And we have a result - the winning names in the McShep Match 2012 team poll are:

Time and Space!

Now that we know the names we can tell you who the captains and mods will be for each team. We're very grateful to busaikko and neevebrody for taking on the Team Captain roles, and we know their enthusiasm is going to inspire their teammates to make this a fantastic year :)

Team Time : Captain - neevebrody Mod - trobadora

Team Space : Captain - busaikko Mod - fluffyllama

We'll confirm the final schedule shortly, and look forward to seeing you all join us when the fest starts!

Okay, so after our informal poll and appeal for suggestions, there were discussions! There were suggestions! And there were also some good points made, such as that we should have an option more closely themed to our show up for voting. Your mods agreed, and so we have a new poll.

The results of this poll will determine the team names for this year, so if you are rooting for one in particular feel free to rally whatever troops you can to your cause! The ones in the lead when we close the poll on Friday at 10pm GMT (When is that?) will be your team names for this year.

As you can see, we've gone for a Stargate-specific option, a general sci-fi option and a John-and-Rodney-friendly-but-not-actually-either option.

All of them will just be team names and not themes that will determine anything the members create for the fest.

Poll #1839284 McShep Match 2012 teams - the final vote!
This poll is closed.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 110

What should the teams be for McShep Match 2012?

Have fun! *g*

It's almost McShep Match time again – at least we hope it is, but that's up to all of you!

The schedule currently looks like this:

Fest opens (for pre-Match warm up challenges): June 1st
Sign-ups open: June 8th
Deadlines: Mon July 23rd and Wed July 25th
Posting starts: Wed August 1st

We will have two teams as always, and again this year participants will select their prompt at sign up. Each prompt will be available twice, and the first person to choose it will be randomly assigned to one of the teams. The second person to choose it will be added to the other team. Our team names will be generic, which means is that they won't be a factor in the voting or determine anything about the story you write. They will simply be names. But what should they be? We need some input!

We're also hoping to recruit our two team captains very soon, and we'll be looking at those who are definitely interested in participating this year (obviously that will help!) and who have taken part in the fest at least once in the past (so we know you have an idea of what's involved).

If you're able to help with art for our community headers and official team icons, please volunteer below and we will love you forever. Also, you get a place reserved in the fest ahead of time along with our team captains, which means first chance at the prompt list!

Just leave out any questions that don't apply, you don't need to answer all of them :)

Poll #1837330 McShep Match 2012
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 62

I am interested in participating in McShep Match 2012

I would be offering to create: (Note: this is just for info. All places will be open for general sign up this year, not reserved by submission type.)

I'd be willing to help with the official community/team artwork

I think the team names should be:

* YOUR MODS LIKE THIS ONE. A LOT. JUST SAYING. This was suggested in a team name poll ages ago, and we always thought John and Rodney would love it *g*

Title: The McShep Match Mystery
Author: hoktauri
Rating: R. Too many durned cuss words for anything less.
Word Count: 9950
Summary: Zelenka discovers an odd collection of mission reports encrypted in the Ancient database and enlists Sheppard, McKay, Ronon and Teyla in uncovering what appears to be a spy in their ranks.
Warnings: None! Except, oh, the crack.


( Happy Fifth Anniversary, McShep Match! This one's for all who made it possible! )

And we're up to the official thank you part of the proceedings!

We have so, so many thanks as always.

First of all huge, huge thanks to our Team Captains almostnever and velocitygrass - for their enthusiasm, buckets of motivation and general hard work largely unseen by anyone but their teams. We couldn't do it without you!

To our artist mischief5, who generously provided both the community artwork and the team prizes this year – thank you for the gorgeous work!

To our backup volunteers and those who doubled up on entries for the fest: aadarshinah, busaikko, curia_regis, enigmaticblues, sholio, mific, mikes_grrl, neevebrody, reddwarfer, roaringmice, someidiothasice, the_cephalopod, wneleh and zelempa. As always, we are incredibly grateful for your help.

To our comment prize volunteers, including team members who jumped in to help when they could have been taking a well-deserved rest – thank you busaikko, hoktauri, kay_greatness, kisahawklin, mific, skitz_phenom, soleta and velocitygrass.

To the team members who put together the participant interviews, kisahawklin and velocitygrass. Thank you for doing such a great job organising and compiling them!

A final thank you to hoktauri the indefatigable, who provided the anniversary surprise gift coming up next. Do check it out, it is so very much McShep Match. :D

And of course, to everyone who took part and made the whole fest possible. This year we had our highest number of dropouts ever, but that seems to be the trend no matter which fandom you look at these days. Despite that everything still ran smoothly, all entries arrived in time, and what great entries they were!

We have thanked all those who followed the Match for reading, voting and commenting already, of course, but it wouldn’t be complete without mentioning them once more here. It's great to see so many people enjoying the stories and art submitted each year, so thank you for sticking with us!

Apologies if we've missed anyone, and do point it out if we left you out of any of these lists – our modly superpowers are not infallible and we don't want to miss anyone by accident.

We will be asking for feedback on this year's fest, particularly from participants, so look out for that coming to this community when we have had chance to organise our thoughts.

We have one final post to make with a surprise gift to the community, so enjoy!

Your mods, fluffyllama and trobadora.

Thank you as always to everyone who read, voted and commented on the entries in this year’s McShep Match. Whether you're a newcomer or one of our veteran commenters who has been back every year to cheer our teams along, the mods and particpants appreciate you all!

Our Eight Top Commenters!

Our teams kindly provided eight main prizes for our top commenters, along with a number of runner up prizes of fabulous limericks, so let's get started. The theme (for those who opted to go for it) was talking/commenting since that seemed appropriate.

We didn't need a word count to see who was the most enthusiastic commenter this year. hoktauri, we hope you enjoy your prize created by kisahawklin (story) and soleta (art).

( Ducks Ahoy! )

The remainder of our top commenters for 2011 (in alphabetical order) were as follows. Prizes include art, fic and wallpapers and have been awarded randomly.

danceswithgary
Prize contributed by busaikko

( Prize behind the cut )

enigmaticblues
Prize contributed by hoktauri

( Prize behind the cut )

fanficfan123
Prize contributed by busaikko

( Prize behind the cut )

gottalovev
Prize contributed by hoktauri

( Prize behind the cut )

lilacs_lace
Prize contributed by velocitygrass

( Prize behind the cut )

panisdead
Prize contributed by kay_greatness

( Prize behind the cut )

runpunkrun
Prize contributed by skitz_phenom

( Prize behind the cut )

Runner-Up Prizes

almostnever
Prize contributed by busaikko

( Prize behind the cut )

eccentricweft
Prize contributed by busaikko

( Prize behind the cut )

keyairreem
Prize contributed by busaikko

( Prize behind the cut )

djin7
Prize contributed by busaikko

( Prize behind the cut )

popkin16
Prize contributed by busaikko

( Prize behind the cut )

nakatas_cat
Prize contributed by busaikko

( Prize behind the cut )

melagan
Prize contributed by busaikko

( Prize behind the cut )

mific
Prize contributed by busaikko

( Prize behind the cut )

winter_elf
Prize contributed by busaikko

( Prize behind the cut )

chkc
Prize contributed by busaikko

( Prize behind the cut )

antares04a
Prize contributed by busaikko

( Prize behind the cut )

kay_greatness
Prize contributed by busaikko

( Prize behind the cut )

d_odyssey
Prize contributed by mific

( Prize behind the cut )

lilyfarfalla
Prize contributed by mific

( Prize behind the cut )

Well done everyone!

Yes, this is it, folks - it's almost all over for another year!

Just a quick note on scoring before we announce the results – the average for each category over all fics is totalled to make the results, so since each is scored from 1-9 the final score is the number of points out of 18.

The final scores were:

Team Sheppard: 15.7
Team McKay: 15.2

Congratulations to Team Sheppard on their victory, and to Team McKay for providing such worthy opposition!

It was a slightly closer result than last year but both teams put in an amazing effort and produced a truly memorable set of entries for our 5th Anniversary Match. All fests have to cope with dropouts and we did set a new record this year, so we are more grateful than ever both for the perseverence of those who signed up and made it to the finish line and the generosity of those who joined our teams late to create back up entries. More on that in the wrap up post as always, but we can't say it too many times :-)

Now it's time for the Team Members to collect their 1st and 2nd place banners and icons kindly made for McShep Match by the fabulous mischief5.

(  First place )

(  Second place )

All participants can now post their stories wherever they like - those of you with art and stories that were uploaded to the website for the duration of the fest please let us know the new address for your entries (whether LJ, an archive or your website) and we'll replace the links as soon as we can. It helps us to edit more quickly if you include a link and the name of the mod who posted the entry, btw, as we post entries with our own journals.

Coming up next, the results of the Top Commenter contest, the McShep Match 2011 wrap up and thanks post… plus an extra special McShep Match 5th Anniversary surprise!

All participant names should be on entries now, along with any beta thanks and other author/artist notes you included with your submission. If we've missed anything or if you want to add beta thanks, please just let us know by commenting to this post or emailing us at the usual address: mcshep_match @ refugeeblues.com. Same applies if you spot any errors, though we've checked as best we can. It helps us to edit more quickly if you include a link and the name of the mod who posted the entry, btw, as we post entries with our own journals.

Please note that the fest is not over yet – you'll be able to post your entries for the fest to your own journal and/or website once the results are up, but please wait until then.

Now for the masterlist of entries, and although I'm sure the voters had as much difficulty choosing as we would - may the best team win!

( McShep Match 2011 Masterlist )

The polls are now closed and votes will be counted as soon as possible – look out for the results coming to this community later tonight ETA: tomorrow, since your mods are falling asleep.

Entries for the top commenters contest are also closed – you can still comment, but those dated after this post will not be included in the count – and we'll also be announcing the winners of that in the results post.

The Masterlist will be posted shortly once we have had chance to edit names and beta thanks etc. into the posts and upload signed artwork.

Don't forget you have just four days left to read and vote! Polls will close at 8pm GMT (When is that?) on Friday 23rd September.

You can find handy links to all entries posted here in our anonymous masterlist, and if you have questions about how the voting or anything works check our FAQ or just ask.

Posting has now concluded, so it's time to catch up on your reading and voting!

Voting will be open until 8pm GMT (When is that?) on Friday 23rd September. At that time the polls will be closed. You can continue to comment, but comments left after that time will not count towards the comment contest as your mods need a cut-off point. The participants will still greatly appreciate them though, so don't let it stop you!

Votes from participants who had an entry posted for the fest this year will not be included in the final tally, but if you dropped out for any reason you are welcome and actively encouraged to vote.

Entries are listed in reverse order of posting within their categories. For the purposes of this list only, we have separated the art entries into Fanart and Fanvids, and the story entries into two categories based on length. Please note that length was determined only by whether it could be posted in a single LJ entry or had to be hosted on the website, so both categories cover a wide range.

( McShep Match 2011 Anonymous List of Entries – Vote now! )

Finally, if you have any guesses on writers or artists, feel free to post them in the comments!

Title: Equal and Opposite...
Artist: neevebrody
Team: McKay
Prompt: fatal flaw
Pairing(s): McKay/Sheppard
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Notes: Many thanks to melagan, mischief5, kay_greatness, and shakespherical for their beta help. Screencaps: my own, ariane179254, Demon-cry.net. Special thanks to the Mods for being so awesome - Happy 5th Anniversary!

Please note: This artwork is hosted on a temporary website. If linking to this artwork please link to this post and not the artwork itself to ensure you don't end up with broken links after the fest ends. It also ensures you have the header information, of course. Thank you.

Once you've viewed the artwork, please take a moment to vote in the poll below. Ratings go from 1 (low) to 9 (high), so all you need to do is enter a single number in that range into each text entry box. You'll be able to see the prompt in the header above.

More details about the voting procedure can be found here.


Equal and Opposite...


( Vote for this entry )

Title: Cardiogenesis (The Heart of the Matter)
Author: kisahawklin
Team: Sheppard
Prompt: fatal flaw
Pairing(s): McKay/Sheppard, McKay/Keller, Keller/OMC, brief Sheppard/OMC
Rating: Mature
Warnings: temporary major character death, semi-detailed descriptions of medical procedures and illness/injury
Summary: It was the stupidest way to die in any galaxy.
Notes: A million thanks to my incredible hand-holder, cheerleader, and beta, wintercreek. This story would not have made it here without her (and probably wouldn't be named after a Don Henley song (and extra thanks to mrcreek for Cardiogenesis)). Thanks also to Team Sheppard for piles of encouragement, and the Match Mods for being amazing. Finally, a huge thanks to the legion of folks, including lavvyan, mecurtin, mific, skitz_phenom, altyronsmaker, and meghanc, who gave me hope and a light at the end of the tunnel.

Once you've read the story, please take a moment to vote in the poll below. Ratings go from 1 (low) to 9 (high), so all you need to do is enter a single number in that range into each text entry box. You'll be able to see the prompt in the header above.

More details about the voting procedure can be found here.

Cardiogenesis (The Heart of the Matter)

( Vote for this entry )

Title: On the Origins of John Sheppard
Author: admiralandrea
Team: McKay
Prompt: PG-13
Pairing(s): McKay/Sheppard
Rating: point blank
Warnings: None
Summary: John and Rodney go to Earth to explore John's past.
Notes: This is technically sorta an AU tag for Outcast, which deals a bit with John's past. Please note, I am not altogether kind to either Patrick or Dave Sheppard.
With thanks to my beta, G, who came through at the last minute.

Once you've read the story, please take a moment to vote in the poll below. Ratings go from 1 (low) to 9 (high), so all you need to do is enter a single number in that range into each text entry box. You'll be able to see the prompt in the header above.

More details about the voting procedure can be found here.

( On the Origins of John Sheppard )

( Vote for this entry )

Title: Sometimes a Spark Is All You Need
Author: roaringmice
Team: Sheppard
Prompt: point blank
Pairing(s): McKay/Sheppard
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: mild swearing
Summary: You think you'd know a man after 3.245 seconds.
Notes: Thanks to Eureka's writers, from whom I got the "spark" line.

Once you've read the story, please take a moment to vote in the poll below. Ratings go from 1 (low) to 9 (high), so all you need to do is enter a single number in that range into each text entry box. You'll be able to see the prompt in the header above.

More details about the voting procedure can be found here.

( Sometimes a Spark Is All You Need )

( Vote for this entry )

Title: Home In Time For Jeopardy
Author: shakespherical
Team: McKay
Prompt: fall from grace
Pairing(s): McKay/Sheppard, McKay/Keller
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Character Death *not John or Rodney.
Summary: Even the defeat of the Wraith and a bright future in the Pegasus galaxy doesn’t mean that the universe isn’t ultimately random and cruel. Or that love can’t be found in the ruins of your own life.

Once you've read the story, please take a moment to vote in the poll below. Ratings go from 1 (low) to 9 (high), so all you need to do is enter a single number in that range into each text entry box. You'll be able to see the prompt in the header above.

More details about the voting procedure can be found here.

( Home In Time For Jeopardy )

( Vote for this entry )

Title: Seven Day Fool
Author: reddwarfer
Team: Sheppard
Prompt: fall from grace
Pairing(s): McKay/Sheppard, McKay/Keller (background)
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: (highlight to reveal) Partner betrayal
Summary: So, in the end, the only way to equal it out was to hurt them all.
Notes: Many, many thanks to the very lovely and very patient moderators. I would also love to give profuse adoration to my beta-readers (busaikko and djin7)

Once you've read the story, please take a moment to vote in the poll below. Ratings go from 1 (low) to 9 (high), so all you need to do is enter a single number in that range into each text entry box. You'll be able to see the prompt in the header above.

More details about the voting procedure can be found here.

( Seven Day Fool )

( Vote for this entry )

Title: Let Me Go
Artist: sian1359
Team: McKay
Prompt: end of the line
Pairing(s): McKay/Sheppard (+ Team)
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Summary: Rodney's done everything he can.
Notes: Music 'Let me Go' by Heaven 17.

Once you've viewed the artwork, please take a moment to vote in the poll below. Ratings go from 1 (low) to 9 (high), so all you need to do is enter a single number in that range into each text entry box. You'll be able to see the prompt in the header above.

More details about the voting procedure can be found here.

Let Me Go (Hosted on AO3).

( Vote for this entry )

Title: Ain't Seen the Sunshine Since I Don't Know When
Author: lilyfarfalla
Team: Sheppard
Prompt: end of the line
Pairing(s): McKay/Sheppard
Rating: R
Warnings: None
Summary: He couldn't remember a time when he had done anything other than taking tickets on the train, but some days, Shep dreamed of flying on silent wings through of a city of glass and metal spires.
Notes: Very very inspired by Miyazaki's Spirited Away, though it's not a crossover (and you definitely should be able to enjoy this story without having seen that movie.) The train imagery in particular and many other bits and pieces of this story are totally from Miyazaki. Many thanks to skeddykat, who was a total inspiration and threw amazing idea after amazing idea at me when I first proposed this story to her. Also many many thanks to gottalovev for jumping on the train at the last minute and making this story actually make a little bit of sense. Thanks for working through your vacation!! Any and all remaining mistakes and confusion belong to me. And finally thanks to all of the music various lovely people uploaded for our writing pleasure. Go team Sheppard!

Once you've read the story, please take a moment to vote in the poll below. Ratings go from 1 (low) to 9 (high), so all you need to do is enter a single number in that range into each text entry box. You'll be able to see the prompt in the header above.

More details about the voting procedure can be found here.

Ain't Seen the Sunshine Since I Don't Know When

( Vote for this entry )

Title: Kiss and Tell: A conversation with the great Dr. Rodney McKay
Author: fawkesielady_ed
Team: McKay
Prompt: kiss and tell
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Summary: Out magazine reporter Arthur Stewart is fortunate enough to be granted an interview with Dr. Rodney McKay.
Notes: Written for McShep_Match 2011 Team McKay. This story changes tenses and POV's on purpose. The first person perspective and Present tense is Rodney and the reporter speaking to one another. The third person POV and past tense is Rodney's memories in response to whatever was said previously. The tense/POV/scene changes after ~~~. Also, Arthur Stewart, the reporter, belongs to the creators of the movie Velvet Goldmine. There is no cross over with the movie, I just used the reporters name.
I'd also like to give a special thanks to my beta, who will be named after the reveal.

Once you've read the story, please take a moment to vote in the poll below. Ratings go from 1 (low) to 9 (high), so all you need to do is enter a single number in that range into each text entry box. You'll be able to see the prompt in the header above.

More details about the voting procedure can be found here.

( Kiss and Tell: A conversation with the great Dr. Rodney McKay )

( Vote for this entry )