This contest is aimed at improving the quality and quantity of coverage of African American military history articles. The format is roughly modeled on contests such as Awaken the Dragon and the WikiProject Military history contest. However, instead of mini contests, there is a single month-long contest, with prizes that can be claimed at any time for completing specific challenges. As with the the other contests, the focus is more on improving core articles and breathing new life into those older stale articles and stubs which might otherwise not get edited in years. All contributions, including new articles, are welcome.
The contest will run for two months, from August 15–October 15, 2016. There will be two ways of winning. Eight cash prizes totaling $700 will be given, with the amount depending on rank, to the top 8 finishers in points at the end of the contest period. Completing other specific challenges will entitle editors to pick from other special prizes from our partner institutions, such as books or posters signed by the Archivist of the United States, in addition to their points.
Partners edit
This contest is being coordinated by several partners, including:
Scope edit
Points may be awarded for any articles within the contest's scope. There is no definitive list of subjects; any question about scope will be decided on a case-by-case basis by the organizers. Articles considered to be related to African American military history are determined by the following criteria:
- Articles on the subject generally (e.g., Military history of African Americans, Racism against African Americans in the U.S. military, Military history of African Americans in the American Civil War)
- Any African American military personnel or civilian military leaders, as well as military personnel of any race broadly related to African American participation in the armed services (e.g., white commanders of all-black units)
- Any all-black units, or other units broadly related to African American military history
- Any engagements, battles, or other incidents in which African Americans or black units contributed in some notable way
- Any related military or government agencies or offices, laws, proclamations, etc.
- Any related sites—such as bases or military schools—ships, or weaponry
- Any related memorials, cemeteries, museums, heritage organizations, or notable literature
Core articles edit
In addition, "core" articles (worth double points) will be determined by the organizers in advance of the contest's start based on historical significance and relevance to the partner institutions. This list of specific articles can be found here.
Rules edit
- All articles must be submitted between August 15 and October 15.
- All articles submitted must be within the scope of the contest.
- Points will be awarded based on the improvement to an article's quality scale, with additional point bonuses and standalone prizes available.
- Any GA status (or higher) achieved will be rewarded with a poster or book of your choice from those available, until all prizes are claimed, in addition to the points received for the overall contest. See prizes section for more.
- Any new article, stub-, or start-class article brought to B-class will be rewarded with a reproduction US Constitution or Declaration of Independence from the National Archives gift shop, until all are claimed, in addition to the points received for the overall contest. (Note, the GA prize and B-class prize are not to be awarded for work on the same article.)
- All paragraphs and claims must be verifiable and well sourced. References are expected to be fully formatted, with consistent dates.
- Collaboration is permitted, but only between individuals who have signed up in the participants section. The same points will be given to each of the people who have significantly improved an article together.
Scoring edit
| Ending class | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beginning class |
Start | C | B | GA | A | FA | |
| None/Stub | +1 | +3 | +6 | +11 | +21 | +26 | |
| Start | +2 | +5 | +10 | +20 | +25 | ||
| C | +3 | +8 | +18 | +23 | |||
| B | +5 | +15 | +20 | ||||
| GA | +10 | +15 | |||||
| A | +5 | ||||||
Scoring will be conducted similar to the WikiProject Military history contest, with points awarded based on the matrix to the right. In addition, points awarded for any work on core articles will be doubled. The purpose of the matrix is to reward each more difficult task with progressively more points.
In addition, the following bonuses are available:
- +3 points awarded for creating a new article with at least one reference
- +3 points awarded for any DYK appearance
- +1 point awarded for each page of text (of reasonable length) related to African American military history transcribed on Wikisource
Prizes edit
Main contest edit
$700 in prizes will be awarded in the following way:
- Grant Prize: $300 for top finisher in point
- Runners-up: $100 for next two top scorers
- Honorable mentions: $20 each for next five top scores
- Assessment prize: $50 awarded to the editor who completes the most assessments
Additional prizes edit
GA prizes, which include books and posters from the National Archives, will be signed by David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States.
GA prizes edit
- Books
- BIG!: Big Records, Big Events and Big Ideas in American History: Celebrating 75 Years of the National Archives, by Stacey Bredhoff (3 copies)
- School House to White House: The Education of the Presidents, by Emmanuel Schwartz (3 copies)
- The Public Vaults Unlocked: Discovering American History in the National Archives, by Allen Weinstein (1 copy)
- The Story of the Constitution, by Sol Bloom (1 copy)
- Modern Archives Reader: Basic Readings on Archival Theory and Practice (1 copy)
- Declaration of Independence: the Adventures of a Document (1 copy)
- Basic Laws and Authorities of the National Archives and Records Administration (1 copy)
- Posters
B-Class prizes edit
- United States Constitution reproduction (37 copies)
- Declaration of Independence reproduction (7 copies)
- National Archives CD/DVD organizer (1 copy)
- What's Cooking Uncle Sam exhibit magnet (1 copy)