource.com/Community Blog post announcing the winners.

Wild decause Ideas:

• We include a Multi-media category to encourage designers, artists, and even developers to create submissions that are more than text. I can imagine people creating videos, animations, images, art installations, games, interactive media/websites, audio, translations, 3D printed models, or other kinds of submissions that are non-textual.
• We also include a "People's Choice" award for each category, and allow the community to pick a winner too.
• Entries must Reuse, Remix, or Repurpose some type of content within their own work?
• Participants enter the contest by forking/cloning a repo, and submit their entries via patch/pull request?
• As submissions come in, we broadcast them via FedMsg (which can then be syndicated to many other channels.)
• Have a specific "Wallpaper" category and tie this into the ongoing efforts there.
• Tools like nuancier or elections could prove useful: https://github.com/fedora-infra/nuancier